This has gone so much further than navigating Devlin’s playing field to keep myself out of jail.
A muscle jumps in Devlin’s jaw as it clenches. “In my world, it does. The money doesn’t matter. Anything I want, I get it.”
He slides his hand into my hair and tugs a fistful, drawing my head back. A strangled cry catches in my throat. He puts his teeth on the stretched column of my neck, scraping against the skin. I jerk in his hold, heat spearing through me and throbbing between my legs. I hate the way he can manipulate my body.
“Haven’t you learned the rules by now, little thief?” His tongue chases the same path as his teeth. I grit my molars stubbornly to hold in a moan. It’s not fair, it feels so good. “You don’t get to say no.”
I buck against him to throw him off. “Let me go!”
Devlin releases me with a grunt and I stumble over the gravel. It digs into the bare soles of my feet. Clenching my teeth doesn’t help stave off the pain.
“You’re coming with me tonight.”
“I don’t fucking think so.”
Fed up with Devlin, I push up my hoodie sleeve and slap him. The crack of my hand on his cheek echoes in the air.
“I’m not.”
Devlin touches his cheek gingerly, staring at me in surprise.
Good.
Yanking back some control from this entitled asshole feels awesome.
There’s a gleam of respect in Devlin’s eyes for a second before it vanishes. He makes no move to retaliate. I don’t trust him, so I square off against him with my guard up, prepared for whatever he wants to throw at me next.
My chest heaves on a frustrated breath. “You might pay me to do whatever you say, but that doesn’t mean you control me.”
Devlin considers me, cocking his head like I’ve made a play he wasn’t expecting. The corners of his mouth twitch up.
Before our argument can continue, a loud crash sounds from inside, drawing our attention. I spin on my heel, icy dread freezing my veins.
“Mom!”
Devlin is right behind me as we rush inside the trailer.
Twenty-One
Devlin
Macy Davis lies in a slump across the cheap linoleum floor where she collapsed, white as a sheet. Sharp pieces of a broken plate are scattered around her. The faucet in the sink is on.
This is not how I expected things to go when I drove over here to get Blair, no longer able to stand avoiding her.
“Oh my god,” Blair croaks.
Something stirs to life inside my long-frozen heart as Blair crashes to her knees beside her mother, barely missing cutting her knee open on a piece of shattered glass.
Blair’s devotion to her mom is obvious. It’s undeniable she loves her.
Dazed, I step around them to turn off the faucet. An uneasiness prods at me from the inside as I watch Blair tend to her mom. The pieces of the chessboard scatter in my head, strategy knocked askew by an urge to help.
“Mom? Mom!” Blair gently rolls Macy over and touches her cheek. “Mom, wake up.”
It simultaneously calls on the mangled shard inside of me that longs to fit into my family again and makes me burn with jealousy that these two women have a strong connection. A bond I’ll never get to have.
“Can we get her into the car?” Blair asks. “We have to get her to the hospital.”