“Saint.” His new name. This part had been in the reports Logan gave her.
“Yeah, they mocked me. Said they were sure I was a fucking Saint who’d been locked up by mistake.”
He had been, though.
“When the other inmates came for me, I fought back. Harder and more viciously than they expected. I kept fighting, every single day, until I looked up and Memphis was back.”
Memphis. They kept returning to him.
“He hadn’t given up on me. He found proof I was innocent. Would you believe it…Bo did it. Bo. The one I wanted to protect. The one I thought needed me.”
Oh, damn. I do not like this plot twist.
“He was tired of being picked on. So he started by getting even with Ronnie. Then every other person that had ever wronged him. Guess he got a taste for it. Some do, you know. Get a taste for the violence. For killing.”
“Why are you telling me this story?” At first, she’d thought…Alice wasn’t sure what she’d thought. That maybe he was telling her he would protect the people who belonged to him. That he would help those who needed him. But, nope. Not the moral of this particular tale.
“I didn’t need to get a taste for violence. I always had one.”
She sucked in a breath.
“You can feel the darkness in me, can’t you, Alice?”
Maybe. Yes.
“I think Memphis felt it, too. That’s why he tried to get me focused. Trained me to hunt criminals. Wanted me to understand that there was a right and wrong way to live in this world. I had been in jail. I knew I didn’t want to go back. I knew I had to stick to the right side. So I blended. I did all the things Memphis told me. I’ve been good at hunting. It’s natural for me.”
She released the breath she’d been holding. A careful exhale. “I feel the darkness.” Why deny it?
“I would not hurt you.” Rasped. Almost…torn from him?
“Saint…Sebastian. Don’t you understand? I don’t fear your darkness.” She turned in his arms. Faced him. Brought her forehead to rest against his. “I like it.”
He didn’t speak again.
Neither did she. But his arms wrapped around her, and he pulled her even closer.
***
“I’m not going to marry you.” Alice took off the engagement ring. Got caught by the bright sparkle. Such a pretty ring. Such a big diamond.
“Of course, you are.” Unconcerned. No, amused.
She put the ring on the table near the door. “I don’t love you.”
Corey laughed as he rose from the couch and headed toward her with his easy grace. “That’s not required.” He smiled at her. The same smile he always had. The one that never seemed to reach his eyes. “You’re perfect for me.”
No. She wasn’t. “I can’t be what you need.”
“You’re exactly what I need.” He stopped before her. “You will never be afraid when I’m close. I can keep you safe from everything. I can make every bit of trouble or pain you’ve felt vanish.”
Perhaps he could. But he couldn’t make her love him. She wasn’t sure that she could love anyone. “You’re not as bad as you pretend to be.”
His eyelids flickered. “Alice…”
“You should be happy. I want you to be happy.” And he would not be happy with her. Because one day, he would want more. He would want love.
She didn’t know if she could ever give that to him or to anyone.
Alice turned away.
“Alice, don’t you leave me!” His voice thundered after her. “Don’t you walk away!”
Her hand reached for the doorknob. “I’m sorry.”
“Alice!”
***
Alice jerked, and her eyes flew open.
Still in bed. Still with Saint.
She’d warned him that she wasn’t an easy sleeper but…Alice squinted to try and see in the dark. Saint didn’t seem to have felt her jolt in the bed. His breathing came deeply, easily, as he continued to sleep.
Being as careful as possible, Alice eased away from him. A bit tricky because he had one arm wrapped around her stomach, but she managed the task. Her feet sank into the lush carpet, and she crept toward her closet. Once inside, she shut the door, dressed quickly and quietly in the dark, then prepared to slip away. If her luck held, Saint would never know that she’d left the house—or the bed. She’d be back long before he awoke.
Alice opened the closet door and nearly slammed straight into the big, muscled chest that belonged to Saint.
His hands came up and clamped around her arms. “Hey, sweetheart,” he murmured, voice tender. “Going somewhere?”
“You were faking.” She should have expected that from him.
“I was sleeping. Then your elbow rammed into my ribs, it sounded like you were hyperventilating, and you dove out of the bed and ran to the closet. Being the good boyfriend that I am, I came to check on you.”
Had she rammed her elbow into his ribs? She— “Boyfriend?” That word pierced straight through her.
“Um. Yes. I know, I’m hardly a boy. But calling myself your manfriend just doesn’t have the same ring, does it? I suppose we could go with lover but, again, not really the way you introduce someone.” His thumbs lightly rubbed her arms. “You don’t walk up to someone and say, ‘Oh, by the way, this is my lover, Saint.’ Just not the way most people do things.”
She didn’t pay attention to what most people did.
“We’ve had sex twice now. You’ve had four orgasms.”
“You need to stop counting.” She was way, way off balance.
“No, I don’t think I will. At least not until you come at least one hundred times for me.”
One hundred— “Stop playing with me.”
“I’m not. Wouldn’t dream of it.” But he released her. “Nightmare, my Alice?”
“Why do you do that?” She skirted around his big, shadowy form. She didn’t turn on any lights. A deliberate move. If someone was watching her house, a light would alert any onlooker.
“Do what? Be sexy? Sorry, it’s just the way I am. Twenty-four, seven.”
He was making a joke? At that particular moment? “I mean why do you say ‘my Alice’ when you talk to me?”
“Oh.” A rustle. Had he just grabbed his jeans? “Didn’t realize I was doing that.”
“You do it a lot.” So much that she’d even tried tossing it back at him and saying ‘my Saint’ but he hadn’t seemed to notice. “Why?”
“Because…” But he seemed to flounder. As if he didn’t know himself.
Hmm. Perhaps she should help him out. “Is it because you’re falling for me, and you want me to belong to you?” A sigh. A despondent one. “Sorry, but that’s just not meant to be. I don’t belong to anyone.” Alice maneuvered for the door. She made sure not to bump into any furniture.
His fingers closed around her wrist. “He left a mark on you.”
“Excuse me?”
“Donovan made you fear belonging to someone. Because he wanted to control you so completely.”
“I belong to myself.”