"Good." The viciousness in her voice surprises me. My Dani is typically soft-spoken, firm when she needs to be, but never vindictive. But I guess having someone try to break you will change your perspective on violence.
"Dani, about what Tommy told you…"
"Are you really a cop?"
The question hangs in the air between us like a loaded gun. This is it. The moment of truth that's going to determine whether I still have a marriage or if I've lost the most important thing in my life along with my cover.
"Baby…"
"You know what?" She closes her eyes, and a tear leaks out from beneath her lashes. "Don't answer that. I can't take anything else right now."
"I love you," I tell her, bringing her hand to my lips. "That's all that matters. When I heard he had you..."
"I love you too," she whispers. "Even though you're an idiot who apparently has a death wish. You shouldn't have come in guns blazing, the way you did."
I laugh, and it hurts my ribs, but it's worth it to see her smile. "Fair enough. But I'm your idiot."
"Yeah," she says, settling back against her pillows. "You are."
Clearing my throat, I inhale deeply, hoping to settle my rolling stomach. “Your parents are here, and they’ve been waiting to come in and see you. I’ll give you a few minutes alone with them, then I’ll be back. I have to make a few calls.”
She nods, accepting what I’ve said.
I lean forward and kiss her forehead, careful not to jostle any of her injuries. She's hurt, and she's angry, and we've got a long road ahead of us. But she's alive, and she's mine, and right now that's enough.
Everything else we can figure out later.
Chapter 16
Dani
"He's a cop..."
I wake with a gasp, and beside me, Devil sits up, before wrapping me in his arms. It's been three weeks since I was taken, beaten, and brought home. My heart is pounding against my chest, and I'm pulling in large gulps of air, trying to control my wildly beating pulse.
"You're okay," Devil presses my hair back from my face, holding me to his bare chest. "I've got you."
Since I got home, I've shied away from him in the daylight, ashamed of the damage to my face, but at night, I hold on with everything I have. He hasn't tried to kiss me yet, but his strong body protects mine. It lays in between the door and myself, daring anyone who might be coming for us to go through him first.
The nightmare fades as it always does, replaced by the steady rhythm of Devil's heartbeat beneath my cheek. His fingers trace gentle patterns along my spine, and I feel my breathing finally begin to even out. The room is bathed in summertime moonlight streaming through the curtains, casting everything in soft shadows.
"Another bad one?" he asks quietly, his voice rough with sleep, and frustration. He's annoyed that he can't take this away from me, he's whispered it enough times in the dark for me to be fully aware.
I nod against his chest, not trusting my voice yet. The dreams are always the same, that warehouse, the smell of tobacco and fear, Tommy's cruel words echoing in my head. But this time, there was something else. A flash of a badge, a uniform, images that don't quite make sense.
Devil shifts beneath me, and I feel him press a kiss to the top of my head. "You want to talk about it?"
"No," I whisper, my fingers curling against his warm skin. "Just... hold me."
His arms tighten around me, and some of the tension leaves my body. This has become our ritual, me waking in terror, him anchoring me back to reality with his presence. We don't talk about the future, about what comes next. We don't talk about the past either, about what brought us to that warehouse and me getting taken. We just exist in these quiet moments between when I wake up terrified, and when the sun comes up again.
"Dani," he says softly, and there's something different in his voice tonight. Something that makes me lift my head to look at him.
Even in the dim light, I can see the intensity in his dark eyes. His hand comes up to cup my face, thumb brushing carefully over my cheekbone where the worst of the bruising has finally faded to a sickly yellow-green.
"You know I'm not going anywhere, right?" he says. "Whatever happens, whatever you're going through in that head of yours, I’m here."
My breath catches. There's something so raw, so honest in his expression that it makes my chest ache. Without thinking, I lean down and press my lips to his. We haven't been close since the day in the warehouse. I've been scared.
