Page 49 of Watch Your Back (Devil’s Backbone #2)

I’m worried about Ashley. We all are. Since Carina admitted to having a stalker—possibly the same as whoever was masquerading as Abigail—she’s become increasingly obsessed and paranoid. Katie’s suggestion that my mom had anything to do with the hypnosis only made everything ten times worse.

She’s not going to let it go. That much has become painfully clear.

Ashley will dig and dig and dig…until someone else winds up dead.

I’m so scared it will be her next time. If Dr. Fox could push Heath to attempt suicide on the mere suspicion he was breaking the manipulations, we are all terrified of what the future might hold for Ashley if she doesn’t step back a bit.

Something’s about to break, and I’m starting to think her heart is the safest option. At least that could be repaired…one day. By someone more deserving than us.

N ate leaned in but stopped just short of kissing me as he inhaled a sharp breath. His eyes closed, his brow was drawn with tension. Clearly, we were at a crossroads.

“Layne,” he murmured softly, “I wish?—”

I cut him off by closing that gap between us and crushing my lips to his. Sure, he might shove me away and make another disparaging comment about my revolving door, or maybe…

“Fuck,” he groaned against my lips, and then all of a sudden, his hands were in my hair and his tongue was in my mouth as he dragged me into his lap. My knees straddled his waist, my short skirt bunched up as he pulled me closer.

It was like we were made for each other, our mouths moving in perfect synchronicity and our bodies melting into one another as his hands shifted from my hair down to my thigh, then up to grasp my ass in two firm handfuls.

A little moan escaped me as his fingers dug into my flesh, pulling me closer still as his hardness swelled beneath my crotch. Without even consciously thinking about it, I found my hips grinding down on him like I wanted the clothes to evaporate.

One of his hands shifted from my butt to my core, stroking me through the thin fabric of my panties.

I shivered with desire and he groaned against my kisses.

No question he could feel how soaking my underwear already was, and just a bare moment later, his finger teased the edge of the elastic and slipped beneath to touch my flesh.

“Holy shit, Ash,” he murmured as I tossed my head back, my spine arching at the intense pleasure his touch sparked.

I’d very quietly been wanting him to touch me like that for way too fucking long.

Way longer than I would ever admit. His teeth scraped the skin of my throat as he touched me more forcefully, pushing my panties aside to get better access as his finger delved into my pussy.

A low groan rolled through him as he pushed his finger deeper, and a shudder ran through my whole body. “Fuck,” he gasped, adding a second finger as I gripped his tie with my fist and held on tight as my hips rocked on his thrusting digits. “Oh my god. Yes, like that. Fuck my hand, Layne.”

Helpless to do anything other than exactly that, I yanked hard on his tie and claimed his mouth with mine once more as I chased down my unexpected but very welcome climax.

It wasn’t difficult. The intoxicating scent of Nate filled my senses as his expert tongue branded his kisses on my soul in a way that could never be erased.

When I came, it wasn’t a screaming, dramatic affair.

It was clenching, whimpering, and shared breathing as the heady sensation of euphoria washed through my whole being.

My toes tried to curl in the platform heels I wore, and Nate’s free hand clutched me tight against him like he didn’t want it to end.

He jerked and shuddered as I finished, kissing me deeper than ever as I damn near strangled him with his own tie.

For a few moments, we just stayed in place. Breathing hard. Then he kissed the bend of my neck and said my name in a way that sent a cold wash of dread rolling through me.

“What?” I snapped, already withdrawing in anticipation of his rejection. Again. Just like that night after Napa…

“Stop it,” he growled, grabbing the back of my neck before I could clamber off his lap. “Hear me out, Ash. Please. This isn’t the same thing as that night I was drunk.”

I shook my head slowly, studying his whiskey eyes with my heart breaking. “You can’t keep doing this to me, Nate. You can’t keep pretending there’s something between us and then?—”

“No one is pretending here, Ash!” he barked.

“I feel it. Trust me, I fucking feel it so damn hard, it hurts, but that’s the problem.

What I feel is too much, it’s too big, and I’m scared…

” He trailed off but didn’t break eye contact with me to hide his emotions.

“I’m terrified that I don’t have the capacity or the emotional depth to give you what you need.

I can’t fucking share you, Ashley. Don’t you get it?

If you were mine…you’d be mine. And I know you’d never be able to give me that because you’re already in love with the three best guys I know. ”

It was too much. Too painful. I closed my eyes in a vain attempt to hold my tears at bay, but it was no use as they squeezed out nonetheless. There was nothing I could say back, though, because how the fuck did I argue that fact? It was, after all, just that. Fact.

Nate exhaled heavily, pulling me in until our foreheads rested against one another.

“Ashley…things have changed so much since we first met, but I can safely say right now, with my whole heart, I never wanted to make you cry. I have tried to walk away a hundred times. I’ve tried…

but it was always pointless. I needed you to know. ”

I swallowed hard, trying desperately to get a fucking grip and not melt down. He was being honest with how he felt, and I couldn’t tell him he was wrong. Just because his friends were okay with sharing me didn’t mean he also had to be on board.

