Page 29

Selene

I jump off the kitchen counter, snagging the banana jar and then whirl on Dante as I hold it up. “How the fuck could you not tell me you knew? What happened to being an asshole, all that bullshit after we were childhood sweethearts? Fuck, Dante, how much do you know?”

Dante leans against the corner, folding his arms across his chest, his expression strangely unbothered. “Why the fuck was Harley here?” he asks, ignoring me. “You’re more than capable of dealing with people. You couldn’t call him a car?”

I glare at him, disbelief burning through me. “Seriously? I did call him a car,” I snap, setting the jar down again. “He canceled it, said we needed to talk after he found a bloody washcloth. I didn’t expect him to show up, berating me about possibly being blackmailed, saying I need to tell him if someone’s threatening me. I don’t know what he thinks I know, and I don’t care, but this is a new low for him.”

My eyes flick to Malik, who’s staring at my side. I follow his gaze to my bloody arm, the red streaking from my palm where I squeezed the cloth dripping onto the floor. “Did he hurt my sparrow?”

“No one hurt me,” I say, wiping my hand on my robe. “I just grabbed a bloody cloth. Look, I’d really like to decompress and none of this is helping.”

Dante snorts as he pushes off the counter, laughing at me. “Seriously? That’s what we’re going with? Malik fucked you over a dead body and you want to throw me some bullshit about needing to decompress? Princess, I know you better than that.” He pauses, his tongue darting out to wet his lips as his gaze moves down my body. “Let’s get it out of the way. Yes, I know you’re the Reaper. This fucker over here has been watching you, gathering your shit like I have, so you don’t get caught, because you’ve been getting sloppy.”

“Thanks, for that,” I mumble, not really sure what else to say to that. “But why would you keep any of that a secret?”

Dante steps close enough to touch but he doesn’t reach for me, doesn’t shove me against the wall, does nothing else than meet my gaze. “I’ve always been in love with you, Selene. That’s never changed. But how I love you has. When your stepfather died, you didn’t need someone to lean on. You needed somewhere to channel your rage. At first, I was angry when I found out you killed him.”

“Why? Is this where you get on your high horse and tell me you thought you could change me?”

He reaches forward, his hand wrapping around the front of my neck as his thumb digs into my chin and pushes upward. “No, I’d never change you,” he purrs. “I was angry because I wanted to get my hands on that fucker myself.”

“I don’t need saving.”

He chuckles, leaning down so that his lips are a breath away from mine. “And that’s why I love you, princess.” And then he kisses me. I moan into it, whiskey meeting my tongue as his possessive ass pulls me under with a hunger that matches my own. My hands fist his shirt until I come back to my senses and push him back. “No, we’re not fucking doing this.”

He hums, tugging me toward him again as if I’m going to give in that easily. Feeling his cock pressed up against my belly makes me melt, the growl to his words shattering my resolve. “Tell me you don’t want me to help you decompress, and we’ll leave right now. Or you can let me fuck you the way you need to be fucked.”

My body betrays me as a moan slips out but I swallow the end of it. “I don’t…”

“Let’s stop the lying, alright?” he muses. “You’re forgetting I know. Kitten, I’ve been a profiler for years. I know you. After every goddamn kill, you had me on speed dial, finding some way to draw me here so I could fuck you into oblivion. I can still be that for you.”

“This is just business,” I spit out, not even sure why I’m pushing back, why I’m lying when I’m wet between the thighs and the idea of a good hard fuck sounds like heaven.

“It’s never been about business, but whatever you’d like to call it.” He glances over at Malik, who’s watching us with a deviant smile, the bulge between his thighs obscene. “Now, is Malik invited?”

I swallow again, my gaze flicking to Malik as well. The memory of him pounding me into the mattress while I clutched Philip’s heart comes back and my body betrays me again, this time as a whimper slips through my lips. “He can stay,” I whisper.

“And his knives? He’s a little pent up right now, needs to blow off some steam too.” Dante reaches forward to drag his thumb over the cut on my cheek before dipping to run his fingers across the bite on my shoulder. He’s not disgusted. In fact, he’s intrigued. And then I remember the few times Dante was around long enough to give me a full view of his chest and all the little nicks and cuts.

Shock fills my expression as I start thinking about the dynamics. “I’d have never guessed you were with a man. Who fucks who?”

“It changes,” Malik says, moving behind me, his breath warm on my ear. “He fucks me when I need out of my head. And sometimes I fuck him when the demons are just too fucking loud.”

I swallow nervously, my body tensing as Malik’s hands find my robe and then peels it off, leaving me bare between them, the kitchen air cool against my skin. “I don’t understand how you guys are okay with this,” I continue, knowing I could just shut up, let them fuck me and then do damage control tomorrow. But no, I’ve got to be rational. “You work for the police, and Malik, you…”

Malik’s lips brush my ear, his tongue casing the edge. “I volunteer at the clinic sometimes, but mostly I use my skills making art, like you do. Yours is prettier, though.”

Dante steps closer, pressing me between them, his chest against mine, Malik’s heat at my back. “I’ve always imagined the both of you making art together, Selene. And now, the possibilities are endless. You know that I know. And I just… God, it’s everything.” I’m about to say something but he just shakes his head, slotting his lips over mine to silence my protests. “We’ll figure all this bullshit out tomorrow. For tonight, stop thinking.”

Malik licks a stripe up my neck, his voice a breathy whisper filled with need. “Sparrow, no more thinking. Just us.”

“Fine. Just tonight. And make sure to rein in Malik’s ass before he bleeds me to death.”

I should be kicking them out and grabbing a bottle of whiskey before dancing around in my room until I fall asleep. But one good fuck never hurt anybody, right?