Page 12 of The Cruelest Chaos

I’m still inside of her, and I could fall asleep just like this, even as the fireworks fire off in quick succession around us and I hear cheers, the end of the show coming.

But everything isoutnow. I let go, and I’m not at all sure I did it the right way but it’s better than a session at Father Tomas’s hand. If I could use Ella as my punching bag, I wouldn’t need more wounds down my back.

“What do you want?” I whisper in the dark as the fireworks stop. I press my brow to hers, bring one hand beneath her head, my fingers in her hair.

“Sleep,” she mumbles.

“Okay,” I whisper back. “I can do that. By the way,” I run my mouth over hers, taste the blood I drew. “My name is Maverick.”

She smiles against my lips. “The moon is beautiful, huh, Maverick?”

It sure is, Ella.

Chapter Three

Lucifer isthe first person I see when I carry the girl back into Liber. He’s standing in the back doorway with his arms crossed, an unlit cigarette in his mouth. His dark blue eyes narrow on me, and then go to the girl.

Ella.

“Get out of my way,” I growl at him.

In the light, Lucifer sees the blood on her mouth, and the handprint across her face. His eyes widen as he yanks the cigarette out of his mouth and straightens, but he doesn’t back up. “Did you do that?” he asks me in his raspy voice.

It seems whatever the fuck he was on earlier has more or less worn off. Lucky fucking me.

Ella’s eyes are closed, and her breathing is slow and even, but I felt the subtle tense in my arms at his question. She’s not asleep, but she’s probably about to be. She told me she took ahandfulof Xanax from Natalie on the way here.

Good thing I got to her before it kicked in, or she wouldn’t have felt anything I did to her. I wonder if that’s why she asked. I wonder if I should feel guilty about it.

I wonder if I need to tell Natalie she isn’t a fucking pharmacist.

“I saidget out of my way.”

Lucifer’s eyes shift from the girl to me. “You hit her.” It’s not a question.

I frown. “Would you like to call the fucking police? File charges against me? If not,get the fuck out of my way.”

“I don’t know, Mav, I don’t think the police will care too much about some consensual roleplaying, butfucking murder?”His eyes narrow, and the cigarette in his fingers snaps in half. “They might give a shit about that.”

I snort, shifting Ella in my arms. The wind blows and I clutch her tighter against my chest. Lucifer sees the movement and a smirk turns up on his lips. I want to strangle him.

“Wanna send your wifey to jail?” I taunt him, since Sid clearly told him about Pammie. “By the way, did you tell her about your dick being two seconds away from being inside another girl?”

I don’t wait for an answer. I push past him, elbowing him out of my way. He backs up, slams the door closed behind me.

I take the deserted back hallway, dim lights from sconces on the wall. I hear Lucifer’s footsteps behind me, and I’ll deal with his ass when I set this fucking girl down. I head up the stairs at the end of the hall, the music dying as I walk up one flight, then another, and finally, on the third floor, the music is just a dull thud.

I shift Ella in my arms, and Lucifer gets the door, then follows after me like a bad dream.

I head to my room at the end of the hall, and once again, good ol’ Lucy Boy opens the door for me.

What a goddamn gentleman.

I grunt my thanks and walk into the frigid room, hear the door close at my back. The lights automatically flick on, and I take Ella straight to the King bed, laying her down on the grey sheets.

“Get the lights,” I tell Lucifer without looking at him.

He dims them down, and I glance down at her in the remaining light, taking her in fully for the first time.