Page 26 of Love At the Gates of Hell (The Seven Sinners Trilogy #1)

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Gideon

He rapped his knuckles against his bedroom door.

It felt funny knocking on a room that had been his up until very recently.

Of course it still was, mostly, in name.

But in the random hours when Gideon would slip inside for fresh clothing, or some other thing he needed, he would find signs of Benny slowly taking over.

Her clothes strewn over an armchair, her grimoire resting on his dresser, even just the energy lingering in the air.

It began to feel like he was encroaching on her space.

Enough her space that she had disappeared in the bedroom following dinner and hadn’t come back out.

Much like the night after they’d returned from Whiskey Winnie’s, Benny using his room like her own personal safe haven.

She hadn’t even said goodbye to Olivia or Imani.

Just said she needed a minute and then never returned, leaving the rest of them in the kitchen, wondering if her death threat had been sincere or said in some mixture of nerves and fear and anger.

He had restrained himself from checking in on her all night. He wasn’t sure she would welcome the intrusion. Gideon wasn’t her babysitter. He was hardly her bodyguard. But the worry still crept in, clinging to his skin, driving him nuts all night he slept on that fucking sofa.

He wasn’t supposed to care like this.

Not about Benny.

“Come on, Russo,” he said, voice rough as he knocked. “Training starts today.”

Not like he wanted it to.

That was another level of proximity he wasn’t sure he could handle.

But if they were going to run a jewel heist in the middle of a charity gala, and there was even a slight chance they came across the asshole who took her, then making sure Benny had real control of her power was crucial.

How he was going to swing that, he had no idea.

This felt more like something Harker should handle.

The door opened and Gideon found Benny laying back on the bed, her legs dangling over the edge, one hand flung out to the side while the other covered her eyes.

She must’ve magicked the door open.

“What are you doing?” he asked, forearm resting on the doorjamb as he leaned into the room.

“Moping.”

“Yeah? How’s that going for you?”

She removed her hand from her eyes and turned to look at him.

“It would be going better if I was left alone.”

“No can do, princess,” he said, doing his best to avoid the long line of her bare legs and the fact that she was wearing what seemed to be a pair of his boxer shorts. “We are on a short timeline and you are still working with magic you can’t control.”

“Who made you the magical Mister Miyagi?”

“You did,” he told her, fighting his smile. “When you begged me to teach you.”

She turned onto her side and propped herself up on her elbow.

“Was that what I did?” she asked, eyes glittering. “I begged?”

He was having a hard time formulating a response, his eyes tracking the curves of her body, the way his boxer shorts hiked up her thigh, the brazen look behind her eyes as she teased him.

He pushed himself off the door and stepped further into the bedroom, the door creaking shut behind him.

He glanced back briefly. More magic. The little bits of it she seemed to do with zero effort at all.

“You don’t have much time to get your shit together,” he said, swallowing down all the other words he wanted to say. “And the sociopath after you isn’t going to just give up. So if you really want him dead, don’t you think you ought to figure this out?”

She groaned.

“You’re no fun at all,” she said, flopping down on her back again.

Gideon sighed as he crossed the room, the edge of the bed sinking beneath his weight as he sat down beside her, their knees lining up in a neat row.

“You could channel some of this energy into punching, you know.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You’re a shitty liar, Russo.”

“And you’re a shitty Mr. Miyagi.”

“You want the guy dead, it’s not gonna happen while you’re hiding in here.”

Benny didn’t respond in words, just a little irritated groan.

He leaned back, letting his back hit the mattress, his hands clasped against his chest. He turned his head to look at her properly, taking in the slight bump at the bridge of her nose, the curve of her cheekbone.

Like he wanted to categorize every detail of her features.

“You hit a wall last night,” he said. “You wanna talk about it?”

Benny stared up at the ceiling.

“Are you my therapist now?”

“I seem to remember a conversation the other night,” he started. “About us working together on this. Which means you don’t have to hide out here. You don’t have to hide whatever it is you’re feeling.”

She closed her eyes.

“I feel so many things I’m worried I’m actually going to combust.”

