the desk top, but I’d peeked in the drawers once. All of Grandpa’s stuff was still there.
I closed the door behind me. “So, I got something for you.”
Lukas looked genuinely surprised. “Oh?”
When we’d gotten back to the car after chasing Ava, the stuff I’d bought for Lukas was still there. I held it out to him. “Yeah. Supplies. Paper, pencils,…some paint. No big deal.”
His lips split with a smile that lit up the entire office as he took the bag and peered inside. “Really?”
“Thought you might like to mess around with them. You said painting gave you peace and stuff…”
He wasn’t saying anything and I started to feel stupid. He just kept looking from the bag to me. Me to the bag. Over and over again. Of course, a notebook and some stupid pencils weren’t going to make him feel better. He was hours away from being stuffed back into eternal torment.
I shrugged, trying to play it off. “It’s stupid, I know. I just thought—”
He took my hand and pressed it to his lips, then held it tight against his cheek. “It’s amazing.”
My heart kicked into high gear. “Really?”
He nodded, leaning close. “No one has ever given me anything so thoughtful.”
His smile, the way he smelled, the spark in his eyes…they gave me courage. Forgetting for an instant that I didn’t know how to flirt—much less be sexy—I closed the distance and kissed him briefly. “Is it better than this?” I kissed him again, this time winding my fingers through his hair.
I heard the bag thud softly as it hit the floor. A second later, both his arms encircled my waist, dragging me close. He pulled away for a moment, eyes on mine. “I doubt there’s anything in heaven and earth that could be better than this.”
And that was it. The conversation was over. His lips returned to mine with a vengeance, fingers digging into the skin above the waist of my jeans, trying to pull us closer together. Something tickled my brain. A thought that whispered this wasn’t the time or place for this, but I didn’t care. We didn’t have a time or place for this.
All there would ever be.
Confidence bloomed in the pit of my stomach and I pushed forward, backing him up against the wall. A small chuckle escaped his lips as the kisses dipped lower. First he was tickling my bottom lip with his tongue, then his lips, warm and soft, were trailing eager, hungry kisses down the side of my jaw.
I gasped, my fingers clenching as he hit the hollow of my neck. Head tilting back, I closed my eyes and reveled in the sharp tingling sensation that spread through my entire body. Hell in a hailstorm. Why the hell had I avoided kissing if
A few moments later, he pulled away, breath ragged and face flushed. “I’m—I’m sorry. That was…”
I grabbed the side of his face and tilted it toward mine. “Totally awesome? Hot as hell? Why, yes. It was.”
He grinned. “I don’t wish to disrespect you in any way, Jessie. You are…”
“Amazing?” I said with a nervous giggle. His gaze warmed my skin and made the butterflies explode from my stomach.
“I could lose myself completely in you… Fall from grace and never once look back,” he whispered. Mouth covering mine, he kissed me again—but it didn’t last long. “You are the most amazing person I have ever come across—and that makes you dangerous.”
Something in his eyes made the butterflies still. “Dangerous?” Although, I knew exactly what he meant. I felt the same way about him. In a matter of days. Lukas Scott, with his dark hair and liquid chocolate eyes, had made me forget about every one of my rules.
He nodded, letting go of me. With a wide step back, he said, “I want this—you. So much so, that my heart wants nothing more than to find a way to stay here.
A lump formed in my throat. “Lukas…”
He shook his head. “I wouldn’t do it. I want to—but I wouldn’t.”
We stayed like that for a few minutes. Staring at each other as our breathing evened out. I wanted him to come closer, to kiss me again, but I knew he wouldn’t. I could see it in his eyes.
“We should get downstairs,” I said, pulling the office door open. I couldn’t stand it anymore.
He nodded and followed me around the corner and down the basement steps.
When we reached the bottom, Mom gave me a funny look, and for a second, the normal teenager in me was sure she knew exactly what we’d been doing. But after a moment, she simply nodded to Ava, and said, “We don’t know what to expect, so I want you to hang back.”
“You sure you don’t want me to take a bus out of town?” I stepped off the landing and froze. The basement I remembered was gone. “Whoa. I know I don’t come down here often, but when did we have the
Tony and another man—the one Meredith had introduced as Gluttony—were cuffed to a long chain that looked like it reached about a foot short of the door. Each had a cot with a brand new blanket and fluffy pillow. Not quite the Ritz, but better than jail, I was betting.
Ava was in the corner, still bound by the cuffs, but the duct tape had been removed. She scowled silently between Mom and Tony.
“I had your father install them. What was I supposed to do? Leave them huddled on the floor bound by duct tape?”
The one I didn’t know surged forward. He hit the end of his chains and stumbled back, snarling. Droplets of spit flew from his mouth, and I had to force myself not to gag at his stench. “Let me go!”
Beside him, Tony yawned. “Don’t mind him. He gets cranky when there’s not excess ta be had.” A moment later, he noticed Lukas standing off to the side and narrowed his eyes. “I’ve still got a headache from that knock ya gave me, kid. Not cool.”
“Apologies,” Lukas said with sincerity. “I acted rashly, but I was afraid you’d leave me no choice.”
“No real harm. If I hadn’t been so busy runnin’ my mouth, I’da clocked ya first.”
Mom stepped in front of me and turned to Gluttony. “Tell me where the others are.”
The Sin’s eyes widened and he backed away. “Go to hell,” he spat. “You’re going to put me back in there no matter what I tell you.”
She held the box out and flipped the latch. Gluttony’s eyes rolled back as he let out a deafening roar. With a snap, Mom slammed the lid down. “Yes, but I can make it quick, or drag it out. Looks painful.”
Gluttony’s expression changed. He started laughing. Eyes on Lukas, he said, “Whatever you do to me, it won’t compare to what we will do to
Lukas’ face remained impassive, but I could see it in his eyes. Fear. Whatever the Sins had done last time, he helped put them back, and that had left its mark. It turned my stomach, knowing that soon they’d get the chance to do it all again.
I didn’t think. Snatching the box from Mom, I pointed it at Gluttony and flipped the lid.
“No!” he screamed. “Don—”
He doubled over, a low growl escaping his lips. In a brilliant flash of bright orange light, he threw himself backward against the wall, mouth opening in a scream that never came. His body convulsed, limbs twitching as a strangled gurgle rose in his throat. Stubby fingers wrapped into the fabric of his blue T-shirt, kneading the skin beneath in violent spasms. It almost looked like he was trying to dig the light from his gut. Was this what Lukas had to look forward to? Would I have to watch as he twitched and squirmed in agony, then disappeared in front of me?
The light collected at his middle, then moved up slowly, settling at the base of his throat. Pulsing several times like it had with Envy, it burst from his mouth, accompanied by an almost deafening bang, right before it crashed into the box.
The large man Gluttony had been wearing like a bad toupee collapsed.
Mom ripped the box from my hands. “What the hell were you thinking?”
“I—” I looked from her to Lukas. What wouldn’t sound stupid? The truth? That listening to Gluttony fling threats about what they were going to do to Lukas once he was beyond our reach was driving me cow-shit-crazy? “He wasn’t going to tell us crap.”
“Little lady’s right,” Tony said. “Glutt isn’t a snitch.”
