Page 6 of The Devil and His Goddess (Sinners Do It Better #2)

Harper

“THAT WEDDING WAS JUST TOO beautiful,” Aiysha gushed with a teary smile, still watching the end of the episode. “I’m going to make my dad officiate my wedding whenever that happens.”

Smiling at the idea, I paused the reality show before it could continue onto the next episode. “Do you want to watch another one?”

She looked at the time on her phone and dropped her head to stare at the ceiling as she groaned, “Ugh! I want to, but I need to get those assignments and reading done. The professors really wanted us to feel welcomed back from fall break.”

I gave her a sympathetic pat on the leg then jumped to my feet. “No worries. The ballet masters gave us a sample dance to work on this week so the heads can determine our places. I’m going to be in the studio working on that.”

“Yes. You have to make sure you’re on top of your game for Peasant .” She barely managed to stifle her laugh.

“Bitch,” I hissed around my own laugh, shoving her gently in the arm. She wasn’t wrong. I did want to impress him, but only because he was the new director.

No other reason.

None at all.

She followed me into the kitchen to brew herself a quick cup of coffee while I snagged some water from the fridge. We parted ways from there, Aiysha retreating to her room and me to the home ballet studio.

Before I got started, I called my mom.

“My baby!” she squealed the moment she answered. “Frank! Todd, Mitch! It’s Harper.”

Laughing, I heard my dad and brothers stomping through the house as she put me on speaker so that everyone could hear me. “Were you guys busy?”

“We’re never too busy for you,” Dad answered.

“Hi, Harper,” came a sing-songy teenager’s voice. I instantly recognized it as Ryan, one of Todd’s friends.

Rolling my eyes at his flirtatious tone, I replied with a lighthearted smile, “Hi, Ryan.”

“Don’t talk to my sister like that,” Todd snapped at his friend.

Mom cut the boys off to demand excitedly, “So how was it? How was the work party? How was your first day back?”

Before I could answer, Ryan leaned into the speaker to say, “You looked great in your costume, Harper.”

“Hey!” Todd growled. “Do you wanna die?”

A scuffle broke out on the other end of the phone, followed by my mom’s unamused sigh. “Todd, we don’t put our friends in head locks. Let him go. You can’t help that our sweet Harper is pretty.”

“ Very pretty,” Ryan shouted from somewhere farther away, which was followed by more yelling from both of my brothers now.

I laughed, just picturing my baby brothers scowling at Ryan and trying to wrestle him into giving up his flirtation. Even though Todd and Mitch were younger than me, they were fiercely protective and had gotten into plenty of arguments with their friends who tried making passes at me.

Only after the chaos settled on the other end did I tell them about the party and my first day back. They hung on my every word and were eager for my first show of the season. They never missed an opening night, not even my brothers, who didn’t care a thing for ballet.

When I hung up with my family, my heart clenched with longing. It had only been a few days since our visit, but I missed them already. I had to shake off that somberness to focus on the task at hand, though.

My body was already primed for dancing, but I stretched and rewarmed-up to the silence of the room, which was even more pronounced after hearing the chaos of my family. I had the blinds of the window shut, so I felt nestled in my own little world. These four walls made up my sanctuary, and I basked in the comfort of being here. I didn’t care how exhausted I got or what injuries I sustained. Dance would forever be my world.

After preparing my body to work on the bit of dance we’d been given today, I turned my back to the wall of mirrors to grab a drink. With the open water bottle now in my grip, I turned back around but froze mid-breath. The bottle slipped from my suddenly weak fingers. Water splashed onto the floor and my dance shoes, but I couldn’t give a damn. Not when my heart had fallen into my stomach and fear pumped my blood furiously.

Leaning against the mirrors was a large man dressed all in black. His arms were crossed over his chest in the picture of calm, and his masked face was tilted slightly as he regarded me. The mask hid everything behind a white skull face painted over black cloth, and two dark horns jutted up from the top of his head like some sort of monster or demon.

There was a fleeting moment where the two of us stared at each other, locked in a seemingly never-ending battle of stillness.

