Page 41 of Sinning for Santa

There’s nowhere to hide here. The space is an open plan. There are no large cupboards. There are no other rooms, except for perhaps my walk in wardrobe, so my feet hurry towards that.

Flicking on every light as I go just to make sure she’s not curled up in a corner somewhere, I don’t find anything, and my wardrobe is undisturbed.

Fuck!

She’s gone!

Dashing out of my wardrobe, I leap over my bed, snatching my phone off the bedside table and hit Finn’s number.

He answers it on the first ring.

“Sup, man?” he asks lazily like he’s only just woken himself.

“She’s fucking gone. Lock the whole place down!” I bark.

“What?” Finn mumbles like he’s still fucking asleep.

“Jaxcen is gone! Lock the place down. Now!”

My demand is loud through the phone and I hear him curse before I hang up and rush to put my pants on.

I can’t fucking believe she’s run again after I told her what would happen if she did.

Look out, Jaxcen Summers. You’re about to meet the devil for real this time.

Chapter nine

Jaxcen

Ayell from the floor below has me stiffening, Devon’s roar clearly recognisable. I guess he’s just realised I’m not in his suite anymore. I should probably go back down so he doesn’t lose his temper, but I’m curious to see how this will play out.

How will the devil respond to me running?

I haven’t run of course. I took his threat seriously, and knew he wasn’t making up the level of security around his town. I saw it as we drove in.

There are armed men everywhere.

From up here in the attic, you can see over the whole south side of the township. It’s not a huge town, but it seems bustling enough below with people down on the street, some working, others running errands or chatting to others.

When I woke and slipped out of the bed without him noticing, I decided to do a little exploring.

Since I’m only wearing Devon’s t-shirt, and my clothes are basically ruined from the rain and mud, I decided to keep my explorations inside the building.

I was a little surprised to find there wasn’t an armed guard standing right outside Devon’s suite, but one glance over the rail and down the staircase showed some armed men walking around on the ground floor, so I decided to check out what was behind the other two doors on either side of Devon’s suite.

One side led to an elevator and a storage closet, and the other door led to a staircase going up. So I went that way to find myself here, in a large open attic space, above Devon’s apartment.

A rush of movement in the street below draws my attention, and there he is. The man in question. Or perhaps the devil in question.

My skin prickles with heat at seeing him, so tall, muscular, and sinfully attractive. I imagine he must have been a pretty boy when he was younger, but now, the prettiness has given way to such manly features that it makes me see Eddie as a boy rather than a man.

The things he did to me last night have been at the forefront of my mind, and honestly, it has to be why I haven’t tried harder to run, because even though he’s kidnapped me, I don’t feel unsafe.

Hell, I feel kind of worshipped.

I think there’s something wrong with me.

A group of Devon’s men gather around him, and I can tell by how animated he is that he’s pissed. He looks to be asking questions and barking orders. Some of the men shake their heads, and then the guy Devon gave my driver’s licence to last night walks up to the group and passes Devon what looks like a tablet device.