“Okay,” I mutter to myself, lowering her bag to the floor and taking off toward an open door.
My heart jumps into my throat the second I stand in the doorway and realise my mistake.
Facing Jodie’s mum was never going to be the biggest problem with coming in here. Seeing the evidence of their lives, their past… that’s where the torture lies.
“Jesus,” I breathe, my legs moving me toward the array of photographs that cover almost every surface and the walls.
They span years, laying out every aspect of Jonas’s life. One that no one knew he was living.
My hands tremble as I find images of him and Joanne as teenagers. Joker as a baby. Jodie in Jonas’s arms. And all the way up to photos of her and him probably no more than a year ago on what seems to be some kind of holiday.
When the utter fuck did he find the time to have a holiday?
Where did we think he was?
Working, probably. Lying through his fucking teeth about where he was.
How did no one know about this?
Or did they?
I try to think back to when we first found out that he was the sick mastermind behind the attempts on Stella’s life. I try to recall everyone’s reactions. Were they true? Or did someone, Damien, Charon, anyone already know that he had a secret life?
I find it hard to believe that no one could have known. But at the same time, we all live such fucked-up and twisted lives that I wouldn’t put it past any of them to know and turn a blind eye. Hell, for all we know, they’re all doing the same thing.
My hands are trembling and my heart is racing to the point I’m light-headed when Jodie’s footsteps pound down the stairs.
“She’s not here,” she says in total disbelief as she stares at her phone. “She’s… she’s gone out.”
“That’s good… right?” I ask, stepping toward her and putting the reality of the reason I’m standing in the middle of her house right now behind me.
“Y-yeah. It’s great. It’s just a shock.”
“She’s coming back to life, baby. Everything is going to be okay.” But despite my words, she still looks on the verge of breaking once more. Probably wise, considering the situation, but I’m hardly going to point that out.
Wrapping my hand around the back of her neck, I pull her into my body and hold her together.
“Thank you,” she whispers. “I honestly have no idea how I’d have got through the last few weeks if I hadn’t met you.”
“I’ve done nothing, Jodie.”
She shakes her head against my chest.
“You’ve done everything.”
We stand there in each other’s arms as silence settles around us. My skin prickles as if I’ve got a million eyes on me, and as I look over my shoulder, I realise I have. And they’re all his.
When his presence becomes too much to bear, I release my arms and tuck my fingers under her jaw so she has no choice but to look at me.
“So are you going to distract me from going home by showing me your bedroom or what?”
Her eyes flash with desire despite the numerous orgasms I’ve given her this weekend. My girl is seriously insatiable. Something I’m more than happy to indulge her in.
Suddenly, Stella and Seb’s irritating addiction to each other is starting to make sense.
“I do think you need distracting. Going home to do school work sounds boring as fuck.”
“You might be onto something there, Demon.”