Page 10 of Die for You (Diamond Devils #4)

Knox’s green eyes finally flick back up to mine, and my breath catches. “I hate that you can relate. And I hate that you don’t trust us, but I get why you don’t.”

I nod and return my attention to my pancakes, a lump in my throat. At least he understands. Someone does. I feel like I’ve been waiting a lifetime to find that. To hear someone say, I get it. I get you .

If Knox can go through that hell and come out on the other side, so can I.

Deep in my chest, something stirs. A glimmer of hope.

I shove it back down.

“Probably has something to do with you literally breaking into my home and spying on me. That can cause some trust issues.”

He ignores my jab. “You can trust us, Rory. We would never hurt you. Anything we do, it’s for you.”

I open my mouth but clamp it shut again before any words can come out. The only words that come to mind are snarky and acerbic, and for once, I bite them back. He doesn’t deserve them, even if he is a home invader who cooks pancakes for his unsuspecting victims.

But I can’t be the sweet girl who trusts the first guy who’s nice to her after she’s been with an abusive asshole for four years either. Especially when this guy has clearly never heard the word boundaries a day in his life.

“Rory?”

I drag my gaze up to his. “It’s Aurora.”

“I like Rory.” There’s that smile again. The one that stirs the butterflies in my stomach I thought had died long ago. “You don’t have to believe me. We’ll prove you can trust us. However long it takes. We’re not going anywhere.”

On my walk home, I keep my head on a swivel. Damien said Jeremiah showed up on campus looking for me. Claiming I’m still his girlfriend. Nausea churns in my gut.

He’ll find me alone. It’s only a matter of time.

Without hockey to keep him busy or puck bunnies to distract him, he has all the time in the world to track me down.

He knows where I go to school, so I must be commuting from a reasonable walking distance.

There are only so many places I could be hiding.

He could be lurking around any corner, watching for me to see when I come and go.

I’ve worked my ass off to get this far. Foster kids who bounce from home to home don’t grow up with many resources. No safety net when you’re kicked out of your last foster home and age out of the system. I’m in my final semester before graduation—I don’t want to give up when I’m this close.

I don’t want him to take anything else from me.

My phone buzzes with a call. A name flashes on my screen that simultaneously turns my stomach and makes me roll my eyes.

Barb Crowder.

Jeremiah’s mother. My former foster mother.

I could answer. I could tell her to stop calling me, that I don’t care what she has to say in Jeremiah’s defense or about how evil I am for breaking his heart.

But that would only be fanning the flames.

There is no reasoning with Barb or hearing her out, just as there’s no reasoning with Jeremiah.

At this point, all I want is for them to be out of my life so I don’t have to deal with them anymore.

After I decline the call, my voicemail chimes a full minute later. No doubt she left a ranting, raging message demanding that I make amends with Jeremiah, chastising me for breaking his heart and being the worst thing that ever happened to him.

I’m done with Jeremiah, and I was done with her a long time ago.

Behind me, an SUV rumbles up. I shield my eyes against the bright sun rays and keep my shoulders back. So far, every vehicle has passed by me without slowing, but the tires decelerate on the pavement as they get close. My chest clenches.

There are no good scenarios in which a vehicle slows by some girl alone on the sidewalk—either Jeremiah or another creep who wants to kidnap me.

I scramble for the pepper spray dangling from my backpack?—

A low, familiar voice calls out, “Get in.”

Thank god . My shoulders relax, and I don’t bother with the pepper spray or to glance in their direction. “Fuck off.”

“Let us give you a ride, beautiful.” Knox leans out of the passenger side window with a big, goofy grin.

“We’ll all give you a ride.” Damien’s salacious offer from the driver’s seat curls around the shell of my ear. He must’ve gotten this SUV to replace the car he was driving in the accident.

“I’m almost to my apartment. Since you stalked me and found my address, you should know that.” I aim a glare in their direction and immediately regret it.

All of their tinted windows are down, giving me a clear view of those seductive smirks and hooded gazes that undress me where I march along beside them. The Devils are too gorgeous for their own good. For my own good.

From the backseat, Finn beckons me toward them. But I force my muscles to freeze in place.

“Why don’t you have a car? You shouldn’t be walking around by yourself.” Knox’s head swivels, scoping out my surroundings for danger.

My fists clench. “Women should be allowed to walk by themselves anywhere.”

“Yeah, they should.” Damien’s instant agreement throws me off. “But you’ve got some asshole following you around, so we need to take some extra precautions to keep you protected.”

“You realize you three are following me around, right?” Finally, I stop to fold my arms and level them with a reprimanding stare. “You’ve also broken into my apartment and spied on me from hidden cameras.”

They must see how hypocritical that is. If they don’t, they’re delusional.

“To help you.” Finn’s rare, ocean-deep voice sends a shiver down my spine.

“Not hurt you,” Damien confirms.

A stupid part of my brain softens at the reassurance. He’s right—they haven’t done anything to hurt me. Yet.

“Why don’t you have a car?” Knox repeats.

“I can’t afford one. Even if I could, I can’t drive.” Immediately, I wish I could pull the words back into my mouth.