Then reason smashed into me with the weight of a dumbbell, making me spin on my heel to run for the door, a scream tearing from my lips. My heart raced harder than the organ should, and I grabbed the handle of the door to yank it open. Only, the door didn’t budge. I grabbed it with both hands and futilely pulled on it, but it was like the door had been jammed in place.

“Aiysha! Aiysha, run!” I screamed as I pounded my hands on the door, praying she could hear me. “There’s someone here!”

With a quick intake of breath, I spun back around and pressed my back as far against the wall as I could. The masked man hadn’t moved from his place against the mirrors, and he watched me with an amused tilt to his head. He didn’t seem like a man trying to stop me from escaping or getting help. In fact, he acted like he wasn’t worried at all, as if he knew something I didn’t.

My breathing came out hard and fast as I looked around me for something to use as a weapon. Aiysha’s dance trophies perched on a shelf over all of the framed photos, and some of those were sharp. Were they far out of reach across the room and too high for me? Yes. But I didn’t care. It was my best option in the face of danger. With a panicked glance in the man’s direction, I pushed away from the wall and ran for the trophies.

The stranger didn’t chase me. He studied me from his place against the mirrors, totally relaxed as if he were watching a movie. He showed no urgency in stopping me as I jumped and struggled to grab onto the built-in shelf near the ceiling. It was pointless, though. I couldn’t reach it. Giving up on that method of defense, I opted for fleeing again. There was no alarm in his demeanor as I spun around and ran for the window.

I shoved the blinds aside and used every bit of strength I had to pry it open, but like the door, the window didn’t give. Not even an inch.

I was trapped.

Intense fear swelled to life inside of me, causing my limbs to shake and my head to spin. I turned on wobbly legs to face the man and slinked along the wall, back in the direction of the door.

“W-What do you want?” I demanded. “Has it been you? You’re the one—”

I couldn’t finish my question. I couldn’t bring myself to ask about the voicemails and texts. This was such an escalation from his typical way of operating, and that made my stomach drop with a harsh realization. If he was finally approaching me, this was probably the end of the road. He was about to kill me after years of minimal contact.

The skull mask shifted, as though the man behind it was grinning. He uncrossed his arms, and that’s when I noticed his hands. Or rather, his claws . The long fingers ended in sharp, black nails. I gasped at the sight and flicked my attention back to the black horns on top of his head. Horns that now, on a second harder look, appeared sturdy and real, not a part of the mask at all.

The two startling features made me realize something else I’d been too frightened to stop and question before.

How the hell had he gotten in here?

There was only one door, which I’d had a perfect view of the entire time. The lone closet was small and full of shelves, leaving no room for a person to squeeze inside. There were no objects that provided a place to lie in wait in the large open room, and the only window had been shut and locked this entire time. Not to mention I’d been in here alone, and in the brief second I’d turned to grab my drink, he’d appeared.

Out of thin air.

My blood ran colder as I croaked, “What are you?”

He chuckled, the deep sound echoing in the room. The sound was almost familiar, but there was a sort of ethereal, growling edge to it that made the frost coating my veins heat to an alarming level.

Instead of answering me, he snapped his black-clawed fingers, and music softly began to play over the speakers. It was the music I’d had loaded up for practice, the music we’d been given at work to rehearse with. The soft yet vibrant piece felt out of place for this terrifying moment where I was stuck in a room with an intruder. As the music played, the masked thing continued to watch me without moving or speaking. I was frozen in place with my eyes locked on him like a caged animal keeping an eye on a lurking predator.

After a few more seconds of this unmoving stare-off, he snapped his fingers again. The music stopped, only to start over. He watched me, almost expectantly.

The longer he stood on the other side of the room without making any threats or advances toward me, the more my heart began to even out. Was I still scared shitless? Absolutely. But I was also … confused—confused over who he was, what he was, what he wanted, and whether or not I was having a psychotic episode.

When the music stopped abruptly only to start over again, my brow slammed down. I glanced at the stereo then at the masked intruder again. “A-Are you wanting me to dance?”

