Page 60 of Sugar and Skulls

He laughs lightly hanging his head, his hair flops over his eyes. It takes everything in me to keep my hands from reaching out and brushing it away with my fingers. He glances up, his piercing blue eyes glowing against the moonlit room. “The only thing we found in the city of angels were a whole lot of devils.”

My mind immediately goes to the Desert Devils. The entire group of them are nothing but pure evil.

“You were hurt?” I ask hesitantly.

He nods. “It’s a long story. One I’m willing to share with you but that’s for another time. Right now, I just want you to hear how it ended.”

He leans back running his hands through his unruly blond hair. My wide eyes focus on him, hanging onto every word.

“One night a man had me pinned against a brick wall in an alley behind a club. The bricks had rubbed the entire side of my face raw.” He pauses to watch as I trail my fingers lightly over the injuries on my own face.

His eyes drop closed, his jaw tightens. I notice his chest expand as he takes a deep breath. When he releases it, he continues, “One minute he was behind me and the next he wasn’t.”

My breath catches.Dirk

“When I turned around I found the most frightening man pummeling the one who had held me to the wall.” Raffe tips his head back over the chair to stare at the moon rising high in the sky through the window. “He took me.”

“What do you mean he took you?”

His head drops back, his eyes locking on mine. “Dirk. He took me.”

My head pulls back. Slowly I pull the covers up over my chest. I don’t want to hear anymore.

“He’s going to take you too,” he says, deadly calm.

My heart races. My dad won’t let him take me. What does that even mean? Like he’s going to kidnap me?

Raffe tips his head as he watches my reaction.

“I don’t understand. What the fuck do you mean?” my voice rises to an embarrassing level.

“I’m going to put this the way he put it to me all those years ago.”

I nod quickly. Gripping the blankets to my chest.

“If you were to get bit by a rattlesnake and Dirk found you he would first prevent the poison from spreading to the rest of your body.” His eyes darken, he slides forward in his chair resting his hands on the edge of my mattress. “Then he would make a small cut near the bite and suck out the poison.”

My heart full out stops. What? Slowly I edge off the other side of the bed.

“Jesse, you have to get the poison out or it will kill you. I know you are scared but I’m going to be there with you.” He sits perfectly still. He doesn’t try to reach for me.

“My dad isn’t going to go for this. No way. Dirk can’t just take me.”

I back towards the door, away from Raffe. He may be beautiful but right now he is scaring the shit out of me.

A sliver of light cuts across my floor. My muscles tense. Raffe’s eyes refuse to let me go.

Dirk wraps his arms around me from behind. His gravelly voice whispers in my ear. “The easy way or the hard one? Choose.”

I stare at Raffe. This is not fucking happening. My dad is here. Dan is here. If I scream they will come and stop this insanity. Raffe slides his gaze to Dirk’s. He nods to him the same time I open my mouth to scream. A needle sliding into the side of my neck stalls the sound in my throat.

What the fuck? Dirk releases me and I stumble to the bed, my hand flying to the sting in my neck. I feel more betrayed than I have in my entire life. Raffe climbs on the bed with me. “Don’t be scared. It will be fine. Everything is fine,” he repeats over and over, I think more for himself than for my benefit.

I glare at Dirk as warmth spreads through my body, lulling my muscles to relax. I hate him. I hate him. His calm mood ring eyes are the last thing I see as I fall into a deep sleep.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Dirk

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