AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She doesn’t wait for a reply of any kind from me, not audible, a nod, or even a lip-twitch—nothing,before she walks from the room on squeaky white sneakers. My eyes linger on the curtain that has been left open so long that Kane shifts, mutters something darkly violent under his breath as he crosses the space to whip it closed. Then he’s on the prowl for me again.
Only, I don’t feel hunted as he and his dark energy come closer. I feel incredibly safe. Cocooned by darkness and frosted blue. Shielded by Siberian ice not even the devil and his hot poker could penetrate.
His low voice is rough, but it touches me everywhere gently as he demands, “What happened?”
I give him a shrug that hurts. “I woke,” I pause and swallow hard. “To a man in my room. On me.”
A terrifying danger bursts within his eyes, and I think for the first time this man might be capable of things. Bad things. Terrible, awful, bad things.
“Did he,” his eyes sweep my body, and he makes a noise. A sound of—is that distress?“Did he rape you?”
I shake my head. “He hurt me.”
He pulls his lips in, letting them loose on a hard roll. “Was it him? Your ex?”
I don’t know how to answer this question. So, I say, “No. And yes.”
He frowns. “There were two men?”
I shake my head. “One.”
“I’m confused, Sunshine.”
“I can’t—talk—about it.”
“Can’t or won’t?”
I look away. I’m suddenly so tired. And I’m so, so deeply afraid. The threat my attacker left me with rings in my mind. He told me not to go to the police, and I won’t. But he didn’t say anything about speaking to a friend—he just told me not to sleep with him, for lack of better words.
Still, I don’t know what to say. What I can say…
“Sunshine?” Kane calls, and I let my eyes fall closed, savouring the sound of that name on his lips.
Then I give him my real name on a broken whisper. My throat hurts so badly. “Nevaeh. My name is Nevaeh.”
This voice is thick. “Heaven.”
My eyes open to land directly onto his. “What?”
“Your name. It means Heaven.”
I nod, swallowing hard. “Yeah.”
“Fitting.” He almost smirks. “A devil would fall for a woman called Heaven.”
The words make no sense at all, but they flood me with an impossible warmth. “What?”
He doesn’t answer or explain. He just demands again, “Tell me what happened, Nevaeh.”
I blink, struck dumb by the whiplash of his words. “I told you.”
“No.” He shakes his head. “You didn’t.”
Again, I look away from him. This time, my gaze pins to the hands that knot in my lap. “My ex—Antonio—is a dangerous man.” I shudder and add astears sting my eyes. Every word stings as it claws its way from my throat, but I force them out. He needs to know. He needs to know so he can drop it. “He’s a monster. He can’t be—I can’t fight him. He wants me to put my ring back on, smile like nothing’s ever happened. And I—I have to.”
He plants a palm into the bed, forcing my eyes to connect with his without even touching me. Danger and threat and organized chaos whirl in his eyes, ribbon through the soft of his tone as he declares, “I’m the bigger monster, Sunshine.”
A tear slips free. The weakness of it brands a hot streak on my cheek I don’t bother wiping away or trying to hide. I’m already broken beyond repair.
