Page 44 of Lock Up the Darkness

“No.”

She cocked an eyebrow.

“People are too unpredictable to be completely figured out. They aren’t always rational in their decisions or actions, meaning there’s always the possibility for the element of surprise to raise its ugly head.” I leaned in closer. “And in your specific case, I’m missing a key element. Your motivation. So that takes us right back to my original question: why are you really here, Aurora?”

When I saw her tense up, signs abounding quickly thereafter of her shutting down, her resistance fucking resurfacing after all the patience I’d summoned, after giving her my very best side, I grasped her hand on the table and jerked her to me.

My voice was a low growl as I told her, “My father knows you’re here.”

It was something I hadn’t wanted to put out there yet.

But with her resistance, I needed to employ something to jar her from it.

Her sexy little throat worked again, her hand tensing in mine.

“If that’s a threat—”

“It’s a fact, a very dangerous fact. The moment you arrived in town, he wanted you watched. Not by just anyone—by me, personally. I’m sure from your astuteness and street smarts, you understand the significance of that.”

She nodded.

“He wanted me to fuck with you. Play with you were his specific terms.”

She screwed up her face. She clearly knew his reputation then. “But you didn’t.”

“So you do recognize how easy I’ve gone on you?”

“As I’m sure you recognize given the miliary training that you witnessed outside that I’ve done the same with you and your boys.”

“Yes.”

“Why did you defy him?”

I loosened my grip on her hand and stroked my fingers over her soft skin, feeling out her many rings. A little tremble rolled through her, her face flushing.

I swallowed down my own far too favorable reaction as I told her, “Carson Monroe doesn’t take an interest in the Hexwood faction of the Infidels. That’s my dominion. He leaves me to my own devices. To stew in my own messes, as he really intends.” I smiled. “That part hasn’t exactly worked out in his favor. As I’m sure you’ve seen, I have this town wired. He’s concerned with big-picture matters. Power moves, driving Monroe Enterprises to even greater heights. So imagine my surprise when he took an interest in a college student, a supposed nobody with a clean record and an uneventful history.” I tossed her a withering look. “On the surface, at least.”

“You know?”

“That your records are fake? Yes. That you also hacked into Hexwood U to award yourself that scholarship? Yes. He doesn’t, though. Not yet. I’ve thrown up several roadblocks.”

“You’re protecting me?”

“And I’ll continue doing so, if you cooperate.”

She reached out and fingered the wolf’s head pendant hanging from my silver chain, nestled in the open collar of my shirt. I blinked away the all too soothing sensation of her warm fingers inadvertently making skin-to-skin contact. “Why?” she asked. Her tone was demanding, but somehow also laced with sadness—for me, it seemed. “Why go against your own father? A man like him—”

“A monster like him. That’s the correct description.”

“You want him gone,” she realized from the vehemence I hadn’t been able to keep in check. For once. That bastard was my Achilles Heel.

I pulled away, breaking her hold on my chain. “He is a stain on this world, a stain on my life. Even the gates of Hell wouldn’t allow that motherfucker entry.”

“Wow, that’s… intense.”

“I don’t disagree.”

“It was impossible to tell where you stood. I couldn’t be sure you weren’t the best of friends, the closest of family, that you weren’t following in his footsteps as his heir.”

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