by James, Marie
Table of Contents
Dancing with the Devil
Copyright
Acknowledgments
Ravens Ruin Series
Synopsis
Epitaph
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Epilogue
Social Media Links
OTHER BOOKS FROM MARIE JAMES
Copyright
Dancing with the Devil
Copyright © 2019 Marie James
Editing by Marie James’s Betas & JA Essen
EBooks are not transferable. All rights are reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be scanned, uploaded, or distributed via the Internet or any other means, electronic or print, without the publisher’s permission.
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale, or organizations is entirely coincidental.
Acknowledgments
Book #24!
Without all of the amazing people supporting me, encouraging me, and listening to me when I ask myself why I keep doing this, I would’ve called it quits a long time ago! I’d be able to read more books and take more naps, that’s for sure!
My amazing, loving, and sometimes extremely annoying husband, thank you for supporting me through another release! Love you to the moon!
My girls, Laura, Brittney, MaRanda, and Steph thank you for always being there! Sanity isn’t possible without you!
BETAs girls! Mary, Brenda, Shannon, Laura, MaRanda, Michelle, and Jamie, you guys totally rocked this book! Thank you for all of your hard work and attention to detail!
Shout out to RRR Promotions. Thank you for your help on this release! It was last minute, but you rocked it like you always do!
Stalkers! You gals are THE BEST EVER! Thank you from the bottom of my mostly dark soul for supporting me, entertaining me, and helping me when I need it. You are the reason the Indie community is so amazing!
ARC readers, thank you so much for getting on top of this and being excited about this release!
Bloggers, thank you so much for sharing, reading, reviewing, and just being all around awesome!
Until next time!
~Marie James
Ravens Ruin Series
Desperate Beginnings: Prequel (Book 1)
(Not a romance, but gives all of the back history on the club)
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Book 2: Sins of the Father
Book 3: Luck of the Devil
Book 4: Dancing with the Devil
Synopsis
I thought leaving her in that room covered in her attacker’s blood would teach her a lesson.
I thought she’d be more careful about her safety.
Little did I know that she’s seeking pain and humiliation.
Well, it’s her lucky day because pain is sort of my thing.
I can hurt her much more than she’s able to hurt herself.
The twist is we’ll both enjoy every second of it.
Epitaph
“Destroy the part of you that searches for angels in places you know only monsters exist”
~ Erin Van Vuren
Prologue
TJ
She’s stunning, the most gorgeous creature I’ve ever seen, but it isn’t her long blonde hair scattered on the pillow or the plumpness in her lips as she lies in repose that heats my blood and kicks my heart up a notch. Her nakedness, the bare curves of her body, and the dusky-rose nipples, drawn tight by the coolness in the air, are merely adjectives, accessories to the real allure.
“Look how fucking sexy that is,” I mutter, shocked at the sound of my voice because I hadn’t meant to praise her perfection out loud.
“Sick fuck,” Briar mutters beside me.
He doesn’t see what I see. He can’t appreciate the transcendent sight of the girl on the bed. His concerns lie elsewhere, which is fine. It gives me more time to admire her.
The sight of her covered in blood has to be the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life. The only displeasure I allow to seep in is the fact that it’s not her blood.
Or mine.
My cock thickens behind my zipper at just the thought of covering her milky smooth skin with my own blood.
“Are we going to leave her there?”
What the hell does Briar expect us to do with her?
“Let her wake up in this mess,” I say without pulling my eyes from her. “Maybe she’ll learn her fucking lesson.”
Honestly, she’s just too superb to disrupt.
The problem, also Briar’s main concerns, are the three dead guys at our feet and the currently living one whimpering in the corner. I ignore all of it as I step over the gore and get closer to her.
“You should be safe at home reading a book or something, beautiful.” I push her hair from her cheek so I can see her face better. “Now, you’re here covered in blood.”
She whimpers, her hazy green eyes fluttering open for only the briefest of seconds before her long lashes rest once again on her rosy cheeks.
“You want to be identified?” Briar hisses from the other side of the room.
Ignoring him, I swipe my finger through a splash of blood on her arm before lifting it to her face. “It was my pleasure saving you.”
Chapter 1
Kaci
“Ms. Stewart?”
I don’t know how long I’ve been here. My head is foggy, like thick vapor. Nothing seems real. The world around me is a fabrication of reality, and if I’m being honest, I’d love to live in this dream state forever. Nothing hurts here. Nothing is hurting me, and I’m not thinking of hurting myself. The change of pace is comforting.
