“As is mine for you, but don’t you have somewhere you need to be?”
“What? You want me to go down there? Why?”
He shrugs. “It might be fun.”
I snort in amusement. “Shall we then?” I hold my hand out to him.
“Of course.”
We stroll out of the suite and downstairs to Devon’s. I push open the door, as it is indeed open. We quietly stalk towards the bedroom.
As expected we see Jess, naked on the bed but Devon is nowhere to be found. A moment later, he walks out of the bathroom, a towel slung around his hips and he stops dead. A furious look passes over his face as he looks at Jess, then at me.
“Lizzie…” he says, reaching out to me. “It’s…”
“I was asked to come down here.” I hold up my phone. “Although, I’m more inclined to think it was your little girlfriend here is the one who asked.”
Devon glares at her again. She tries to look innocent but fails miserably under his bold blue gaze. She self-consciously pulls the sheet up over her naked self. Unsurprisingly, as she has one of the world’s scariest motherfuckers glaring at her from behind me, as my back-up.
“Dev, we need to talk. Find me when you are done here.” I turn to Jess and snarl viciously at her, more to scare her than out of any actual rage over this scam. “Next time you ask me to walk in on you two, you had better be prepared for me to take back what’s mine,” I threaten.
She flinches, looking terrified as CK pulls me back. “Time to go, my sweet.”
I let him lead me away and he smirks, “Yours?”
“Yes, mine. Just as I am yours.”
He looks pleased. “You are mine.” He reaches for the necklace but hisses as he touches it and pulls back just as Sebastian had. I frown as he asks, “I’m sure I don’t need to ask where you got that, but what is it?”
“Hellfire,” I say cautiously. I realize that I’m the only Vampire who can touch it without burning. I’m pretty sure Xane knew exactly what he was doing when he gave it to me. Arse.
“Hellfire. As in the same Hellfire that your faithful sword is made from?”
I nod grimly. “I’ll take it off. I didn’t think. Sorry,” I say as I unclasp it.
He shrugs as if it’s nothing. I don’t want to take it off but if it hurts my boys, I should.
CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-FOUR
A s it happens, Devon finds us fucking about twenty minutes later. “Mind if I join in?” he asks as he watches us.
CK growls at him, “No. Let us finish. Go and wait in the sitting room.”
He pushes me over and under him and finishes us both off regardless of Devon’s presence, who decides to leave anyway.
I climb out from under CK and pull my dress back on. “Wait here, okay?”
He nods briskly and lights a cigarette.
I find Devon on the sofa, staring at his hands. I sit next to him, relaxing at his nearness. He does too and angles himself towards me instinctively.
“What’s going on, Dev?” I ask him. “I need you to talk to me. I need to fix this. I won’t have you abandoning me, talking to everyone else except me and bringing this girl into my sphere with zero explanation. What the fuck is going on, Dev?” I ask, stung by his actions.
“I’m sorry, Lizzie. I had to get away. Ever since we got back from Lance’s, you’ve been so busy. Too busy for me. Even before you and Lincoln started sleeping together, I was always last, and it wasn’t fair. I was so used to us being together all the time and then it was practically nothing. Since we moved to New York, all you came to me for was a quick fuck before you moved on to someone else. Do you know the last time we shared a bed? Spent all night together? Months, Lizzie, months,” he says, without waiting for an answer. “I love you, but I can’t just be the last one you come to. Not anymore,” he runs his hand through his hair. “I needed this time to think about how to approach this and make you see. Jess is…fuck’s sake…no one, really. No one you need to worry about anyway.”
I’m upset th
at he feels that way about us, although I do see his point. “I’m sorry, Dev. I have taken you for granted. I have just always assumed that you would be here no matter what. The others take work. They come with drama and promises to be kept and threats and moods. But I know now that you need me to fight for you too.”