She rubbed her hands over her face, letting them linger there for a moment before she let her arms relax at her sides. He watched every movement, took note of every little breath. But Gideon didn’t say anything, he didn’t move. He just waited for her to be ready.

Because he wanted to know. He wanted to know everything she was feeling.

All of it.

“I’m just so mad,” she said after a moment.

“I’m embarrassed. I’ve spent practically my entire life learning how to keep myself safe, and I couldn’t do it when it counted.

And now…now there are kids holed up somewhere that are going to die because of me.

Maybe they’re already dead. You heard Harker. ”

“Benny, this is not your fault.”

She blew out a frustrated breath in response.

“Isn’t it?” she said. “I’m it, Gideon. I’m the only one left.”

His jaw tensed at the phrasing. The pressure and guilt she must be feeling.

Before he could stop himself, he reached for her hand.

Her fingers flexed beneath his touch as she turned to look at him, soft brown eyes wide and round, and it was like he could see every flicker of emotion she was feeling.

The whole world of it.

He fought the sudden feeling of wanting to be in that world.

Beyond just this moment, this arrangement they had.

“We’re going to figure this out,” he told her.

Even if he wasn’t sure how.

“He already has my blood,” she said quietly. “My blood . I keep trying to ignore it. Focus on everything we have to do but it keeps creeping up, and the rage I feel, I don’t know what to do with it.”

“You use it,” he told her. “I’ve seen what you can do, Benny.”

She frowned.

“I don’t know if I’m strong enough.”

She said it so quietly, it startled him.

From the moment Benedetta Russo had shattered the idealized version of herself that he’d created in his head, the moment she become a real, living person in his life, she’d had this air of confidence and bravado that he hadn’t expected.

This self-assured attitude. This way of getting right under his skin.

She had confided in him the other night that it was a way to deal with her fear.

But to hear her say shit like this? To not know how brave and strong she was?

“The bruise on my jaw says otherwise,” he said.

A faint smile ghosted her lips, her cheeks reddening slightly.

“Imagine how good it’ll feel when it’s the asshole responsible for all of this.”

“You know, for a big, bad bank robber, you’re not bad at this."

“Wow, not bad,” he replied, failing to hide his smile. “I’ll take it.”

She squeezed his hand. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” he said, before pushing himself up from the bed. “Now get your ass out of this bed, get on something you can sweat in, and meet me outside in five minutes. We have work to do.”

Benny rolled her eyes.

“Okay, okay,” she said. Then, “Think I can borrow a T-shirt?”

He threw her a look as he reached the door.

“You’re already wearing my shorts.”

She grinned.

“All my stuff is in the laundry. Should I just walk around naked?”

He swallowed, thankful his back was to her, as he passed into the hallway.

“Definitely not.”

“Let’s go again.”

Gideon held up his hands, keeping himself steady as Benny swung.

Her fist connected with a satisfying amount of force, her wrapped knuckles scratching his wrapped palms. In the last hour, they’d gone through half a dozen punches and jabs, Gideon working through a few combinations with her. She was a quick study, and more capable than he expected.

He should have known better. She had a habit of surprising him.

“Good,” he nodded. “I’m going to come at you now.”

“And do what?” she asked between breaths, brushing a stray curl back from her forehead, her hair damp with sweat. She had tossed it into a ponytail at the start of their session but it was coming loose now, tendrils framing her face.

He stepped into her space, forcing her a step back, her sneakered feet sinking into the foam mat he’d dragged upstairs to the rooftop.

The sun was beginning to set over the horizon, the heat cooling in the evening air.

No one else had access to the roof and it was a relatively safe space to train.

Plus, it was out of Luke’s earshot. He’d had enough of his brother’s inquiring looks whenever Gideon and Benny were in the same space.

Which was always, considering their predicament.

These annoying, messy little feelings he was dealing with were hard enough on him as it was.

Especially now, as he tried not to let his eyes linger on the way his clothes looked on her body.

She had rolled the waistband of the boxers a few times and knotted his T-shirt tight around her abdomen.

It was the least amount of clothing he’d seen her in and he was about ready to fling himself over the side of the building when she looked up at him, waiting on his next instruction with an adorable look of concentration on her face.

Adorable? He was in so much fucking trouble.