“Ms. Stewart?” I look up at the female glaring down at me. “Take this and wipe your face.”
I saw myself in the mirror before the police arrived at the house party earlier. The ghostly, ashen face that stared back at me was unrecognizable, much like the bodies scattered around the floor.
The heart drawn in blood on my face is both terrifying and soothing, placed there by an angel who had no idea I didn’t want to be saved. Even though I’m reluctant to remove it, I press the damp cloth to my cheek as instructed.
“Why did you kill those men?”
A humorless chuckle erupts from my thro
at. “Kill them? I didn’t kill them.”
“You were the only other person left alive in the room.” The male police officer that has been standing on the other side of the room closes the distance, placing his hands on the table directly in front of me. He crowds my space as if this intimidation tactic is going to work on me. “Three men have been brutally murdered, and you want us to believe that they left you alive for no reason?”
I don’t bother answering. The female police officer looks at me with pleading eyes, as if she’s saying she’s on my side. I’ve watched enough damn TV to know the whole good cop, bad cop routine.
“I don’t know anything.”
“Did your boyfriend do this? Did he catch you upstairs ready to spread your thighs for three men and lose his shit?”
“I don’t have a boyfriend.” Plain, simple truth.
“So some random person comes up there, hacks three people to bits, draws a sick fucking heart on your face, and I’m supposed to believe you had nothing to do with it?”
The female officer’s eyes cut to the man in my face, irritation clear in her eyes, but she doesn’t say anything to reel him in.
“The last thing I remember is dancing downstairs. I don’t even know how I got in that room.” I swallow thickly before continuing. “I-I think they drugged me.”
“Did they rape you?” The female officer pushes away from the wall to get a better view of me.
“I-I don’t know.” I grip the scratchy blanket I was provided at the house tighter around me. “Can you take me to the hospital?”
“Fuck my life,” the male officer huffs before standing and backing away.
“Give it a rest, McGee. Look at her. She can barely hold her head up. I told you she should’ve been taken by medical before she was brought here.”
If looks could kill, the female officer would be dead on the floor. Seems her counterpart doesn’t like to be corrected.
“Do you know, or have you had any prior encounters with Dean Smith, Edgar Romeo, or Chance Brown.”
My head shakes, but Officer McGee doesn’t seem impressed. There isn’t anything I could say right now to make him change his train of thought. I imagine the video evidence could be presented of someone else murdering those guys, and he’d still come after me.
My head shakes again, but the effort is no longer enough to keep the flashes from invading my vision.
“Hey, gorgeous. I’m Max.” I look up at the frat boy I’d noticed earlier in the night. “You look thirsty.”
My hand trembles as I reach for the red, plastic cup. I know what happens after this, not from experience, but from stories I’ve heard and read about recently. I know it wasn’t vitamins I watched this guy pour into a cup very similar to this only moments ago.
“Thanks,” I say with a sweet smile before tilting the cup to my lips.
“I don’t know any of them,” I explain when all McGee does is stare down at me. “I met a guy named Max downstairs.”
“Max wasn’t one of the victims.” McGee spits the words through clenched teeth. Clearly, he’s easily flustered, but I can’t tell them more because I don’t know any details. I’d never be able to explain that I suspected I’d end up in that room with those guys.
The possibilities send a jolt of unease up my spine. Drugged and taken advantage of by Max was a self-destructive bitter pill to swallow, but knowing there were at least three guys up there is a horror I don’t want to consider.
McGee looks over his shoulder at his partner, and I see the slight shake of her head.
“Can you go check on that lead?”
The female cop shakes her head again. “Let’s get Ms. Stewart to the hospital for an examination, and then I’ll be free to follow-up.”
I mouth a thank you to her while McGee is still staring at her. She’s refusing to leave me alone in the room with him, and I’m beyond grateful for that.
“Send her in a cab,” McGee huffs when the officer holds a hand out, indicating for me to stand and follow her.
“I’m taking her. We need to know the results of the rape kit.”
“Rape?” McGee huffs with incredulity.
His eyes sweep up and down my body. I shiver at the perusal, even though the blanket on my shoulders is wrapped tight and touching my knees. I’m naked underneath, but it feels as if he has x-ray vision and can see straight down to my soul.
“Those boys are dead, murdered in cold blood,” McGee says to his partner, his rotund body blocking my path to the door. “And no matter what the exam results are, this department isn’t going to taint their memories.”