The skull face dipped in a nod.

I swallowed hard, a new pit opening up in my stomach. Why did he want to watch me dance? Would he hurt me—or worse, Aiysha—if I didn’t? The fact that she hadn’t come barreling down here after all of my screaming and banging had me worrying about her safety.

This stranger clearly wasn’t normal, which meant he could’ve done something to her without me knowing. He could’ve knocked her out cold, or maybe he had her stashed away somewhere to use as leverage against me. Or worse, he could’ve …

“Where’s Aiysha?” I croaked. “Did you hurt her?”

He shook his horned head. Could I believe him? Not a fucking chance, but with no way to confirm for myself, I had to trust his answer. I had to believe Aiysha was okay. The alternative would destroy me. That meant I was back to wondering if he would hurt her if I didn’t cooperate.

That horrifying idea had me slowly stepping forward as the song restarted for the fourth time. I got into my starting position, and with my eyes firmly locked on the stranger, I moved through the beginning of the routine. My nerves and fear-driven adrenaline made the graceful and sharp movements sloppier and harsher than they should’ve been, but I couldn’t fucking help it. I had no idea what this man intended to do with me, and that terror prevented me from feeling the music and expressing those emotions through my body. All I showcased was terror .

Only about a minute into the song, the man stood to his full height. I immediately froze mid-arabesque, my leg and arm still extended. The stranger approached me, and a cold sweat broke out on the back of my neck. The fresh panic made me fall out of the technique, and it took all my willpower not to buckle and fall to my knees.

I readied myself for the plunge of the knife he was about to produce or the searing of the rope he was going to tie me up with. He circled around to my back, and, paralyzed in pure fear, I watched him in the mirror.

The warmth of his body pressed into me, but instead of drawing a weapon to kill me slowly, he grabbed the arm and leg I’d just had extended in the arabesque. I sucked in a sharp breath as his clawed hand guided each limb back into position. His hand slid along the inside of my thigh in a strong caress, extending it as I went en pointe out of habit. I shivered at the feel of his hot palm against the inside of my leg as his other hand trailed a burning line from my shoulder to my wrist. He held each limb out in a perfect picture of elegance.

His grip remained on the underside of my wrist while the other slowly moved back up from where it had ended on my calf, creeping ever closer to the apex of my legs. Sweet heat erupted from the places he touched me, sweeping through my body and settling in my core. I bit my lip and tried to ignore the inappropriate reaction to this masked figure, but I couldn’t stave off the fire now burning where it shouldn’t.

I glanced at the black claws against my flesh, even more certain now that they were real. With gravel filling my throat, I found his obscured face in the mirror once more. “What are you?”

He chuckled softly behind the skull mask, yet there was no missing the sound or how it shot lightning straight down my spine to swarm between my open thighs. He released me, and I held my position, watching as he returned to his place directly across from me. Without lifting a finger or touching the remote, he rewound the music to the section that came right before I went into an arabesque.

He wanted me to keep going.

I let out a small, incredulous breath but continued the dance. My body moved easier than it had before, though I wasn’t sure why the motions weren’t as difficult now. This was nuts. This wasn’t normal on any level, yet … as he watched me behind blacked-out eye sockets, I grew more and more sure that he wasn’t here to murder me. If that had been his intent, he would’ve done it already. He also made no move to venture into the house in search of other occupants.

In fact, when I’d been screaming for Aiysha, he hadn’t seemed worried at all. It was like he knew she wouldn’t be able to hear me. Only, I didn’t think it was because something had happened to her. Just as he’d blocked the door and window, I was beginning to think he’d somehow kept my sounds from reaching Aiysha. The speculation would’ve been far-fetched if not for all the wild stuff he’d already done.

This guy wasn’t human.

Whether he was a monster or a demon or something else entirely, I wasn’t sure. But from the way he’d popped in here, seemingly locked me in this room, and controlled the music, it was clear he was something otherworldly.

“Am I dreaming?” I asked breathlessly after a series of turns.

