It was just lust. She realized suddenly that he wasn’t trying to invade her body with his life force and his emotions, turning her into a pile of mush; he was giving her space. She relaxed slightly and released the counter to grab his waist, digging her fingers into the firmness of his muscles.
He made a male noise of satisfaction, and then his tongue was there. Everywhere, and he tasted so good, like man, like Nick.
She wriggled against him and slipped her hands under his sweats over the taut butt she’d admired in his safe room, grinning when he smiled into her mouth. “I like a woman who takes charge.”
“Good, because I have control issues.”
“I noticed.” And then she was up on the counter, her legs around his waist while his hands roamed her back, her ribs, her breasts, while he kissed her like he knew he could find her soul if he kissed her deeply enough.
She couldn’t stop. Couldn’t get enough. Wanted more. “Nick—”
He answered with a flare of emotion that slammed her so hard she lost her breath. It curved around her body, into her soul, seeping through the walls she’d erected. Oh, God. He’d waited until defenses were down, and then he’d slammed her. Her soul reached out for him, drinking greedily at everything he had to offer. She was losing herself to him, merging with him, and it felt so right and so wrong…so scary. I can’t do this. “Nick, stop.” She hit his shoulder with her palm, and he froze, his lips still on hers. “Stop,” she whispered.
“Don’t shut me out.” His voice was hoarse. “You need me.”
“I can’t need you.” She was appalled at how breathless she sounded, how desperate. Maybe he wouldn’t notice.
He pulled back, far enough that he could look her in the eye. “You really believe Satan will make you kill me if we have sex?”
“Not just for sex. For…”
One eyebrow went up. “For what?”
She concentrated on smoothing out the hair on his chest. “If he thinks I care about you at all. Or you care about me. He’d never stand for it. And when you do that thing with your emotions when you’re kissing me…well…it sort of…” She took a deep breath. “…it makes it different.”
“Different.” His hands were on her hips now, his thumbs making circles.
She looked up at him, still fiddling with his chest hair. “Don’t get me wrong. I don’t care about you, or Dani, or your mom or Paige or any of you guys, but if I did kill you, I’d feel really bad. Because I’d know that the only reason you had to die was because of me, and after that whole thing with Gabriel…well…I’m not really up for another guilt trip, you know? I don’t want that kind of burden.” And I hate how I lose myself in you. How you make me not care if I’m in control anymore. I can’t handle that. I need to control myself.
“I can understand that.” He was gazing at her with an inscrutable expression on his face, almost as if he’d heard every word she hadn’t spoken aloud.
“So, it’s not to protect you. It’s to protect me.” She took a deep breath and managed a grin. “It’s all about me, of course.”
“Mmm…”
She frowned. “Mmm? What does that mean?”
“It means, I’m thinking.”
Her frown deepened. “There’s nothing to think about. You need to keep your distance from me.” She pushed on his chest, not that he moved. “Even if you could help me with the Terrors, it’s too risky. When I cut my ties to Satan, it’ll be enough. I won’t be dark anymore, the Terrors will hit the road, and life will be grand.” Her voice grew stronger. “Don’t you see, Nick? The only way for me to beat the Terrors is to break free of Satan’s life force. That’s how I have to do it.” She rubbed her temples, suddenly so tired. “I just have to stay alive until I get it done.” She slapped her hand over his mouth when he started to talk. “And don’t you dare tell me I’m not going to be able to do it. I don’t need to hear that right now. Got it?”
He nodded, but she felt like he wasn’t really agreeing.
Paige’s face appeared in the window, then she yelled and banged on it, then disappeared from view, and Becca could hear her running around the house to the door.
Nick stepped aside as Paige bounded into the room, then launched herself at Becca, throwing her legs and arms around her in a huge hug. “I’m so glad you’re okay! I was totally freaked out! Never pretend to die again! I love you!”
Becca grunted from the impact, and her arms went around Paige to keep them both from losing their balance. “Get off me, apprentice.”
Paige hugged her tighter. “Being around Yasmine made me realize how lucky Nick and Dani are to have a mom. She and I decided that you’re as close to a mom as I’ve got, so you can’t die. I need my mom.”
Oh, God. She wrenched herself free of Paige’s grip, panic whizzing through her body. “I’m not your mom.”
Paige beamed at her. “You are now. I’ve adopted you. Every girl needs a mom. And I pick you. I mean, you’re already telling me I can’t have sex with guys. That’s such a mom thing! Plus, you let me borrow your clothes. I mean, they’re slut clothes, but that just means you’re cool!”
“Paige…” This couldn’t happen. “You have to stop this insanity right now.” She heard Nick shift behind her and she glanced at him, surprised to see a soft look on his face as he watched Paige. What was that about?
“Mom. That sounds so cool, doesn’t it?” Paige said.
Becca focused on her apprentice, grabbing Paige’s shoulders. “Don’t you get it? I can’t like you. If you screw up as an apprentice, Satan will order me to kill you. If he realizes I like you, he’ll order me to kill you. If he finds out you like me more than him, he’ll order me to kill you!” Her knees started to tremble at the thought of killing Paige, and she sat down hard when Nick thrust a chair under her butt.
