Page 126 of Dance With A Devil

“And yet you didn’t,” I smirk. “Because you love us.”

“Fuck off. It better be worth it. Ryan asked for another dose of ‘herbal refreshment’ after whatever Athens read tonight. She sounded wrecked.”

That makes me pause.

“What’d she read?” I ask, voice low.

“Didn’t ask. Didn’t want to know. Just did as I was told.”

She vanishes toward the breaker. We wait in silence.

Until,click.

The world goes dark.

Screams echo above us. Footsteps thundering. The sound of chaos. And then,Creeeeaak.A door opens. “Karter! What’s going on?” Her voice, sharp, shaken, still recovering.

“Tell her to come downstairs,” I whisper.

Karter texts, and I swear I can hear the grin in his silence.

A beat passes. Then another.

Soft footfalls descend the staircase.

Our girl is coming.

And she has no idea what she’s walking into.

But she will.

“Come downstairs and find out, Brat,” Karter taunts, his voice velvet-wrapped sin through the phone. I can practically feel his smirk bleeding through the line. And I know her.

She’ll pretend she’s not scared.

She’ll pretend she’s in control.

But her heart’s racing. Her body already primed.

From up the stairs, her voice rings loud and cocky, designed to cover the tremble I know sits just beneath her skin. “Girls, what do you say? Shall we go down there and show him who’s boss?”

God, she’s perfect.

Ryan answers first, always the wildcard. “Fuck yeah, we’re not scared of you, Karter!”

Their footsteps echo like drumbeats on the stairs, each one closing the space between prey and predator.

Karter doesn’t miss a beat. “Who said I was alone?” That feral laugh of his twists up from his throat, enough to make lesser men flinch. “You talked all that shit, don’t go quiet now.”

Athens answers, voice steady but low. “What’s the worst that could happen?”

“She’s ready,” I whisper, heat crawling up my spine. I look at the Devils, all of them dressed in black, masked and hungry. “You catch her, you do what you want to her. But make sure she says yes. She’s been through hell tonight. We make her forget, we don’t break her.”

They nod, and for once, there’s no banter.

Just reverence.

“She knows we’ll take care of her,” Dash says. “Let’s give her something she’ll never forget.”