Page 32 of Die for You (Diamond Devils #4)

I hold my breath as I push it open, the responding creak rattling in my ears.

My heart pounds out a chaotic rhythm as my eyes scan the room?—

On the floor. A crimson pool hits my bare feet.

I gasp, heart stopping as I find the source of the blood.

Three bodies. Facedown on the carpet. Immobile.

Knives protruding from their backs.

A scream wrenches from my throat as my stomach plunges to the floor. No .

Damien, Knox, Finn?—

No, no, no.

I collapse to my knees, hands flying to my ears to drown out my own agonized screams.

From the bed, a figure stands. He steps into the moonlight trickling in from the window.

Jeremiah. With a maniacal grin and blood dripping from his hands.

I’m still screaming when my body lurches awake.

Cold sweat coats my back, my neck, my palms. I jerk upright, hand flying over my chest in a failed attempt to calm the heart slamming against my ribcage.

But it’s not my screams that woke me up.

Something strikes my locked bedroom door. Finn’s bedroom door. He volunteered to take the couch after I insisted I still can’t share a bed with them at night.

When the lock finally breaks and the tall, intimidating, silent shadow of Finn shoves into the room, my lip wobbles.

“I’m sorry,” I gasp, tears spilling down my cheeks.

Finn rushes to my side, slipping under the blanket with me and cradling me to him.

I can’t stop the deluge of sobs now as they wrack my body. My face pressed into his chest manages to muffle my cries, but only a little. He doesn’t try to hush me. He doesn’t say a word. Only rubs my back, letting me cry.

“You were dead.” I hiccup on a sob. “You were all dead.”

Impossibly, he pulls me closer. His low, rumbling voice comes out soothing. “I’m right here.”

He takes my hand and places it on his chest, heart thumping underneath.

They’re okay. It wasn’t real. Just a dream.

My nightmares always involve Jeremiah, but never anyone else. In my dreams, it’s always me he comes after. Always me he manages to corner and grab.

But seeing the Devils like that . . . with Jeremiah standing over them . . .

I don’t know what I’d do if he ever hurt them.

When I’ve finally calmed down enough to stop sobbing, Finn rolls onto his back and tucks my head onto his chest. I keep my hand on his heart, a reminder that he’s right here, he’s alive, and he’s not going anywhere. Not if he can help it. Not if I can help it.

He lifts my hand off his chest, and I’m about to protest when he rubs my skin across his cheek. Slick with tears.

In the darkness, he can’t communicate with his hands.

Except he can. His way of telling me that my sorrow brings him sorrow. When I hurt, he hurts.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you. I didn’t mean to wake you up.” A sob builds up again. I’m ruining their lives. I’m far, far more trouble than I’m worth.

Finn rests my hand on his jaw before shaking his head. My thumb drifts over his smooth, warm skin. Now that he’s here with me, I can’t imagine ever wanting to be alone in a bed again. He doesn’t have to speak or sign. I know what he’s saying. “Don’t...”

“You don’t have to speak.” I swallow down the sob, forcing calming breaths. “I know you don’t like to. And it doesn’t bother me. I love hearing your voice, but I also love your silence.”

The words have barely left my mouth when his lips are on mine. My heart stutters now for an entirely different reason.

His warmth caresses me as he flattens me onto the mattress. He sucks my bottom lip before nipping gently. His tongue tastes me before slipping inside my mouth, his movements slower and gentler than they’ve ever been.

I wrap my arms around his neck, deepening our kiss, and the tears are back. Not from fear or grief this time, but a kind of joy I’ve never felt before. A kind of joy I didn’t know was possible.

“I love...” His deep voice trails off, and I press another kiss to his lips. Reassurance that he doesn’t have to say another word. Not with me. “...your everything.”

My chest squeezes, and I bite my lip to stop it from wobbling again.

Finn’s mouth trails down over my jaw, down my neck, across my collarbone. I can barely breathe. The Devils suffocate me in the best possible way.

His hand slips down my pajama shorts. Possessive. He slides into my panties, finger stroking over my clit, and my breath hitches.

In the darkness, I can just barely make out the blue of his irises as he stares down at me. He’s not inviting the Devils in with us.

You’re mine. Not ready to share yet. That’s what he murmured in the woods after catching me. What if Finn is done sharing?

His finger slides inside slowly, stretching me as I groan. He shoves my shirt up to my chin and dips his head to suck my nipple, still shockingly tender. Like he has all the time in the world with me.

“Finn,” I gasp his name as he presses his thumb to my clit.

That’s all the encouragement he needs as he tugs both my shorts and panties to the side and nudges at my entrance before easing inside me.

I bite down on my lip hard as a sharp groan threatens to burst out.

His finger did nothing to stretch me in preparation for him.

Both of his hands caress my cheeks, my jaw, my hair as he plants gentle kisses on every inch of skin he can reach.

His thrusts are just as reverent, fucking me like I was built for him.

Somehow, I feel like I was. But for Knox and Damien too. For all three of them.

My legs are already stiffening as he lazily pumps his hips. The friction against my clit, from his cock deep inside me, makes my heart burst, and I muffle my cries against his shoulder as I come.

He doesn’t stop thrusting or change his rhythm. He fucks me like it doesn’t matter how many times I come, it doesn’t matter if I become so weak with pleasure I can’t move, he’s not going to stop until he’s had his fill of me. Maybe until sunrise.

And I would let him.

“I hope you know how incredible you are,” I pant when I can finally breathe again. “Kind and smart and thoughtful. With a healthy dose of insanity thrown into the mix.”

He grins against my lips before kissing me again, sucking my tongue as the tempo of his thrusts increases just a little.

I clutch at his shoulders and moan, whimper his name, as I come once, twice. I’m nearly drained when his skin finally starts smacking against mine loud enough for the whole house to hear. When his movements come to an abrupt halt, I’m already shuddering around him again, crying out his name.

“Fuck.” His groan could bring me to my knees. “ Aurora .”

A new fear creeps up as an unfamiliar feeling fills my chest. Fills me almost to the point of pain. A feeling for Finn, for Knox, for Damien, that I can’t quite name.

But I know I feel a lot of it. I’m nearly bursting with it.

I might...I might be falling in love with them. And it might be the thing that finally breaks me.