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He snarled and stood up, charging me. I knew what was coming, and I could have easily avoided it, but I let him shove me into the wall. Pain exploded across my cheek and chin as the rough bricks scraped my flesh.
“You are under arrest!” The jingle of handcuffs echoed as he snatched them from his belt and forced my wrists into them.
I’d never been arrested because I usually slipped away before the cops caught me. Hopefully, I could get myself out of this mess without irreparable damage. Hitting an officer might have gotten me in deeper shit than I expected, though…
My knuckles burnedas I hit the bag with a combination of punches that would knock most people out cold. Officer Barkley had taken me to the nearest station and left me handcuffed at a desk to wait on another officer to process me.
After ten minutes, the cop never showed, and Barkley had already gone back to his patrol, so I just walked out. No one noticed me.
Jayla had made it to Van’s, and I’d gotten one of the twins to help me out of the handcuffs.
My throat closed as tears blurred my surroundings. Jayla would have been better off if I’d forced her to go with Diane that day. She’d be in high school now and probably living a wonderful life. Instead, because of me, she was dead.
A knock reverberated on the door, and I barely turned as Logan strolled in.
“Hi, my beautiful roomie.” He folded onto the window seat, sinking into the mountain of pillows. His expertly tousled golden-brown hair framed his bright blue eyes while he smiled, flashing his white teeth. “I missed you.”
My hands dropped, and I had to step out of the way before the bag hit me. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“I wanted to say hello.”
As the shock of seeing him wore off, my blood boiled, and I shot the high demon a deadly glare. “You lied to me, Logan. You knew Fane would give me to Ruin the whole time, and you said nothing.” My fists tightened and shook by my sides. “You made me out to be a fool for trusting you.”
Logan’s bottom lip poked out as he leaned forward. “I’m sorry for keeping that secret, Tate, but it wasn’t mine to tell. I honestly didn’t think Fane would give you up.”
“You thought wrong.” I returned my attention to the bag, punching it so hard the chains violently rattled.
“Want to spar with me?” Logan asked. “You can hit me as hard as you want. That’ll make you feel better.”
It was tempting, but he only wanted me to do it to makehimfeel better. “I’m good.”
“He really likes you,” Logan said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a bag of peanut M&M’s.
“Who? Ruin?”
“I’m sure Ruin does, but I was referring to Fane.” Logan poured a few pieces of candy into his palm and shook them like dice. “He risked a lot going into Karn’s mansion and killing him to save you. And it had nothing to do with the Infernal Sol.”
My jaw clenched as I pictured the demon shifter’s smug face. “It had everything to do with this stupid amulet.” I motioned to the sun tattoo beneath my black sports bra. “That is the only reason Fane Maverick went into the Underworld to find me. That is the only reason he killed Karn. I was just a means to an end.”
Memories of that night at Logan’s house in the Underworld rushed forward. Fane had held me in the shower and comforted me as I cried. I’d confessed my dark secrets and allowed myself to be vulnerable with him, and instead of turning away like I feared, he understood. His embrace had only tightened.
A shaky breath poured out of my lungs. It had all been a game to him, a way to earn my trust so he could sell me to Ruin. He may not believe I killed his brother in cold blood, but he still despised me for it.
“Princess Venna is lusting for his blood, and so are lots of Karn’s allies.” Logan gave me a knowing look like he could see the lies I’d hand him before they tumbled from my mouth.
Anger burned away the sadness trying to overcome me, and I took it out on the punching bag. “I don’t care.”
Those words tasted like ash. No matter how much I hated the demon shifter, the thought of Fane being torn apart by vicious demons made my stomach clench and knees weak. The tattoo on my neck tingled as if it sensed the thoughts swirling through my mind and wanted to remind me of the man, the beast, that marked me and how I really felt when he was near.
I craved his touch so much that it hurt sometimes. He’d cultivated this addiction in me, and I would never recover from it.
And it only pissed me off more.
“Fane wouldn’t have given you up to Ruin if he’d had a choice,” Logan said over the rattling of the chains and the smacks of my fists attacking the punching bag. “I promise it was the last thing he wanted to do. In fact, I was afraid he’d kill Ruin just to keep you away from him. I could see him considering it.”
The thundering of blood in my ears as anger overwhelmed me drowned out the rest of Logan’s words. My knuckles burned as I struck the bag, the long column fiercely swinging back and forth through the air until the chains snapped.
The bag dropped to the ground with a thud, rattling everything in the room. I glared at it like it broke on purpose, my heavy breaths filling the silence.
