Page 90 of Ink Deep Devotion

Damian snaps his head up with a seething look.“Don’t even start, or I’ll fight you instead.”

“So sensitive, brother.” I mockingly laugh as I slap him on his back. Titan and I have had many conversations about this chick. We looked into her, ensuring she wasn’t a spy and was actually as plain as she pretended to be.

Damian has changed since he met her, but if we notice that, then his father surely will. He is risking so much just to smile again.

I followed Damian once, grabbed my sniper rifle, and perched on the roof of the coffee shop across the street. Through my scope, I watched him sit on an old stool and laugh as he drank a latte. I repeat, a latte! The kind some influencer would snap a picture of to post.

He looked so goddamn happy.

I’d never admit it, not even to Titan, but most days, when Damian goes to that bookstore, I follow him. I hide on the roof with my gun to make sure no one else tracks him. I just want to keep his heart safe, which means I need to have my finger on the trigger in case his father shows up. Anytime Damian enjoys something, his father takes it away from him.

After Damian’s mom died, he came to live with us for a few weeks. That’s when I learned what his dad had been doing and how he was training my cousin. My mom mothered Damian, held him as he cried at night over the memory of his mom. Then, one day, his dad showed up and plucked him out of my mom’s arms, and Damian vanished for three months.

My mom had always been a mother to all of us.

I remember hearing Mom and Dad fighting that day, her begging my dad to make his brother bring Damian back to her.

That never happened.

“Fine, let Titan have all the fun.” I look back at Titan, who is watching Damian, with a look of concern.

“Mila got a new roommate,” I tell them.“She’s a little spitfire. Threaten to kick my ass for interrupting her beauty sleep.”

And then she made Mila laugh, truly laugh. One of my addictions.

That’s the only reason I let the girl stay in that room.

“I like her already,” Damian interjects.

“Hot thing too, long legs you want to have wrapped around you. Coal-black hair like a dark temptress. If I didn’t have Mila, I’d take her myself.” I lie through my teeth, hating every word and hoping I’ll deceive my mind into believing it. I’ve tried to look at other women and imagine having them in my bed.

I have tried to find a cure for Mila.

Nothing ever works.

No matter how many women I am photographed with, not one has made my cock hard. Not one.

It’s only ever been Mila.

Chapter 31

Mila

Nova is…insane.

Literally.

In the short time we’ve spent together, I watched her obsessively organize her designer boots—she has a preposterous amount of them. Her dorm room looks more like a sterile ward in a psych hospital than a place where a young twenty-something sleeps and enjoys life. She actually bleached some of the walls, but when the fumes became too much for me to endure, she hissed as if annoyed and stopped.

Then she tries to clean and organize my room. It’s totally a waste of time, but trying to tell her that is impossible. Nova is a wrecking ball—destructive and unstoppable.

Exactly what I need. What I wish I could be.

Her influence is so off-kilter that it has a gravity of its own. I find myself clinging to her, studying her, and secretly wanting to embody her.

Am I developing a girl crush?Shh... don’t tell Dash.

Nova can survive this world; hell, she’ll rule parts of it once she’s old enough.

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