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Bad Kind Of Butterflies
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The Deal With The Devil Hell Is A Real Place
SiennaI consider switching out the lights and trying to sleep, but I won't be able to. I'm too wound up. I get up, grab my phone out of my tote, and check for messages. There aren't any.When I'm walking back to the bed, I notice a book lying open and face down on the dresser.I pick it up, read the title. I don't recognize it. I open it, meaning to flip through to read the first few pages when a photograph falls out.I bend to pick it up. It's a photo of an older man with his arm around a younger woman, and beside them stands a man who resembles Giovanni. He's got a baby in his arms, and the woman, I assume the baby's mother, has her face turned to the baby. A little hand has got a fistful of her hair, and she's trying to loosen it.I turn it over to look to see if it has a date, but there isn't one, and when I look at it again, I have to smile at the woman's expression.I'm so engrossed that I don't hear him come in."Are you going through my private things?"I'm so startled when h
The Deal With The Devil Want You
Giovanni Her gaze is locked on me, and she pulls away when I sit on the bed. Bruises are already darkening her neck.When I reach out to touch her, she flinches."I'm not going to hurt you.""You already did."I grit my teeth, but I accept that. I own it."I can't fight you," she says. "You're stronger than me even without trying.""Don't look through my things and you won't have to worry about it.""I wasn't looking through your things. I wouldn't. It fell out of the book that was on top of the dresser."I switch out the light. Was it? I'm usually more careful with things."Lie down and go to sleep."She switches the light back on on her side. "What happened? Why did you get so angry?"This is unexpected.I give a little snort. "No personal effects, remember?""It was a photograph.""Shut off the light and go to sleep." I lie down and turn my back to her."Was it the phone call?"I roll to face her. "Were you eavesdropping too?""No. I just came out into the hall after my shower and
The Deal With The Devil Caveman Tendencies
SiennaIt's suddenly cold when he slides off me and goes into the bathroom. I hear water running, and a few minutes later, he returns. He's cleaned himself and now cleans me with a warm washcloth."I can do that." I try to take the cloth from him."Stay," he says like a caveman.When he's finished cleaning me, he goes back into the bathroom to get rid of the towel before returning and switching out the light. He lies down beside me.I turn my back to him, meaning to slide to the other side of the bed, but he wraps his big arm around me and pulls me to him. He holds me there, tight against his chest.He doesn't say a word, he doesn't let me go, not for a second and all I can think is how warm he is. How soft his skin is over all that muscle and I find myself melting into him. Again, this feeling of something solid at my back. Something safe.I should pull away. This is too close. But when I try, he just tightens his grip."Sleep," he says as if he hears my thoughts, hears the chaos in
The Deal With The Devil Always Be Unhappy
SiennaI have a feeling I wouldn't get very far if I tried that. Besides, I need this time. This month.Is it naïve to think that if I stay here, in this penthouse, that if or when Ciara tells Sean about me, maybe he'll think I'm gone—that I took off—and I can slip back into my life once the month is up?And with Giovanni, I think I'm safe even as that image of him last night, that of the raging beast, flashes in my memory.Who's going to keep you safe from Giovanni?I'm about to go back into the bedroom to get dressed, thinking I'll wear the jeans and top I'd quickly shoved into my tote last night when the elevator dings, announcing someone's arrival.The doors slide open and a woman steps out, giving me a once over. Two men follow her, each pushing a rack into the penthouse."Put them there," she tells them."What's this?" I ask when she introduces herself as she tugs the cloth covering the first rack off.I forget her name as soon as she says it when I get a look at what's on those
The Deal With The Devil Anything For The Master
SiennaWhen we get to the lobby, I ask the man to wait when I see a coffee shop and stop for a to-go cup. I take out my wallet to pay but an older woman, I guess the manager, steps between me and the girl and pushes my money away."It's taken care of, Miss," she says. "Anything you need."Of course, it is.I'm his whore. And they all know it. The woman with the designer clothes. The man who is standing a few feet from me. This woman."Thank you," I say awkwardly, knowing it's no use arguing.I put my money back in my wallet and take the cup, too distracted to even add cream or sugar before heading outside where the sedan that once brought me here carries me to the shop.Sundays aren't usually that busy at the shop so being there today will give me a chance to take inventory.On Monday I'll walk over to the homeless shelter a few blocks away and hand them a check for fifty-percent of what the shop took in minus what I'd given Ciara. It's not usually that much, but people don't realize
The Deal With The Devil Break A Little More
Giovanni"There are reasons people do things and you don't know anything about mine."These are the words that go around and around in my head as I watch Sienna look through the new clothes on the racks in one of the spare bedrooms.I had all the designer stuff taken away, well, most of it. She still needs some evening dresses. In their place, the racks are stuffed with more casual clothes, still good brands, but not the best designer labels money can buy."Better. Thank you," Sienna says, picking out every pink item and shoving each into my arms. "No pink though."I take the hangers, curious about this peculiarity, but she turns away, her attention back on the clothes."You're welcome." My phone buzzes. I drop the clothes she handed me on the bed and step out to take it. It's a file from Jack with more details on Sean Williams and I'm starting to figure out why Sienna accepted my offer. What some of those reasons are that she thinks I know nothing about.She's been leaving breadcrumb
The Deal With The Devil Casino Dreams
SiennaI hate parties. I always have.I pretty much always feel awkward and can never figure out how people stand there and make small talk for hours.There are easily two-hundred people here. Men and women and enough perfume and hair spray to smother you.I notice how when Giovanni walks away, people seem to part to clear his path. The way they look at him, men and women both, I know everyone knows who he is. I wonder if he notices how watched he is. If he cares.As soon as he's gone, I find eyes turn to me. The men appear curious. The women, something else.I drink my vodka and try not to make eye contact with anyone as I walk along the perimeter of the room, looking for a bathroom or someplace to disappear into for the next ten minutes.When Axel walks inside, I'm at the far end and I don't think he sees me when he scans the room. He stands off to the side, his face impassive and closed. I'm guessing he'd like to make small talk with me about as much as I'd like to make it with him
The Deal With The Devil Endorphins Are Multiplying
GiovanniThe meeting that should have taken ten minutes takes almost two hours, and my attention is split.On top of that, there's the voicemail from my brother that I should never have listened to. My bastard brother is telling me to go to hell. Brandishing his victory.He should be more careful. He won a battle. I will win the fucking war.When I walked out to tell Sienna that Axel would take her home and found that man beside her, having almost cornered her, when I saw his hand on her, I lost my shit. All I saw was red.Rage.That idiot boy was touching her.And she looked scared shitless. Pale as a ghost. Eyes huge. And fucking terrified.The elevator seems to be crawling tonight as it climbs to the penthouse. I wonder if she's figured out that she can't leave it without a key yet. That's why I don't keep a man on her in the apartment.When the doors finally slide open, it's dark.I hit the switch and soft light bathes the large, open room."Sienna?" I call out, glancing around to
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