Page 24 of Fighting Conviction
Ellie curtsied a fake skirt and Devil smirked.
“Okay, cut the sass. When was the last time you slept? Or ate? You should be tired after a hard workout, but” —he gestured in her direction— “not this tired.”
Ellie scoffed before tossing the now empty bottle near his duffel bag. “Wow, thanks jerk.” She rolled her eyes and Devil felt a pang of guilt at the hurt she was trying to hide with her flippant hair flick.
The gesture was out of character for her, almost a shadow of someone else. From everything Jaybird said, Ellie’s friend, the one who’d been murdered when they were kidnapped, was bold and full of life. Devil knew from experience the imprint a childhood friend had on your personality. Especially one you lose.
“I’ll have you know, I already ran a 5K today and I had no plans this morning of getting mysasskicked.” Her arm moved across her chest as she stretched it out with the other. “What’s next,sir?”
Devil gritted his teeth, refusing to acknowledge that word. It went straight to his cock every time and she wasn’t going to get to deflect this conversation again. She’d already sidestepped it at Sasha Saves with Jules and Nora the week before. He didn’t know if anyone else had called her out on it since, but he didn’t need SOCM training to know something was up. Her health was more important than hurting her feelings.
“Here.” He bent for his duffel bag and tossed her a small towel along with her shirt as he grabbed his. “Let’s call it for the day. I’ll drive you home.”
Ellie eyed him cautiously and her mischievous smile slipped. “But… I can get Virginia to take me—”
“Nope. If I drive you it’ll be easier to see if someone’s following you.”
Her eyes widened. “You know about that?”
“Yep. And I’m not too happy I didn’t hear it from you.” She looked down and he lifted her chin to look at him. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
She pinched her eyes closed and groaned before opening them again. “Ugh, I felt dumb because I’m afraid of my own shadow lately. I only told Jason because that was our deal.” She withdrew her chin from his fingers and pulled her shirt on with frustrated, jerky movements. “And besides, ever since I told him, I haven’t even seen it around anymore. I hadn’t thought to say anything since.”
He shook his head and pulled his shirt over his head. “I don’t like it, El. Your brother is preoccupied lately. If you notice anything else odd or making you feel uncomfortable, let me know, got it?”
A spark of defiance flitted across her face before she nodded. He would’ve harped on it more, but something about her submission made his chest puff out in satisfaction. Instead, Devil wiped his face and led Ellie toward the garage in weighted silence.
When they reached his truck, Devil opened the door for her before she got a chance to do it herself. The lift kit Phoenix installed on Devil’s old Ford was too high for her to climb in gracefully, so he appreciated the opportunity to admire her sexy ass in tight leggings as he boosted her into the cab.
He adjusted himself while he rounded the hood to the driver’s side and hopped behind the steering wheel.
“I could’ve done more, you know.” Ellie’s voice was soft, like she didn’t quite believe herself. “I wasn’t tired or anything.”
Devil entered the keycode on his phone that Snake had set up to open the garage, and drove out of the gated complex toward Ellie’s dorm. BlackStone Securities was on the outskirts of town, which only gave him around twenty minutes to get something off his chest before they reached the ASU campus.
“I’ve been meaning to talk to you, actually.” He watched from his peripheral as Ellie sat up.
“So talk,” Ellie replied, adding a false airiness to her tone.
He inhaled a deep breath, reminding himself that making them both uncomfortable was going to do her some good. “You seem awfully… busy, lately.”
Ellie lifted her shoulder and fidgeted with her hands in her lap. “I’ve had a lot on my plate. With Sasha Saves, school, dealing with… things.”
He waited for her to continue but she didn’t pick up after her words drifted off. At a stop sign, he reached to squeeze her leg, only to return his hand to the steering wheel when Ellie lifted her foot up on the seat and rested her chin on her knee.
“How’s that going? Those… things?”
Ellie shrugged again. After a few more moments of silence, Devil’s hands tightened on the steering wheel. Black feather tips outlining his forearms rolled with the veins in his clenched hands.
Getting the tattoo had been a twisted welcome home present after his massive failure in MF7. After Eagle died in his arms, wounds Devil thought had scarred long ago, threatened to bleed out through the new cut. The ink ensured he never forgot the deaths haunting him the most. The ones he could’ve prevented if he hadn’t let distractions get in the way. In his mind, losing focus brought on the demon whose tattered wings were tattooed on his back.
The angel of death.
The devil.
He didn’t want that guilt for Ellie, though he had a feeling the angel beside him agonized over her past as much as he did. Maybe more. But unlike him, Ellie didn’t deserve the shame. Knowing she suffered in silence sliced at his wounds all over again.
“You know, if you ever wanna talk…” As he spoke, Ellie refused to look at him and she started picking at long strands of gold from her ponytail. “I’m no conversationalist, El, but I’m a listener…”