“We’ll teach you.” Damien makes the offer like it’s already set in stone.

“Hard pass.”

“You need someone to teach you.”

“Not you three.”

“Who then?”

“Your parents didn’t teach you how to drive?” Knox cuts in. There’s a strange tone in his voice. Like he somehow already knows the answer.

I keep my voice flat. If you don’t show any emotion, people will assume you don’t feel anything. “They died when I was a kid. I bounced from foster home to foster home after that, and no one ever taught me.”

“What about the asshole ex?” Damien grimaces like he can’t stand to even mention Jeremiah. That makes two of us.

“I asked him to. Begged him to, a few times. He didn’t want to teach me.

He wanted me to depend on him for everything.

It was easier to control me that way.” The memories come flooding back, and now I can’t stop the words from pouring out.

“Of course, I didn’t realize that at the time.

He’d say it was to protect me—he didn’t want me to get in an accident like my parents.

He didn’t want to lose me the way I lost them. He knew exactly how to get to me.”

When I look back on that period of my life, it’s like a dark cloud is looming over every single day. Blotting out any sunlight and casting my whole existence in darkness.

“Fuck that guy.” An unusual, deep-seated fury clouds Knox’s face. “He was manipulating you. He shouldn’t have used what happened to your parents against you like that.”

I didn’t realize it at the time—I thought Jeremiah really had been afraid of losing me in an accident. But now, with time and distance, I’ve learned the truth. He was mirroring my own fear back to me.

Behind them, a truck slows. The driver lays on the horn in an obnoxious string of blares. Damien flips him off as the truck speeds past before frowning at me. “Get in the car, Aurora.”

“No.”

Knox jumps out before I can protest again. Finn’s door swings open as Knox grabs me. I squeal, but there’s nothing I can do to fight him as he picks me up, carries me to the SUV, and drops me in the backseat.

“What the fuck?—”

The door slams behind me, and I don’t get a chance to yank it open before Knox is back in the passenger seat and Damien takes off.

“Bastards,” I grumble.

“Yep, we’re bastards for driving you home.” Damien glares at me in the rearview mirror. I flip him off, and he smirks.

Gross. My attitude gets him off.

I turn my glare on Finn this time. “Just because you’re not the getaway driver or the literal kidnapper doesn’t mean you’re not just as bad as they are. You’re an accomplice.”

“He’s the one who will blindfold and cuff you,” Knox says. “He’s no mere accomplice.”

Finn’s sexy little smirk is all the confirmation I need. They’re all nuts.

“Why don’t you talk?” I ask. It’s a question that’s been on my mind since I met the Devils. Finn’s silence is a hard contrast to Knox’s constant charm and Damien’s incessant taunting.

My suspicion is that he doesn’t like to hear comments about how deep his voice is. But I think it’s more than that.

His throat bobs before he forces the words out. “Prefer to talk with my hands.”

“Just wait until he starts texting you long ass paragraphs in the middle of the night,” Knox cuts in. “He doesn’t shut up.”

Finn flips him a casual middle finger, and Knox laughs.

“Talk with your hands? Like sign language? Are you hard of hearing?” I’ve never noticed a hearing aid, but I’ve also never looked that closely and his hair covers his ears.

He shakes his head. “Sister is.”

My hands move slowly, awkwardly, and I’m not sure I’m getting the words right. So was my father.

Finn’s blue eyes brighten, the corners of his mouth curving up, and the sight sends an unexpected jolt to my heart. His hands move faster, more fluidly than mine. You know sign language?

“A little. I haven’t used it since I was a kid, so I’m rusty.” For some reason, my cheeks warm.

He signs slowly to help me keep up. Luckily, it’s easier for me to interpret than to communicate.

My mother hated hearing my voice when I was a kid.

I learned it was better to have silent conversations with my sister.

We liked that we had our own secret language. Our parents never bothered learning it.

My heart squeezes for Finn and his sister.

My mother started learning sign language as soon as she and my father met.

I can’t imagine my own parent caring so little about me that they wouldn’t be willing to at least try to communicate with me in a way that was more accessible to me.

“That’s shitty of them. You should help me brush up on it so we can talk shit about Damien and Knox right in front of them. ”

“Hey!” Knox protests.

“If you’re going to talk shit, say it out loud. And to my face,” Damien growls.

Finn chuckles, and with his hand, signs, Sure .

Strangely, an irresistible smile pulls at my lips. I haven’t used sign language since my parents died, and I didn’t realize how much I’ve missed it until now. How much I miss that connection to my parents.

Abruptly, the SUV comes to a halt. We’re already in front of my apartment. An unexpected pang of disappointment hits until I shake it off.

“You can come home with us instead,” Damien purrs.

All three of them are watching me with eyes at half-mast. Eyes that undress me as they fantasize about taking me home.

For a split second, I nearly blurt fuck it and go with them.

Instead, I yank the door open and hop out, the rush of adrenaline making my legs tremble. “I’m good. Don’t ever pull some shit like this again.”

“Kiss goodbye?” Knox calls, leaning out the window.

I flip him off over my shoulder without looking back.

“See you tomorrow, angel,” Damien shouts.

“Don’t—”

But they’re already gone.