Page 41 of Die for You (Diamond Devils #4)

Aurora

Since the night the police showed up to question me, I’ve been escaping into music.

Fingers close to bleeding as I hunch over my violin strings or the piano keys, somber ballads filling my head as I play most of them from memory.

Songs that were the perfect soundtrack when I was trapped with Jeremiah. That sounded the way I felt.

“When are you finally going to play a happy song, Rory?” A familiar, teasing voice floats out from behind me.

My fingers clatter on the piano keys as I spin to find three Devils sauntering toward me. Impossibly, they’re happy to see me. As if they’ve already forgotten all the shit I’ve put them through.

They haven’t shared me since the night Jeremiah spied on us through the window. They’ve noticed how withdrawn I’ve become, how I’m folding back into myself, back into the shell I used to live in when they first saw me on campus. Their touches have been gentle, comforting.

My heart hurts with every touch. Every reminder of what caring about me is doing to them.

The merciful thing to do would be to push them away. To cut them loose. Deal with my shit on my own and let them go back to their peaceful lives of hockey and classes and friends before I careened into their lives like a tornado, ripping everything apart.

“Why the piano?” Knox asks when I don’t answer. He sits on the bench with me, an easy smile on his face. “Why is this the instrument you’ve been playing all semester when you have your violin back home?”

Home . Home is with them now. “A band teacher once told my class that every serious musician needs to be familiar with the keyboard. And my mom was a classical pianist. But I was always drawn more to the violin. I liked that I could carry it with me and play anywhere I wanted. My parents gave me that violin. I brought it with me to every foster home. It’s the last piece of them I have. ”

Knox squeezes my shoulder. “You can do whatever you put your mind to. But you should also spend your time doing what you really love. We don’t have a lot of it.”

I force myself to swallow around the giant lump lodged in my throat. He has no idea.

Swinging my feet over the bench, I face the Devils. Tall and fit and intimidating. But at the same time steady and dependable and comforting. Everything. “I got into the final round. At Juilliard.”

All three of their faces brighten with huge smiles. Knox wraps his arms around me, still seated beside me, grinning into my hair. “That’s amazing, Rory.”

“Of course you did,” Damien says. “They’d be dumbasses not to want you.”

Finn’s piercing blue eyes are tender, soft. He signs, I’m proud of you.

Tears sting my eyes. They’re making this way fucking harder. “It’s an in-person audition in May. So I don’t think I’m going to get in.”

“What are you talking about?” Knox’s tone is full of genuine confusion. “Of course you’ll get in. Rory, you’re an incredible musician. You were meant to do this.”

I twist my hands together. “If I was, I’d be able to play in front of people.”

Just a few weeks until I need to play in front of strangers. Play the best I ever have in my life to earn a spot at one of the most prestigious performing arts institutions in the world. A few weeks to get over the stage fright that keeps me from playing even in front of a single person.

Impossible. An impossible dream.

“Then play.” Damien nods at the piano behind me.

“What?”

“ Play , Aurora. If you should be able to play in front of anyone, it should be us.”

“I...I can’t.” I twist my hands together. They know this. I haven’t been able to play in front of anyone in years. Why would that be any different now?

“Don’t let him dictate who you are.” Knox’s voice drops an octave, brows stern but gaze still tender. “Or what you’re capable of.”

He’s right. My stage fright has one clear point of origin: Jeremiah. His snide comments about how I was hurting his ears, how I was wasting my time, how I’d never amount to be anything more than his girlfriend.

Finn’s hands land on my shoulders, warm and surprisingly light. He turns me until I’m facing the keys, grabs my hands, and places them on the keys. I expect him to pull away, but his palms rest against my skin. With me for every step, every note.

With trembling fingers, I press key after key, slowly, hesitantly. My heart hammers, echoing so loud I almost can’t hear the tentative ring of the keys.

Even with the staccato notes, the melody is familiar. One I memorized as a kid on my violin. A song I could play with my eyes closed, if I was alone.

But Finn’s still hovering behind me, palms following my hands across the keyboard. Knox at my side; Damien at the other. Surrounded by three Devils, three pairs of eyes, and all of their attention focused solely on me.

Yet my fingers don’t fumble over the notes. And with every measure, my hands move faster, the notes ingrained into my brain as deeply as my own name. My pulse starts to slow, matching the andante pace of the notes.

“Sing.” Damien’s command is little more than a whisper. The softest I’ve ever heard a word leave his lips. More a plea than an order.