He, of course, didn’t answer. Instead, he watched me until I finished the dance in a curtsy. My eyes were trained on the floor as I held the ending position, wrists posed in soft elegance, head dipped, and chest heaving.

When I finally looked up, he was right in front of me. I gasped and lost my balance, stumbling forward. He caught me by the waist as my hands grabbed his upper arms for purchase. I stared up into his masked face and worked to catch my breath and calm my racing heart.

His torso pressed against mine, and my toes wanted to curl in my shoes from how wonderful he felt. Hard in all the right places and well-defined muscles beneath my hold. The fingers gripping my waist were deliciously firm, and the darker side of myself—the one I kept under lock and key—wanted those hands to travel up my sides to grip my now aching breasts.

I knew fantasies about a scenario just like this one was weird, yet I couldn’t deny how badly I wanted it. This tall, bulking creature dressed in a black hoodie, cargo pants, and full face mask could’ve practically materialized right out of my filthiest, kinkiest fantasy.

Which, again, made me question if this was all a dream.

It had to be.

Because if this was real, this man would be just that—a man —and he’d be gutting me in a horrible homicide, not watching me run through a ballet routine as if it was his favorite pastime.

“Who are you?” I asked softly. “Why are you here?”

One hand left my hip, and he reached up to gently rub his black-clawed thumb over my bottom lip. A burst of want ignited inside of me, and I inhaled sharply at the feel of his thumb caressing me. Instinctively, my tongue lightly licked the claw, and there was no missing the pleased hiss behind his mask or the way he stepped farther into me.

Suddenly, he took a step away and grabbed my hand. With a quick raising of his arm and a jerk, he spun me around. I gasped and was forced to complete the turn. But when I faced forward again, I wobbled through the suddenly empty space. As I regained my balance, I whipped my head around to search the room for him, but I found I was the only one here.

He was gone.

With the sensual haze clearing from my head, reality rushed back in. I ran for the door and gripped the handle with my shaking fingers. Taking a deep breath, I turned it. The door opened without argument.

I stood there and stared at the open doorway with a shocked and humorless laugh.

Heart leaping into my throat, I ran down the hall and for the stairs. I took them two at a time, and as I neared Aiysha’s door, the murmuring of her TV filtered into the hallway. I tried schooling my face and keeping the panic from my voice as I knocked on her closed door before opening it.

Aiysha leaned back against the pillows on her bed with her knees bent and a textbook laid over them, notes open beside her. She was the picture of calm and normalcy with the TV lightly playing in the background. What she wasn’t was someone who was fearful for her or her friend’s life.

Her warm brown eyes locked on mine as she smiled. “Hey. What’s up?”

I licked my suddenly dry lips, and I had to force my mouth to form coherent words. “D-Did you hear anything?”

Aiysha raised a single brow. “Like what?”

“I-I worried my music might’ve been too loud in the ballet studio or something.”

The confusion cleared from her face, and she waved a dismissive hand. “Oh, not at all. I couldn’t hear your music over my TV. You’re good, girl!”

I nodded numbly and closed her door. I stared at the empty hallway, lost for words or rational thought. I didn’t know what to make of what just happened. Aiysha hadn’t heard anything, but I’d been screaming for her and banging on the door as hard as possible.

Was any of it real?

Was he real?

I wasn’t sure of anything anymore.

I returned to the dance studio, determined to find an explanation for the crazy experience. Had I passed out, and it was all a dream? Had my pent-up sexual needs conjured my ideal fantasy?

I couldn’t figure it out.

I grabbed my stuff to head to bed when I noticed a text from the unknown number. It had come through eleven minutes ago, while the creature had been in the room with me. He’d never pulled out a phone, and that fact only befuddled me more. Was the masked man not the same person as the mystery texter?

I can’t wait to see you.

The text certainly didn’t seem like one from him, considering he was with me at the time this came through. Not only could he see me; he was with me. I quickly deleted the stupid message, groaning at the idea that I had two potential stalkers. While the mystery texter came across as annoying, this new one was dangerous.

Dangerous because he wasn’t human.

Dangerous because, for a moment, I’d wanted him.