“Your boss… You’re working for his organization?” My heart sank, and I took a deep breath. “Number one, Emeric isn’t a fucking king, and he won’t become one. Ever. Number two, if you didn’t cut yourself and drip blood onto a special sort of fire…”
Piper’s confused and incredulous look dried up my words.
Yeah, that sounded crazy. I knew it did. But I had childhood memories that sounded even crazier. Before Possession, I’d half wondered if they were a coping mechanism my brain had cooked up because I’d spent most of my childhood locked in the basement or outside, forced to stay out of my stepmother's hair. She hadn’t wanted kids, after all, nor had she wanted to marry a man with baggage (i.e. a kid). She’d married my father anyway, and it had come as an awful shock when he’d died early, leaving her as the sole provider for said baggage. The only thing was…the memories were from before my father had died.
And then I met Emeric, and all of those memories made a lot more sense.
Whereas most kids grew out of fairytales, I was supposed to be growing into them. Too bad these fairytales were more like nightmares.
I cleared my throat to get back on track.
“If you didn’t make a deal, you have a way out of this, Jack. Take the way out of this.”
“What the hell is everyone talking about?” Piper demanded, her anger rising.
“Since when do you have a real job?” Noah asked, clearly not thrown by the talk of cutting extremities and dripping blood over fires.
Jack ignored them. His eyes flicked up to me again.
I knew that look. He’d already bought in. He would take me in or get punished for failing.
I had two options: fight my way out of the car, or go along with this so no one else would get hurt.
If it weren’t for Piper, I’d take Option A. I’d learned a thing or two in the last five years. Jack couldn’t hope to overpower me, any more than Noah or Bo could. The problem was, I hadn’t learned any control. If I forced my way out of here, Piper might get hurt in the crossfire. Something Emeric was sure to have thought of. That fucking asshole.
I sighed and looked out the window. I hated that he was going to win.
Butterflies filled my stomach at the thought of seeing him again. Excitement. Dread.
“What do you get out of this?” I asked softly.
“Money, for one,” Jack said, taking a right on Cookie Cutter Lane. That name did not belong in this town.
“Seriously, Jack, what are you talking about?” Piper demanded, her face turning red.
“A higher weight class with higher purses and the ability to win, for two,” he went on.
The ability to win would stem from a boost in strength, speed, and resistance to injury… All he’d have to lose was his humanity. No biggie.
“And a new gig as a bodyguard.” His eyes flashed in the rearview. “What do ya say, Jae? Fancy your own UFC champ bodyguard?”
I twisted my lips to the side. “That depends. Will you wear the cheesy belt? I’m awfully fond of dollar store championship belts.”
He grinned. “That’s all getting an upgrade. The king is moving the fighting underground, stripping away some rules and pairing it with some high-stakes gambling. If I get the boost I was promised, I can bump up a weight class and make some real money.”
“Or maybe, I don’t know, get a day job and keep your soul. Lots of options,” I said breezily.
He turned right onto a large street named Devil’s Gate. It led to one destination and one destination only: Possession.
“Okay then, this is happening,” I said softly as Piper argued with Jack.
I calmed myself as we crawled toward the three-story nightclub, the front lit up with bright neon and blinking lights. The name of the club was painted halfway across the building façade. Little devil horns rose above the last “o” in Possession.
Emeric was not fond of subtlety.
My stomach flipped, and I looked away. Memories crowded for attention: soft, full lips pressing against my flesh, a hot tongue swiping across my nipple, tricky fingers sliding into my panties…
“You okay?” Noah was looking over at me as we rolled to a stop behind a Ferrari.
I swallowed and barely stopped from fanning my face. Damn Emeric, I hated how much he affected me. How he called to me, demanding my presence and then my submission.
How good it felt when I gave in.
“YUP!”
Everyone in the car went silent and looked at me, Jack’s eyes in the rearview again.
“Whoops.” I cleared my throat. “My bad on the volume. Yes, I’m fine.”
There was no fucking way I could go into that club. If I did, I ran the risk of giving myself to a demon all over again. This time he would make sure it was for good.
2
Jack stopped beside the valet booth and put the BMW in park. He looked at me. “Stay in the car until I come around for you. I need to make sure you make it into the club.”
"Are you fucking serious?" Piper yelled at him. She half-turned and held up a finger for me. "No. I’m sorry, Jae, I had no idea what kind of cumsplat I was dating. Get out of this BMW, and we’ll walk down the street and get an Uber.”
“You’re coming, too.” Jack glanced at her.
“Like hell I am.”
Jack grinned before getting out. His reaction said it all. He knew exactly what waited inside those doors. He probably thought it was cool.
He was an idiot.
His door slammed shut.
“You go home,” I told Piper in a low, urgent voice. “You need to go. There’s no help for him now. I can look after myself, but you don’t need any part of this. You have to leave.”
She gave me a death stare. “We look after each other at clubs, Jaelyn. We made a pact, remember? No way in fucking hell am I going to let you go into a place like that without someone watching your back. But it doesn’t matter—we aren’t going. We’re getting out of here. Come on. Get out of the car.”
She did exactly that and slammed the door behind her.
“I hate when couples have domestics in public,” Noah said grumpily, yanking his door handle to open it. “It’s awkward as fuck.”
“No shit, right?” Bo said, hanging back for a moment. “Still, what the fuck is Jack talking about? We can’t force girls into a club if they don’t want to go. I don’t want to be involved in this, bro.”
Noah hesitated, glancing first at Bo and then at me. His eyes sparked with something like protectiveness. He nodded.
“Yeah. This isn’t cool,” he said. “Bo and I will walk you girls down the way a bit and wait for you to get an Uber, okay? I don’t know what Jack is smoking, but no way can he drag you girls into the club if you don't want to go. I have no idea why you wouldn’t be dying to go to this party, but wrong is wrong.”
My heart got a little squishy. I smiled at him. “Thanks, that’s really kind of you.”
Too bad it was a moot point. Emeric was playing some sort of game. I’d always been the little mouse to his cat. He’d gone this far, and he wasn’t going to let me uber my way out.
Steeling my courage, I took a deep breath.