Page 89 of Tricked By Jack

“I can keep her safe,” she says, voice steady. “If anyone comes, they’ll regret it.”

Jack studies her with a look that makes the air in the room heavy. Finally, he gives a short nod, though his hand tightens on me like a leash. “If you fail her, there won’t be enough left of you to bury.”

Shelby swallows hard, but she doesn’t back down.

Jack kisses me one last time, slower this time, and then lets go. I follow him to the door, squeezing his hand one last time. When he walks through the door and disappears down the hallway toward the stairs, my stomach clenches.

I’ve barely shut the door behind Jack and Ned when Shelby drifts closer. She flicks the lock with a soft click.

“There, now we’ll know if someone’s coming,” she says. “I know you’re pissed at me, and that’s fair. But I have to know what it’s like being with Jack. That kiss didn’t look forced.”

While she talks, we move into the living room and settle on my couch. I pick up one of the throw pillows and hug it close.

“Umm… it’s intense.”

“Yeah?”

I bite my bottom lip, not sure how to describe our relationship. “And complicated.”

“But you like him?”

That’s true. In fact, I’m pretty sure I love him, but for some reason, I don’t want to share that. God, right now I wish it were a therapy session so I could refuse to answer questions. But that’s not how friendship works. And I can’t be pissed at Shelby for holding back if I do the same.

“I never expected to fall for him,” I admit after a pregnant silence. “But I think I have.”

Shelby’s eyebrows shoot up high on her forehead. “Really?”

Needing to do something, I get up and make us some tea while I do my best to explain that things have changed.

“Did you know he kept me in a cage in the beginning?” I ask, carrying two steamy mugs back into the living room with me.

“No way.”

After placing them on the table and sitting back down, I explain my first week with Jack. How cold and cruel he was in the beginning. “He blamed me for Ruby’s death.” My insides knot as I realize I don’t know if that’s still the case.

Shelby runs her tongue along her front teeth and blows on her tea before taking a small sip. “Is that why he wanted to capture you?”

I scrunch my nose up in confusion. “You didn’t know? Didn’t he—”

She interrupts me. “I love my brother, Eve. I really do. But sometimes he acts more like Jack’s lapdog than my only family. He never told me what it was all about, only that I had to get you to the Sanctuary of Shadows for the launch event.”

I stare into my mug, the steam curling up into my face until my lashes dampen. For a second, I don’t know if I’m relieved or furious. If she’s telling the truth, and why wouldn’t she be,then Ned and Jack kept her at arm’s length the same way they did me.

“Ruby was a bitch anyway,” Shelby suddenly says. “She got what she deserved.”

The. Fuck.

I’m so shaken by that revelation that I can’t think of anything to say. So I just say nothing. Minutes slide past, heavy and slow. The heater hums, pipes tick in the walls, each second louder than the last. I sip, swallow, sip again. Steam fades.

The burn on my tongue dulls to warmth, then nothing. By the time I glance down, the tea is already cooling in my hands.

Shelby’s gaze flicks toward me over the rim of her mug. “So… when he kept you in that cage, did you hate him for it? Or did part of you like it?”

My jaw drops before I can stop it, heat flooding my face. “Jesus, Shelby. Who asks that?”

She laughs lightly, tucking one leg beneath her. “I’m just curious. You wouldn’t be the first woman who confused obsession with devotion.”

A prickle starts low in my spine. I grip the pillow tighter. “It wasn’t like that. It was… complicated.”