Page 112 of Die for You

I try to shake them off, but a high, piercing scream stops me. My name. “Damien!”

Angel. Aurora. She covers her mouth, horrified as she takes in the scene. Sienna sticks close to her. Luke is at his girlfriend’s side, but his worried gaze is trained on the cops rushing out of the cruiser. Proud smiles rest on Juliet’s and Trey’s faces.

Finally free of my fists, Jeremiah hobbles to his feet, pointing at me with a bloody hand. “They lured me here!”

Cool handcuffs strain to lock around my wrists. I don’t even register pain in my hands. Only that look on Aurora’s face.

Not happiness. Not pride. Not victory.

Horror.

Her face is ashen as the police lead me to the cruiser. Finn and Knox right behind me.

“They didn’t even touch him!” I object. But the cops ignore me.

Aurora turns into a ghost in the flashing blue and red lights. I can’t stand the way she’s looking at me. Like I’m in the wrong for trying to protect her.

She rushes into our path as the cops push me toward the back of the car. Her mouth drops open, but no words come out.

“I love you, Aurora.” My voice is foreign to my ears. Urgent, pleading. Because I need her to know I did this for her. Everything I do is for her. Because I love her more than anything else in this world.

Her face falls, and my heart drops with it.

She steps aside as the cops push me into the backseat. Her words are a whisper that almost don’t reach my ears. “I love you too.”

The three words I’ve wanted to hear from her for so long.

But they sound like a goodbye.

Chapter 28

Aurora

The Devils have been arrested.They’re going to jail.

My stomach coils into a painful, nauseating knot. Even with my friends by my side, I feel cold and alone without them.

I wrap my arms tight around my middle, shivering despite the temperate night air.

Damien wasn’t going to let Jeremiah walk away alive. He was willing to go to prison, possibly for the rest of his life, for me. Willing to give up his whole life for me.

I should feel flattered, enamored, but the thought makes me sick. If he’d given up that much for me, I don’t know how I would’ve been able to forgive myself.

Part of me wishes Jeremiah was dead so this hell could be over. Another part of me is relieved the Devils won’t face murder charges.

A paramedic attends to Jeremiah until his wild gaze lands on me. He stumbles toward us, clutching at his jaw.

Luke wraps a protective arm around my shoulders when he gets too close. “Don’t even think about it, buddy.”

Warm comfort spreads through me. Luke is like the protective older brother I never had.

Juliet steps between us. “I know far too many ways to castrate a man for you to take another step closer to her.”

And apparently, Juliet is the protective psycho sister I never had.

Jeremiah holds his hands up in surrender. Dried blood is smeared under his nose, flecks of crimson spattered across his cheek and shirt. His ear is puffy and cherry red. “I just want to talk to Rora. I won’t touch her.”

“We know you won’t,” Juliet purrs. “Because that would be very,verystupid.”