Jenna Black - The Devil Inside

“Don’t you dare judge me! You don’t know a goddamn thing about me.”

“I know you let your lover whip you bloody! And I know if he enjoyed doing it before, he’s going to keep enjoying it even when you don’t. You need to get out.”

“No, you need to get out, Ms. Kingsley. Get out of my house!”

I managed to shut myself up, but it was a near thing. If his lover had enjoyed ripping his back to shreds when his demon could heal him, then that meant he was a real sadist. How long would he be satisfied with the tamer pleasures that were all Dominic could now tolerate?

I didn’t know this guy, and he hadn’t given me much reason to like him. But maybe because I felt responsible for his being in danger, I genuinely wanted to help him.

He followed me to the door, I think so he could have the pleasure of slamming it in my face.

I turned to him before I stepped out. “Tell Adam that if he hurts you, I will personally hunt him down and exorcize his ass.”

I think I kind of hoped he’d tell me Adam wasn’t the sicko who’d done this to him. No such luck. He just ushered me out the door and closed it firmly behind me.

After my productive interview with Dominic, I took yet another train ride, this time to go back home and stay there. It was Friday night, which would usually be a date night, but I wasn’t what you’d call in the mood. I figured eventually I’d forgive Brian for not giving me an alibi, but not yet. I called him when I got home just to let him know where I was, but our conversation was brief and tense.

When I got off the phone, I straightened up the house a little, then changed my alarm code yet again. I’d showered earlier in the day, but since I wouldn’t be working off all my stress in bed, I figured now was a good time for a hot bath. I let Calgon take me away for about a half hour, and it helped.

I was just wrapping myself in my terry-cloth robe when my doorbell rang and shattered every hint of relaxation in my muscles. I cursed.

I should have known Brian wouldn’t give me time to come to grips with what he’d done. He wanted me to get over it now, and he was going to get in my face about it. It’s one of the things he does that drives me crazy. He can’t just let me be angry for a while without trying to fix it. I think in his life, he’s used to working things out on a short timeline. Arguments in his family are patched up before the sun sets on them.

I’m not that way. Never will be. It’s not that I don’t want to be. I mean, who wants to spend half of their life pissed off? I just wasn’t raised in an atmosphere where I could learn to do it. You might think that because I was the rebel of the family, they had no influence on me. They did. It was just the wrong kind of influence.

I worked myself into one hell of a snit as I stomped toward the front door. I was going to chew Brian a new one then send him packing with his tail tucked between his legs.

Which would have been a perfectly good plan if it had actually been Brian at the door. Instead, it turned out to be Adam.

I groaned and wished I’d had the good sense to look through the peephole rather than letting my anger with Brian make assumptions for me.

“You know that old saying about a bad penny?” I asked, pulling my robe closed a little tighter. I tried not to think about the blood staining Dominic’s back, tried not to imagine Adam with a whip in his hands. It didn’t work.

I guess I hadn’t disliked Adam as much as I’d thought, or I wouldn’t feel so…betrayed by what I’d learned. How stupid is that?

Adam looked at me very closely. I had no clue what he was thinking or why he was here. His eyes lingered a long time on my cheek, and I wondered if I still had suds on it. I was too self-conscious to reach up and check.

“May I come in?” he asked.

I blocked the doorway with my body. “No.” I was not inviting this sadistic bastard into my house. Especially not when I was all alone and wearing nothing but a bathrobe.

“I can push my way past you easily.”

“And watch me file charges so fast your head will spin.”

He laughed grimly. “I’m the Director of Special Forces. I think you’ll need more than a trespassing charge to scare me.”

“Get the fuck off my property, Adam. I mean it.” I tried to slam the door, but he made good on his threat and pushed past me, into my house.

I was so unwilling to be alone in the house with him that I tried to make a run for it, barefoot and in my bathrobe.

Demon-quick, he reached out and grabbed my arm, yanking me back into my house and slamming my door. His fingers dug in hard enough to leave bruises, but I was afraid he might enjoy it if I complained. Of course, he might be enjoying my struggles, too. Didn’t sadists get off on that kind of thing?

Against my will, my gaze dropped down to his crotch. Thankfully, there was no sign of an erection. Maybe he only got off on other men?

“Oh for God’s sake, Morgan!” he snapped. “Are you checking me out to see if I have a hard-on from manhandling you?”

Since that was exactly what I was doing, I couldn’t muster much righteous indignation.

He dragged me up against his body, bending his head so his lips almost brushed my ear when he spoke. “It would have to hurt a lot worse than this to turn me on, love. And if you’re getting ready to stomp my instep, I’d recommend against it.”

I guess he must have felt the tension in my body, but I was surprised he’d been able to read it so well. I seriously considered doing it anyway, but I didn’t want to know how he’d retaliate.

“Let go of me,” I growled through clenched teeth.

He did, but the coiled tension in his body told me he was ready to grab me again if I made the slightest wrong move. My heart was trying to pound its way out of my chest, and a sheen of cold sweat broke out on my skin despite the half hour I’d spent in the tub. He could crush me without even trying. And the more it hurt, the more he’d enjoy it. Even my bravado wilted in the face of that threat.

His voice when he spoke was deep, and low, and full of menace. “I would like to hurt you right now, Morgan. I really would. Dominic’s having a hard enough adjustment without you barging into his house and casting aspersions on his lifestyle.”

His words scared the shit out of me, but when I looked up at his face, what I saw there wasn’t so much anger as pain. “What do you care? Your demon pal isn’t living in him anymore. He’s just a puny human now, right?”

“Not that it’s any of your business, but I told you his host and mine were friends before Saul and I came along. My host cares about Dominic, and I care about my host. Leave him alone, Morgan. Please.”

“Let me get this straight. You whipped him until he bled, but you’re mad at me for hurting his feelings?”

His expression hardened, the pain fading-or at least hidden. “Yeah, that’s about it.”

Maybe Adam really did care about Dominic, in his own sick way. But for whatever reason, I found myself caring about Dominic, too. I glared up at Adam, despite my fear.

“I meant what I said to him. If you hurt him, I will hunt you down. I agree with you that he’s had it hard enough already.”

Adam eased down a bit. “You really mean that.”

“You bet your ass I do.” And please don’t ask me why, ’cause I know I won’t be able to explain it.

I wouldn’t quite call the expression on Adam’s face a smile, but it was approaching one. “Well, that’s one thing you don’t have to worry about.” He fixed me with a penetrating look. “He bled on the first stroke. I gave him plenty more after that and didn’t leave a mark on him. I learned.”