“Give it a rest, McGee.”
I slide past both of them and wait in the hall for the female officer. It takes several long minutes before their whispered, yet heated argument comes to an end.
“I’m Detective Abigail Martin.”
She doesn’t bother holding her hand out to shake because she’s well aware that my hands are tangled in the blanket.
“I wish we had some clothes here at the station.”
I watch her back as she begins to walk down the corridor, unsure of where she’s leading me. She’s acting nice right now, but I’m sure it’s a ploy, just another part of the good cop, bad cop skit she and her partner have perfected over the years.
“Follow me, please,” she says over her shoulder when she realizes I’m not following her.
The walk to her car is short and filled with a heavy silence.
“McGee is a dick,” she mutters as we close ourselves into the car.
“That’s not going to work with me,” I advise as I struggle to clip my seatbelt over the blanket without having to expose any part of my skin.
She sighs, nodding at the same time, and I can’t tell if she finally understands that she isn’t going to get anything out of me, or if she understands that I’d never trust her. Either way suits me.
“Can you just take me home?”
“You need to be seen at the hospital.” The sound of her blinker echoes in the silence. “Don’t let what McGee said back there keep you from finding out what happened in that room tonight.”
“It doesn’t matter.” My eyes are trained on the darkness outside the window.
At a red light, I can hear more than see her shift her weight in her seat.
“It matters.” I don’t bother looking at her. “If those guys drugged you and brought you upstairs with the intent to rape you, they got exactly what they deserved.”
Even without my eyes on her, I sense some truth in her opinion, but she still can’t be trusted. Cops will say anything, do anything, to get you to confess.
She sighs again when I don’t engage, but before long we’re pulling up to a small hospital.
“Have you been to the hospital here before?”
“Where are we?”
“Haverhill. I can walk you in, or you can go alone, but either way, the emergency room has to be used since it’s the middle of the night.”
“I’ll be fine.”
Climbing out of the car, I expect her to follow me inside, not to help in any way, but to get whatever evidence she could to take back to McGee to use against me. I’m still stunned that I’m entering the hospital rather than being tossed in a jail cell. They may not have enough evidence to hold me now, but I’m certain they’ll somehow find something to charge me with.
With one last look over my shoulder, I see Detective Martin pulling away. The sight of her taillights as she creeps through the mostly empty parking lot strengthens my resolve.
Why should she stick around? She doesn’t care about me. No one does.
Chapter 2
TJ
Not thinking things through, or more specifically, not caring what happens is sort of my thing. I’ve been this way for as long as I can remember. If an idea pops in my head, I go with it. Why worry about the what ifs? Fate, karma, whatever people want to call it, always has a way of sneaking in when you’re not looking and destroying your life anyway.
My motto? Have fun while there’s fun to have because life will eventually turn to shit in the blink of an eye. I may need to tweak that a little bit before Hallmark prints it, but at the end of the day, I know it’ll be a bestseller.
Not planning, not thinking, not caring is why I’m not questioning dropping Briar off at the clubhouse, only to turn right back around and head to Andover. After only fifteen minutes back home to scrub all the blood from my skin, I was on the road again.
We’d spent two days following the douchebags that drugged and attempted to rape my little sister Molly, but once we knew they were all at the same place, hosting another party where no doubt they were going to try something with another girl, we knew we had to intervene.
As I drive to the hospital closest to the frat house, I don’t let myself focus on what those pieces of shit may have been up to in the weeks since my sister returned home. The simple truth is, they won’t hurt anyone else.
My SUV idles in the darkness of the almost empty parking lot. The emergency room is the only entrance open this late, but there isn’t a cop car to be seen. After twenty minutes of no activity, I pull away, heading toward the police station. It’s been a couple hours since leaving that pretty girl in the frat house, but I can’t I understand why they haven’t taken her to the hospital.
Arriving at the police station just in time to see her walk to an unmarked car, she tugs the blanket closer to her skin before climbing inside. Only now does the cop car take the route to the hospital in Haverhill.
She has been drugged, has woken to a horrific sight, and yet it takes hours for them to get her medical care. My fingers twitch to open the door and slit the cop’s throat after she drops the girl off. The officer couldn’t even be bothered to go in with her. My hand is on the gear shift, ready to follow her to her demise, but the officer drives her car around the lot, putting it in park in the closest space to the entrance. Parking lights glint off the early morning dew beginning to accumulate on the other cars.
