Page 31 of Dance with the Devil

No one but me.

The days of pretending like my heart doesn’t beat for Genevieve Libellula are over. I’m not going to weigh her down with my feelings. That would be cruel, especially when there is no way for her to escape me or them. But the moment she kissed me… she’s mine now, and as soon as we’ve figured out a way to beat Winter at his game and get the hell out of here, I’ll make sure the whole damn world knows it.

Genevieve shows off her spark when she notices the black circles under my eyes and figures out that I stayed up the entire time she was sleeping, then didn’t take a few hours for myself after she was rested. She smacked me in the chest, telling me that if I’m going to suffer from insomnia again, she’s going to suffer right along with me.

I fold. The first time she yawned, then stubbornly slapped herself in the cheek to wake up again, I lie down with her, and swear that I’ll do my best to sleep. She turned into me, caressing the massive bruise that covers my cheek, before brushing her lips over mine.

I fell asleep that night with Genevieve’s taste on my tongue, dreaming of a life where we could be togethering without all the mafia politics at play.

Since then, I’ve seen less and less of her fire. At first, I convinced myself that my baggage was too much for her. She wanted a gentle artist with a commitment phobia. What she got instead was a CSA survivor who inked the name of his lost family on his arm so that he was forced to see it every day, plus the flames that stole them from him tattooed all over his throat where the needle hurt the most. She was too innocent to push me away at first, but the more it sat with me, the harder it was for her to accept that I might never be the sort of man she’d want as hers.

She lets me cuddle with her every night. If I tried to give her as much space as possible in this small cell, she clung to me. I know what’s happening. I saved her from Mickey’s assault, no matter how I did it. I admitted I’m attracted to her. She believed me when I told her I would protect back when she thought I only thought of her as my friend. Now that I wantmore…there isn’t anything I won’t do for her, and she knows it.

She also knows just how far I’m willing to go.

I only wish I could tell if that’s a dealbreaker for her or not.

If she was firmly in the life, or had experience with the type of trauma I’ve been through, none of what I did would’ve been surprising. If she was a civilian, I wouldn’t even be asking that question. Normal people would’ve taken one look at me, washing Mickey’s blood off of my chin, and run as far away aspossible. But Genevieve… she pressed her cool fingertips to my blazing face, then kissed me.

Genevieve’s brother has tried his best to keep her shielded from the realities of life in a criminal organization, but between her insatiably curious nature and her friendship with Chritopher, she knows more than her brother probably expects.

As for me, I might not often be involved in seedier aspects of what the Sinners Syndicate do, but I’m a high-ranking, respected member of the Sinners due to my friendship with Rolls, the amount of time I’ve been loyal, and my gig as the official artist.

I had to be trustworthy to get the chance to ink the Devil of Springfield, even before he got the reputation he has now. When he called me to his penthouse apartment, giving me the order to tattoo his delicate bride’s ring name with his birth name—Lincoln—I knew that I was as highly regarded by our mafia leader as I am his second-in-command.

She’s seen the darkness inside of me. There’s no tucking it back out of sight, but that just means I need her light more than ever.

I need my butterfly.

I’m not surprised she’s slowly withdrawing from me. During the days, she’s losing hope that we’ll ever be found. Winter confirmed that this is payback for his brother’s death. He wants Damien to pay, and he did that by stealing Genevieve from her family. I got nabbed because it was too good of an opportunity for him to miss. I’m a Sinner, and Winter’s crew still wants to get the snowflake-embossed guns and drugs into Springfield. By taking me prisoner, he’s showing Devil that no one in the Sinners Syndicate is untouchable.

And all because Dave Sanders sold me out.

Davey boy. What the fuck, Davey boy?

For less than a stack, he confirmed that I was high up enough to be a good score for Winter. I was right when I said thatGenevieve was the main target. I was the poor Sinner who was with her, but the perfectly timed van strike was his way of killing two birds with one stone.

He stole Genevieve to get back at Damien. I was just collateral damage.

I don’t care. I would’ve willingly come along and marched myself into this damn cage with her rather than let her be taken from me. And if any of this hired guys think they can separate me from her now?

I’ll make what I did to Mickey seem like foreplay.

Genevieve finally confesses that her quiet mood is because she feels guilty. She’s upset that I’m stuck with her, no matter how I try to convince her otherwise, and there’s only one thing I can think of to ask her in order to help get her mind off of our precarious situation.

Sitting next to her, my heart—and my cock—swelling when she instinctively leans into me, resting her head against my shoulder, I rub her forearm and ask, “Will you dance for me?”

She hasn’t so much as twirled since the motorcycle crash. At first, she was favoring her good leg, waiting for the road rash to heal enough for her to move without pain. And while she spent hours at a time stretching, sitting in the splits, pointing her toes, and wiggling all parts of her body to stay loose, she hasn’t danced at all.

A tiny hint of a spark appears in the depths of her pretty blue eyes. “There’s no music, Cross.”

I shift my weight slightly, turning so that I can tap my chest. “There’s music in our heart, ain’t there?”

For a moment, she just stares up at me. But then she laughs. “Oh my fucking God. That was socheesy.”

I know it was. Dipping my head, stealing a quick kiss, I tell her, “But I got you to laugh.”

She cradles the edge of my jaw. “You did. And you know what, babe? You’reright.”

---