“I understand,” I whispered, my voice choked with emotion. Reluctantly, I slipped out of his arms and off his lap, taking several steps away to create some physical space and breathing room. “I’m sorry. I can’t…I can’t change how things are.”

He leaned forward with his elbows on his knees, the most distraught expression cutting his face. “I would never ask you to. Not you or them.” His own voice was as rough as mine, and I needed to turn my back to save from spilling more tears.

“Can I just have a minute alone?” I croaked, my throat tighter than a bow string. “Please? I’ll… I just need a minute.”

Nate gusted a heavyhearted sigh, then must have stood up because, a moment later, his hands rested ever so softly on my upper arms and his lips brushed the bend of my neck. “I’m so sorry, Ash. I’m so fucking sorry I can’t be what you deserve.”

Christ. I could handle his insults, I was prepared for his cold indifference or disrespect, but this heartfelt devastation and open acknowledgment of his feelings were more than I could bear.

“I’m sorry too,” I whispered, biting the edge of my lip in a desperate attempt to control my desire to sob.

Nate started to leave, then paused with his hand on the door handle. He breathed a soft curse, and my hope soared. He’d changed his mind.

“Ash, I’m so sorry. I need you to sign some paperwork. I hadn’t… This wasn’t what I had intended, but it’s time sensitive.” He crossed back to the bed and located the stack of papers he’d dropped earlier.

I inhaled deeply, putting on my brave face as I turned toward him. “Sure. What is it?”

He offered me a pen and smoothed the papers out somewhat on the end of the bed. It wasn’t anywhere near bright enough to really read the tiny print, but at the same time, I didn’t want to sit there scouring the document, which seemed to be some thirty-odd pages long.

“A prenup,” he said with a sad laugh. “Sorry. It’s irrelevant, obviously, but because I come into my grandparents’ inheritance at midnight, my lawyers want to ensure that my assets are protected. And since we’re engaged…”

I nodded my head. “Yeah, I get it.” Because as far as his mother and his lawyers were concerned, I could be a very real threat to his wealth.

“Thanks. I’ve been meaning to do this for weeks but kept changing my mind.” He muttered it like the whole transaction physically hurt.

I shrugged, pretending my heart wasn’t actively bleeding from what had just passed between us.

Signing a prenup meant absolutely nothing since we had no intention of actually getting married, so I had no issues flipping through the pages and signing everywhere he indicated.

He needed to countersign several pages as well, and then it was all done.

Nate almost seemed to be holding his breath when I handed the contract back to him and he folded it back up. “Ashley, I hope you know that I wouldn’t?—”

“Nate, respectfully.” I cut him off. “You’ve said everything you needed to say. I appreciate where you stand on this, but it doesn’t hurt any less. Please just…leave me alone.”

His face fell, but he gave a small nod. “That’s fair. Do you want me to send Heath in or…?”

“No. I just want to be alone right now. Please. Go and enjoy your birthday, Nate.” I went as far as opening the door for him and gesturing for him to fuck off, and he only hesitated a moment longer before doing as I asked.

What the fuck else could he do? He was the one pushing me away, after all. But I was the one already in love with three others. So I guessed we were equally at fault in this case.

Shoving the door shut behind him, I collapsed to the floor to wallow in my heartbreak for a moment. Except I knocked over a stack of presents, and something sounded like it broke when the box hit the floor.

“Shit,” I hissed, grabbing the present boxes and hastily restacking. I glanced at the gift card attached to the one that seemed to have broken—then froze in horror.

Happy 25th Birthday, my darling. Love, Mommy

That handwriting. Oh fuck… I knew that handwriting.

Bile rose in my throat, and I choked it back, snatching the card off the gift to show the guys as evidence. I needed to show them. We could compare it to the note someone had left Mom and prove once and for all that Jocelyn was involved!

I burst out of the bedroom, blind with panic and focused on finding the guys—or Nate. But instead I ran headlong into a woman dressed in a black gown with a dramatic train. Her toffee-brown hair was tightly coiled to her head and her expression severe as she wobbled in her heels at my assault.

“Ashley, dear, what’s the rush? I was just coming to speak with you,” Nate’s mother said with a glacial-cold smile.

Her gaze darted to my hand, where I still wore Nate’s ring.

“Hmm, I see that hasn’t been resolved yet.

” Then her gaze shifted to my other hand, where I clutched the card she’d written.

“Oh, good. You’ve finally connected the dots.

That took a lot longer than anticipated. ”

My eyes widened as fear stiffened my spine. “So you’re not even trying to deny it? You’re involved. The hypnosis, Dr. Fox…Heath’s suicide?” Horror rolled through me as I thought how vehemently Heath had defended this woman so recently.

She just shrugged. “Why deny it? No one will believe a single thing you say anymore, Ashley. This is my very favorite part of experimental research, when we expand the reach to everyone surrounding the control subject. Buckle up, girl. It’s about to get rough.”

Then she snapped her fingers in my face, and I collapsed like my strings had been severed, my vision turning black just the moment before my head hit the floor.