Page 122 of From Hell

“And now?”

“I made a deal with him. He leaves you alone, and gets full control.”

I freeze. Is this the Ripper I’m grinding my ass into right now? No, no, it can’t be. His whole demeanor is different. I can tell the difference.

“But he doesn’t seem to want it now I’ve given him what he’s always craved. And now I sense him coming and going less and less.”

I swallow, bile souring the back of my throat. “He’s disappearing?”

Jaxon shakes his head. “No. He wants something else now.” He doesn’t tell me what. “Please, Laine. Let me make it up to you.”

My chest tightens as delicious heat tingles between my thighs. I look back at him, his lips so close, I can almost taste him. “How?” I whisper back.

Jaxon flashes a demonic smile in the dark. “How do you feel about trains?”

42

LAINE

Ihave nothing against trains. Secretly, I love them—especially ones with restaurants, private cabins, and breathtaking views.

I’m in the first-class lounge for the Orient Express, sitting at the champagne bar, clutching the ticket Jaxon left on my pillow after he broke in, getting around Cash’s security without him even knowing.

A piano plays in the corner. Flutes of bubbles pop and fizz as they float past on trays, served by waiters in white blazers and black tie.

I didn’t want to turn up; I was going to trash it and curse him for all eternity, but I couldn’t pass up the experience.

And him.

I’m not scared of him. Not anymore.

I’m no longer a victim.

And Jaxon may not be who I thought he was or who he pretends to be. He’s both dark and delicious combined—Devil and angel in one devastating form. Self-preservation should keep me far away, running for the hills, but I have a morbid curiosity I’ve never been able to shake. There’s a darkness to me that craves to be understood. He accepts me, warts and all: the good, the bad, and the twisted.

A sudden feeling of being watched slides down my spine.

Followed by mild annoyance.

My gaze travels down the bar and collides with a man with soul-sucking eyes. The feeling of being truly and utterly seen slinks through me as he gets out of his chair and stalks toward me.

“Penny for your thoughts?” His baritone voice brushes over me, sending my pulse racing.

Rigid in my seat, I stay wary but also relieved.

He showed up.

If he hadn’t, I was going to go anyway. A slow trip around the world before I start the next chapter of my life. But here he is. This time, he didn’t let me down. The lightest licks of flame I felt when he turned up at the cinema rage back to life.

“I’ve been thinking.…”

“Dangerous.”

I throw him a sour look, laced with a smile. “If you’re going to be a dick the whole trip, I’d rather go alone.”

“That’s what you were thinking?”

I shake my head, gaze trailing over him, handsome with a fresh shave, dressed in casual slacks and a jumper. Next to him is a compact Hermes suitcase with a jacket lain on top of it that looks like a baby next to the elephant-sized Primani backpack I’m carting around. “No, that’s not it.”