Page 89 of Ink Deep Devotion

Greg laughs,“Ask your father.” Then he hangs up.

I kick open the door to her building and make my way to my car, place the phone where I can watch the video feed, and then speed down the road to our campus house.

I call my father next,“What do we need to fulfill in order for me to marry Mila?”

“Dash?” Dad clears his throat, no doubt waking up from this call.

“I need to marry Mila this month, so what do we need to fulfill in order for Greg to agree?”

Dad pauses.“Did…” His exhale is so slow and long, it’s as if he’s erosion itself, brushing against my ears, trying to break me down to soil and dust.“Is she pregnant?” he finally mutters.

“What?” I snap.“No!” But…that would have been such a nice dream. To see her belly grow with our child inside.

I can never allow that to happen.

“I’m tired of Greg having control of her security. It’s bullshit.”

“Dash, the contract states Greg is in charge of her security until you marry. You have already meddled enough by adding your men from a distance. Leave it be.”

“What do we need to do?” I punch the steering wheel as I park the car.

“It’s out of our control.”

“What does that mean?”

“It meanstheydecide when it’s time you can marry Mila. It’s not in my hands or Greg's, and it certainly isn’t in your hands.”

“Who?”

“Don’t waste my time. I’ve already told you more than I should have.” He mutters under his breath.

I’m about to hang up when Dad adds,“Don’t do anything stupid, son.”

???

I reach the locker room and slam my locker shut. Damnation is a not-so-hidden underground fight club, located beneath one of the most exclusive venues on The Row—a high-end clubbing street about an hour outside the university. While some of our privileged classmates drink their lives away upstairs, my cousins and I fight below. Most students take their helicopters to avoid the long drive, but my cousins and I prefer the road.

Did the fight club here compare to what Cillian could offer? Hell no, but it did help keep Titan, Damian, and I focused. If we went a day or two without hitting something, we felt antsy and out of shape. Initiation 101 did change us. It altered our instincts, made us crave pain in any form.

The good thing about Damnation was that the guys here liked to fight dirty and unsophisticated.

“What’s caught your attention?” Titan asks me as he finishes taping his knuckles.

A pest!

I don’t have time for this new roommate, but…maybe Titan does.

I smirk.“A fun pet for you or,” I look over to Damian,“maybe Damian too if he finally got over his crush.”

Titan and I know Damian has a thing for an ordinary person. A girl not born into our world is more dangerous than showing affection for someone who was a part of this fucked up life.

Titan and I call the girl Plain Jane. She works in a bookstore next to the gallery, where Mila donates her art.It's a small shop, a hole-in-the-wall in the middle of nowhere.

Did Damian think that fact would keep her hidden? If we figure it out, so will his father.

That's what keeps Titan and me up at night. You see, that smile on his face is something Titan and I both like. His father would use a knife to carve it in the opposite direction. Titan and I want Damian to be happy. After everything he suffered, I'd do anything to keep that glow he has, but it can't be with this chick. She's not from our world.

Maybe Nova will catch his eye instead. She'd probably try to cut his eyes out, but that could make the relationship more exciting, right?

---