Paige beamed at her. “Well, too bad for him, right? Never come between a mother and her babies when she’s protecting them, and all that.”
“Paige—”
“I’m going to go check on Jerome. Bye, Mom!” And Paige darted out of the room, her feet thudding on the stairs as she sprinted up them.
Oigh. She groaned and looked at Nick, who was leaning against the fridge looking thoughtful. “Save me.”
“Save yourself. She’s just a kid. You should be able to handle her. Kill her off. Get her out of the way.” He levered himself off the fridge. “Or can’t you? Feel a little protective of her? Kind of like how I feel about Dani?” He came to a stop in front of her. “Or do you feel like you couldn’t live with yourself if she died and you could stop it?”
She stared at him, unable to reply, because that’s exactly what she was feeling.
He brushed her wrist with his fingers and then nodded with satisfaction. “The timer goes off on the pus bubble at midnight tomorrow night. If Satan has to die to save Dani, then he has to die.”
Becca clenched her jaw, finally beginning to understand how he could make that statement. “Then I guess I’d better be disconnected from him by then.”
Nick’s eyes flashed, and he nodded. “I’m going to grill Jerome about what he knows about the Dani situation.” He hesitated. “Jerome read the files on the Council’s experiments with the Rivkas. He might have some ideas that could help you get free of Satan’s—”
She was already out the door and halfway up the stairs before he finished talking.
Seventeen
By the time Nick got to Dani’s old room, where Jerome was staying, the women had all pulled up chairs around the bed. His ma was working on him while Becca tried to pressure his ma into letting her interrogate him. Becca’s leg was jiggling with impatience, and Paige was staring at Becca with a look of total adoration on her face. Something inside him twitched at the sight of all these people he cared about in the same room, working together.
He sat down next to Becca, letting his shoulder brush against hers, and felt a smug sense of satisfaction when she didn’t move away.
Yasmine sat back. “He’s up f
or a short interview.” She frowned at Becca. “Short.”
Nick stood up and loomed over his best friend, who was looking rather pale on Dani’s flowered sheets. “Did you sleep with my sister?” He managed to keep his voice even, but he couldn’t keep his fingers from digging into the footboard so tightly that it cracked under his grip.
Yasmine jerked upright in the window seat. “What? Jerome and Dani?”
Jerome paled. “I meant to tell you—”
Paige stood up and slammed a pillow down on Jerome’s face. “Bastard! You broke her heart, and that’s why she had to start dating that jerk who got her entombed in that vesicle of hell pus!”
“What?” Jerome snatched the pillow out of her hand. “Who is she dating? When did that start?”
“Oh, like you get to be jealous!” Paige shouted. “You’re a bastard.”
Jerome groaned and let his head fall back on the bed. “I didn’t mean to hurt Dani,” he said, his gaze searching out Nick’s. “I was just not prepared for the situation and how it turned out—”
Nick held up his hand. “Skip the details. Dani’s in trouble now, and we need to know everything you know.”
“Dani’s in trouble?” Yasmine’s voice was lethally quiet as she rose to her feet from the window seat. “You’ve been here all day and you didn’t tell me my baby girl was in trouble?”
Becca slipped her arm around Paige’s shoulders as the girl grabbed a heavy dictionary and headed toward the bed. “Give him a chance to tell us what we want to know before killing him. Works better that way.”
“I don’t want information. I just want to hurt him. I’m a Rivka. I’m supposed to inflict harm on others.”
“Yes, on people who are already in hell who have bargained their souls to Satan.” Becca sat Paige back down in a chair. “You don’t beat up innocents, even if you don’t like them. Sit.” She held up a finger as Paige’s mouth opened. “No. Just be quiet. And remember, you’re a Rivka. You don’t have friends. Which means you don’t get to avenge Dani’s honor.”
“But—” Paige snapped her mouth shut as Becca held up her finger for silence again.
“Why don’t you go for a run?” Becca suggested. “Rivkas have to stay fit.”
“A run? Now?” Paige blinked. “You’re just trying to get rid of me.”
Becca smiled. “Yes, but I’m also trying to teach you how to calm yourself down when your emotions get out of control. Now go.”
Paige muttered under her breath the whole way out the door and they heard the front door slam.
Yasmine hands were clenched tight. “What’s going on with Dani?”
Nick explained the situation quickly, watching Jerome’s reaction. His friend got more and more agitated and paler the longer Nick spoke. By the time he finished, Jerome was pulling on his boots to head over to Dani’s apartment. “I have to go see her.” He fumbled with the laces and cursed, and didn’t even bother to duck when Yasmine smacked him in the forehead for swearing. “God, I can’t believe she’s been blistered.” He jerked his gaze up, looking at Nick. “You have to kill Satan, you know. We can’t let Dani die.”
Becca cleared her throat. “I’m right here. If he kills Satan, which I won’t let him do, then I die.”
