Page 60 of Slay Me

“Nope. I am under strict instructions to see to your every need. So, scoot forward and lean back unless you want to get me into trouble.”

Since I know what getting into trouble with Dante looks like, I do as I’m told. Adaya’s fingers knead my scalp, lulling me into a relaxed state I haven’t been in since—well—I don’t know if I’ve ever felt this relaxed.

As soon as she’s done, she rinses my hair using a sprayer attached to the tub then helps me wash. When I’m finally clean, she helps me stand and wraps a towel around my bruised body. I let her guide me out of the tub and toward the freshly made bed where she’s lain out a large white shirt.

Hisshirt.

“I can’t wear that.”

“Why not?”

“That’s his.”

She rolls her eyes. “He’s not going to miss it.”

Still, I eye it cautiously. It feels like a violation of his privacy. Wearing a man’s clothes—it’s personal, right? Sensual.

“Unless you’d rather stay naked,” Adaya quips.

That gets me. I nod. Chuckling, she slips it over my head. Unable to help myself when she briefly turns away, I lift the soft fabric to my nose and inhale the Ringmaster’s scent. It’s heady and warms me from the inside out. It’s wrong to be so ridiculously attracted to a monster. And yet, here I am, wearing his shirt.

“Into bed now.”

“I really am fine to go back to my apartment.”

“I’ll leave that up to him.”

“He doesn’t get to dictate where I sleep.”

Adaya smiles widely at me. “I like you.” Her expression darkens. “Which is why I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that and urge you to listen to him. He may be an ass, but he wants to keep you safe. Is that not what you want, too?”

Swallowing hard, I eye his bed again. My entire body aches, and while the pain is manageable, the idea of walking all the way back to my apartment doesn’t sound appealing in the least. So, I tell myself that it’s logic that has me slipping between his sheets. Logic that has me turning my face into his pillow and breathing deeply as I relax in a bed I have selfishly dreamt of being in since the first night I performed for him.

Dante makes me feel powerful in a world that has deemed me powerless.

He makes me feel beautiful when I spent years being told I was little more than average.

Adaya pulls the blankets up and sets a glass of water beside the bed. “Take this. You should be right as rain in about two hours.”

I down the bitter liquid then hand her back an empty vial. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” She claps her hands together. “All right, you get some sleep.”

“What about him? Where’s he going to sleep?”

She shrugs. “I’m sure he’ll figure it out.” Then, she turns and leaves me sitting in the apartment alone with my own thoughts.

Chapter20

Liv

I’m awoken by the sound of a door creaking. My heart pounds, adrenaline already surging through my system before I’m even fully awake. Grasping the covers, I rip them up to my chest and sit up, scooting as far back as I can. Thankfully, my body does not retaliate with pain.

The room is pitch black, and I peer into the darkness, searching for the source of the sound. “Who’s there?”

No one answers.

Slowly, I reach beside me and turn on the lamp. Light floods the room, but I’m alone.

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