When I part my lips, the words follow. Throat tight and hoarse from the stress, from being near tears moments ago, and I can barely hear my own voice over the notes.

But none of the Devils push me to be louder.

They know my limits. They know I’m trying, that this is the most I’ve been able to do in a long, long time, and they’re proud of whatever I’m capable of.

My mouth shuts before the final notes from the piano stop ringing. A smile I can’t fight against pulls at my lips. I can’t remember the last time I played like that, striking every note perfectly, even alone.

I can play again. In front of people. Because of them. Because of the Devils.

“Wow,” Knox breathes, and he’s not fully smiling.

Not looking at me the way he usually does, like there’s some secret he knows about me that I haven’t divulged to him yet.

No, he’s looking at me like I’ve told him a secret he’s never heard, that he didn’t know was possible.

Like he’s in awe of me. “Aurora, that was...”

Finn’s hands drift up from mine to pull my hair back over my shoulders before resting on my neck. I shiver as he leans down, his lip brushing my ear. The word leaves his mouth low enough that only I can hear. “Incredible.”

“See? You can do anything. Anything you want.” Damien’s wide, heavy palm lands on my knee, his thumb stroking over my skin.

“We’ll be with you. At your audition. If you start to get nervous, if you think you might not be able to play, you look out at the faces watching and you’ll see us. Your biggest fans.”

The Devils are too good for me. So, so much better than I deserve. I can’t believe after a lifetime of loneliness, rejection, loss...that I’ve gotten this lucky.

I smile through happy tears. “What if they don’t let you in?”

“You think we’ll give them a choice?”

“Juilliard is in New York.”

The Devils exchange confused glances.

“Right?” Knox finally says, drawing out the word. “You don’t want to move to New York?”

“I do, but...” I squeeze my eyes shut, not wanting to hear their answer, but knowing I need to. “But what does that mean for us? You all have family and friends here. Your lives are here .”

“New York isn’t that far.” Damien rolls his eyes like my concern is ridiculous. “We’ll live with you.”

Knox scoots closer, nudging my knee with his. “Wherever you go, we follow.”

“I can’t ask you to do that.” I shake my head, hating myself for saying the words out loud. Hating myself for not being selfish enough to take them away from their whole lives. “I can’t ask you to leave everything behind for me.”

Finn grabs my chin, jerking my head to the side so I’m forced to crank my eyes up to meet his. That piercing, intense crystal-blue gaze is back. “ You are everything.”

A tear slips down my cheek now, quickly followed by another. I’m at a loss for words now. Completely lost in my love for them.

Because that’s what this is. I don’t know how long I’ve felt this way or how long I’ve been falling, but I know for sure now.

I’m in love with the Devils.

I yank Finn’s shirt and pull his mouth down to mine. I need them. All of them. Now.

Forever.

When Finn’s tongue slips into my mouth and I moan, Damien’s voice fills my ears. “Lock the door.”

Knox leaves the bench at my side, and I don’t open my eyes to follow him. Finn traces my bottom lip with the tip of his tongue. I’m already putty in his hands.

The dull click of the lock comes seconds before the lights shut off, plunging us into darkness without even a single window for illumination.

Hands that belong to Knox and Damien land on the exposed skin between my skirt and high socks, groping and exploring. Finn drops my mouth only to bend further until his tongue grazes my neck. My toes curl in my shoes.

“Should we see how well she can play while distracted?” Damien taunts.

“ No ,” I gasp. They can’t torment me like that again. The sweet torture they put me through in Damien’s SUV was enough.

“Hands on the keys, angel,” Damien instructs. “And don’t let them go anywhere else.”

The Devils wait until my fingers are positioned on the cool keys of the piano and tentatively crooning out the notes of a familiar song before their hands land on my body. A palm on my thigh, another on my knee, fingers grazing down my neck. Every inch is on fire in an instant.

“You like our hands all over you, angel?” Knox’s hot breath hits my ear. Goosebumps rise on my exposed skin.

Before I can wrench out a response, one hand squeezes my tit. Another, my throat.

My fingers stumble over the keys. Damien’s low chuckle as he delicately trails a fingertip between my thighs keeps my hands moving despite the fumbled note. I won’t let their hands stop me. I won’t let anything stop me from playing again.

“Careful, Rory. Don’t stop playing.” Knox slides his hand up my shirt while Damien’s slips into my panties.