Page 31 of Pray for the Damned

“I don’t really date, or anything like that, and I’ve just got this new job, and I really can’t mess it up. I’m sorry if I gave you the wrong idea. I feel terrible about it. But it would just be for the best, for both of us, if this is the last time we…hang out.”

“I see,” I say as I bring the car to a stop at a red light. I tear my eyes off the intersection to look at the beautiful woman who takes up entirely too much room in my mind. She’s still looking down at her hands, but now they’re trembling.

I reach out and take her bundled hands in mine, giving them a gentle squeeze, and her eyes flick up to meet mine.

“Is that what you really want? Or are you just scared to let someone in?”

Her mouth drops open, as if she’s surprised I would call her out, but she quickly snaps it shut and shakes her head. “No. It’s what I want.”

The light turns green, and I pass through the intersection before pulling into a park. The streets of New York are never truly quiet, but it’s a little after midnight, and the sidewalk is free of pedestrians.

“What are you doing?” she asks, panic filling her eyes.

Once the car is in park, I turn my body to face her properly, keeping my hands firmly on my thighs.

“I understand you’re scared, Waverly. I’m not even blaming you. I know how hard it can be to let people in when you’ve spent your life holding everything back.”

“That’s not what this is,” she snaps. “I just think it would be best if we keep things professional between us.”

I chuckle. “I think the ship has sailed on that one. Now that I’ve seen you come, I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to think of anything else when I see you.”

Her eyes widen, and she drops her head into her hands. “This is so embarrassing.”

I reach over and tug her hands down before gripping her chin between my thumb and forefinger. I turn her to face me and lean closer to her. “Waverly, you have nothing to be embarrassed about. Watching you fall apart was the single most beautiful thing I’ve ever experienced in my life. A true gift. But I’m not willing to let you run from this. We could have something special if you’d just let it happen.”

She shakes her head. “You don’t understand.”

“Then tell me,” I plead. “Tell me what I don’t understand. Tell me what I need to do to make this happen, and I’ll do it. Just don’t run from this. Don’t make me chase you.”

She drags her bottom lip between her teeth, and I force myself not to rescue the battered flesh. Every time I touch her, I lose a little more of my grip on my control.

“Please, Waverly.”

She sighs. “You’re not giving me much of a choice.”

I chuckle. “You’re right, I’m not. Because I know something special when I see it, and I’m not willing to let you slip through my fingers.”

Her head bobs. “Okay.”

“Okay?” I ask hopefully.

“Okay, I won’t run. I’ll let things…develop between us, or whatever.”

I squeeze her hand in mine. “You won’t regret it.”

But even as the words fall from my lips, I know there’s every possibility she will.

Because handing herself over to one devil is hard to come back from. But when there are two with the same face, she’ll never be able to escape us.

I know my brother well enough to know that now he has his sights set on Waverly, he’s not going to let her go any more than I am, but that’s a bridge we’ll cross in the coming weeks.

For now, I’m just relieved as hell that I don’t need to show her the darker sides of me straight out the gate.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

WAVERLY

Life has always had a way of kicking me while I’m down, but I’m not sure things have ever gone so smoothly for me as they have over the last week, and it’s making me nervous.

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