Page 28 of Deal with the Devil

What. Are. You. Doing!Amelia would have brained herself on the side of the sandwich shop if it wouldn’t cause more of a scene. She was floundering, plain and simple. Amelia had been caught red handed by his butler. Denver eyed her and she whined softly, “You’re not going to tell him, are you?”

Denver shook his head, chuckling softly. “No, Ms. Armstrong…as you said, you were merely in the area and grabbing lunch. Nothing to report.”

Was it worse that he wouldn’t know or worse that she wanted him to know? She couldn’t tell why her heart ached for a fiend she knew nothing about. Only what he told her and the feeling she got when she was in his arms. Suddenly, she knew why people wrote romance with such strong emotions. She knew why the characters fell deeply within pages. She knew why it never made sense before, and now it was crystal clear. When a person finds that special someone, it’s hard not to dive in headfirst.

“I, uh, I don’t even know why I’m here,” she confessed with her last breath of air.

“I’d say it’s the same reason Mr. Zrazduel has commanded I do not return these to you, but I’m doing so anyway because they belong to you.” Denver reached into a satchel across his body and pulled out a small clothing box. He handed it to her with a soft sigh, “I was on my way to the mail, you’ve simply saved me the trip.”

“Thank you.” Amelia wasn’t sure why it stung. Taking the box felt like ripping off a limb. She stood there, bleeding out and shaking as the centaur butler strode past her. It wasn’t till her trembling hands moved on their own that she opened the box. Her bathing suit sat inside the box, along with her flipflops, the sweats, and tank top he let her wear inside his house. However, when she went to put them in her car, she realized something else was inside the box.His belt…the one she’d worn as a collar.

“Wait, Denver, this isn’t…” But her voice was caught in her throat as she realized the belt was now a collar. It was cut down and sized with added notches for the belt buckle.Did…did he change one of his belts into a collar? Why would he…he didn’t …he had no intention of coming back for me?

Maybe Denver intended it to give her answers. Except, all his act of kindness did was send her swirling worse in her mind as she stared down at the collar in her hand. If he intended to make her stay away, this was making it harder to follow his direction.

Amelia shoved the clothing into her back seat and threw herself into the driver’s seat. She didn’t stop for food. She didn’t go out shopping. She didn’t do anything except drive back home and toss herself back at her computer.

Chapter eleven:

Knox

TW: Gore & mentions of Emesis by minor characters (act of throwing up)

A whole three weeks?Four? He couldn’t tell. Time flew by and he was no closer to finding answers. He dug through all his employees, all his records, his entire catalogue of sources. Nothing. No infected vampires. No starving feeders. No one with a fake name. Okay, well, that last one wasn’t true. Many of his employees used fake names, but their use of fake names was a normal decoy. People getting away from family, people getting away from the law, things he could research and verify. There weren’t many on his payroll that he didn’t know their backstory. Many of his employees came to him broken and in need of coin.

Enemies of Declan were always welcome. It had been years since he’d thought about the old boss of King’s Fall. The nightmare reminded him of the trauma that Declan performedon his life was still an open, festering wound. When Knox wasn’t dreaming lovely fantasies about Amelia living with him, it was dark dungeons where Declan was trying to interrogate him. Knox didn’t get a whole lot of sleep. In the month since Amelia went home, he woke in the middle of the night and bemoaned her departure more. He’d resolved himself to be a sleepless night owl for the rest of his miserable life.

Knox sat in his office at home, staring at his crystal screen to no avail. It didn’t matter how simple the function was, he was stuck. Just…staring. He bore holes through the screen with his gaze. Nothing made the numbers move or any of it make sense.

He exhaled heavily. “I give up.”

A knock at his office woke him up from his internal pity party. Glancing up, he found a grinning Maevin in the doorway. “You’re never gonna guess what tickets I just snagged.”

“What?” He raked a hand through his hair, brushing it back behind his horns.

“A certain author is having a signing event at Mumford Books and Drinks where she’s here to announce her newest book up for pre-order.”

Knox sat straight up in his seat. “What?”

“Yeah, it’s tomorrow evening at six, I figured you’d want to go considering the new book coming out later this year.” Maevin teasingly glanced away while secretly watching Knox’s face with wicked glee. The elf was tracing the door frame mindlessly while looking down to his crystal pad in his other hand. “Aurora Darkwater presents the newest thriller and what’s this? It’s also a romance? A dark and twisted tale about a mafia lord and the woman who trades herself for her brother to save his life?”

“What!” Knox barked, ripping his crystalpad off its stand and clearing all the screens. Instead, he pulled up his email and found the notification Maevin was reading. He’d subscribed to her newsletter like a lovesick puppy dog. A pretty, smokybackground filled his screen as he stared at a cover. “One Night with the Devil? Ouch, pet.”

“I think it’s a pretty clever title.” Maevin shrugged nonchalantly. “It’s supposed to be a very explicit romance thriller with lots of twists and turns. So, I figured you’d want to go to the event. Anyone who goes and buys a pre-order of the book gets an exclusive book box.”

Knox’s heart beat rapidly against his chest as he stared down at the synopsis of…their night. Granted, she’d sure fluffed it, changed up the ending, and the reasoning, but…it was them. She’d written about them. “I’ve never been the inspiration of a book before…” he whispered.

“Oh, you inspired more than a book, boss,” Maevin snickered, fanning his face. “I’m looking at the snippet and, Ms. Darkwater can write some salacious smut, boy howdy.”

Knox rolled his eyes at Maevin, glaring for good measure. However, it wasn’t like he didn’t also skip to the snippet that was posted in the newsletter. His cheeks burned for a moment, collar turning to a flaming grill as he read words identical to the memories he’d savored for weeks now. Like she’d turned the film inside his mind onto paper. His cock stirred and he had to scroll away in order to calm down.

“Naughty pet,” he murmured.

“Very naughty. I mean, she did break the rules, she swore she wouldn’t tell a soul about what transpired here and…you know…here she is, just making a whole book about it!”

Knox would normally protest. There was no way anyone would ever connect him with her. She hadn’tactuallyspilled any beans. The entire plot was based off different reasoning. It was a work of fiction with an eerie familiarity to it. No one but him and those who knew about his torrid affair with Amelia would ever connect the dots. However, that didn’t stop him from seeing his opportunity. Was it a good idea? No. Knox knew if he chasedher, if he took this opportunity to claim her, that he’d ruin her. If he hadn’t already. Maybe this was a way to process the trauma. Maybe she wasn’t using this book as a means of letting him know she thought about him like he did her. Maybe this was just processing through the things that happened that night to rationalize them.

He wouldn’t know until he asked.

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