Page 123 of Devious Knight
We’re both the same shade and keeping secrets from each other. Secrets that seem to hurt us both.
I’m dealing with mine in my own fucked-up way, but I know she’s not okay. I also know she’s not going to tell me what’s wrong with her.
Whatever it is, I believe it has something to do with Parker. I’ve never seen her cry before. In just this one week he’s been here, she’s fallen apart twice.
Since she won’t tell me the truth, the only other person I can ask is Parker. And that would be crossing the line. That doesn’t mean I won’t do it if I have to.
Something strange is going on, and I’m going to find out what it is.
We head deeper down the path, and she looks around us, taking in the thick vines of the trees. In the summer, this place looks like the enchanted forest, but in the winter, it could be the haunted gateway between heaven and hell.
We step on some twigs, and the crackling sound sends a cluster of crows flying out of a nest. Isabelle yelps and jumps into my arms, clinging to my shirt for dear life.
“It’s okay, Lolita. It’s just birds,” I assure her, stroking her cheek.
She looks up toward the sky, and we both watch the crows soaring above us, flapping and screeching against the moon. The black on silver looks like a live gothic painting, adding to the ominous setting of the campus grounds.
“Kade, maybe we should turn back.”
She’s scared. Scared of the dark, scared of the ghosts who roam the campus, and still scared of me.
The devious part of me likes her like this. Even if she is scared of me, when she’s like this, she becomes the frightened little mouse who needs me.
Better the devil you know than the ones you don’t. Hence her allowing me to hold her hand while we walk down the forbidden paths of Raventhorn
“Can’t turn back now.” I grin back at her.
“This place is creepy as hell. I can see why it’s out of bounds. And I think this place is haunted.”
“The entire campus is haunted, Lolita.”
She winces. “Well, this place is Drag Me Down to Hell, Omen 2, Exorcist, Jeepers Creepers, Amityville Horror haunted.”
I can’t help but laugh. “Woman, your choice of movies worries me. I always thought you were more of a Bridget Jones or Love Actually kind of girl.”
“I am. I just happen to know my horror films. This feels like we’re walking around in one, so if you were hoping to terrify me, mission accomplished.”
“We can’t go back the way we came. Lord Vladmir would have taken his shift, and nothing gets past him.” Lord Borgia always falls asleep on his shift. That’s how we were able to get down here. “If we go back that way and Vlad catches us, he’ll send us straight to the Bratva compound for the next three months.”
She glares at me as if I just hit her and spoke an alien language. “Are you serious?”
“I don’t joke.” I smirk and tug on her hand so we can continue walking.
“You’re telling me we could end up in prison for three months just for walking around here?”
I bring her knuckles to my lips and kiss them. “Don’t worry, I hear they go easy on you for first-time offences. You get a bed and a pot to piss in.”
“That’s not funny, Kade.”
“Like I said, I don’t joke.”
“Oh God. I’m already in enough trouble. I can’t go to prison, much less the Bratva compound, and?—”
I stop her with a kiss and relish the feeling of her soft, plump lips on mine. Fuck me. I shouldn’t be doing things like this if I don’t want to get sucked further down the rabbit hole. But that’s not in my nature. I always keep going in the face of danger. Always keep moving until I get what I want.
She will be no different, even if she’s the death of me.
I pull out of the kiss, and she presses her lips together as if tasting the remnants of my kiss.