Jerome made a “so what” gesture with his hands. “I don’t love you.”
“You love her?” Yasmine asked. “Then how could you leave her?”
Jerome stood up and raked a hand through his hair. “I freaked out. It was Dani. I went to find her a couple days later, but she disappeared. I thought she was blowing me off, so I let her. Figured we both needed time to sort it out.” He stopped talking suddenly as his gaze landed on the bookshelf, where there was a picture of Dani from her high school semiformal. He stared at it for a long moment, then sank down on the desk chair and groaned, leaning forward and pressing her photo to her forehead. “Dani,” he whispered. “I’m so sorry.”
No one walked over to give Jerome comfort.
Nick felt the pain emanating from his friend, but he didn’t care. Couldn’t care. All he could think about was Dani, and the fact that Becca’s life was also tied into the mess. “Jerome. We think Dani was dating Satan Jr.”
Yasmine squawked with disbelief, and Jerome’s head snapped up, his eyes bleary. “You’re kidding.” Jerome stood up and paced the room, clutching Dani’s picture in his left hand, cursing repeatedly to himself.
“How in the world would Dani have met him?” Yasmine asked.
Jerome stopped and turned around. “There have been rumors going around that Satan Jr. had been recruiting Markku to help him in his battle to dethrone Satan. I knew Nick was the only one who could fend off any Markku if the rumors were true, which is why I hired him.”
Nick frowned. “Why didn’t you tell me that?”
“Because I wasn’t supposed to know.” Jerome took a deep breath, obviously trying to pull himself together.
“What does this have to with Junior and Dani?” Yasmine asked.
Jerome looked at Nick. “Dani knows Nick’s dad was Markku.”
“Impossible.” He looked at his ma. “Isn’t it?”
“I never told her, and since she has a different dad, I never thought of it. It had no bearing on her.”
“She knows, and it pissed her off that you guys didn’t trust her with the information,” Jerome said. “It also made her mad that Nick was something special, with his hell blood. She wanted to be like him.”
“From hell? Why?”
“Because she looked up to you.” Jerome looked at Yasmine. “Because she knew you were the favorite. She wanted to be noticed.”
“And how do you know all this?” Nick asked. “Why would she tell you?”
Jerome shrugged. “I guess she trusted me.”
“And you betrayed her.” Nick’s fists clenched again. The glass in Dani’s picture cracked and the room began to shake from his rage, but he couldn’t stop it. “You drove her into the bed of a sociopath.”
Jerome was on his feet now. “I’m going to make it up to her, so back off!”
Then Becca was by Nick’s side, her hand on his wrist, silently sending him her inner strength. Her self-control. Gratefully, he latched onto it, ratcheting down his rage until he had it back its cage.
“Hey!” Yasmine snapped her fingers. “Settle down. We need to focus. Nick, you can kill Jerome later.” She pointed at Jerome. “How did Dani meet Satan Jr.?”
Nick took a deep breath and threw his arm around Becca, pulling her against his side, drinking in her strength. She wrapped her arms around his waist and allowed him to feast, and he felt her satisfaction that she could help him.
“I don’t know how Dani met him,” Jerome said. “But after we…ah…well, after our relationship changed, that’s when all that shit went down with the Goblet and Satan and Satan Jr. I got busy, and she thought I was using work as an excuse to avoid her.” His fingers tightened on the picture. “She got pissed and said that Satan was more important to me than she was.” He shrugged, looking beaten. “She was right, in a way.”
Becca interrupted them. “Junior’s been frozen for three weeks, so who put Dani in the blister two days ago? Who wants Satan dead?”
God, she was right. He was obsessing so much about Dani’s virtue he was losing sight of the bigger picture.
Nick sat down and pulled Becca down onto his lap so he could think, relieved when she settled against him without protest, apparently realizing he needed physical contact with her to focus. “Dani wasn’t in the bubble the first time she called, which was right after the Markku broke in after Satan Jr. When she called back a couple days later, things had changed. She wasn’t in control of the situation anymore.” Nick rested his chin on Becca’s shoulder and let his mind sort out the information. “So, Dani’s call must have been a ruse to get me away from Satan Jr. so someone could get to him. When I didn’t go the first time, the stakes were raised so I’d have to go after Satan. Added bonus if I killed Satan.” He stood
up, pacing the room. “So, they wanted Satan dead and Satan Jr. free, and they used Dani to do it.” He turned and face the group. “But who are ‘they?’”
A door slammed downstairs. “Becca! Omigod, Becca! You won’t believe this!” Paige raced up the stairs and flung the door open. Her face was flushed and she was drenched in sweat. “There’s a bus coming up the driveway. It’s full of souls Satan released from hell who want to kill you. Apparently, your location got posted on the Internet and they’re all coming. I ran back through the woods to beat them here.” She paused to bend over and suck in some air. “What do you want me to do?”
Nick smiled when Becca just sighed with annoyance. No panic on her part.
“A busload of assassins?” Becca ambled over to the window and flicked the curtain aside to reveal dust rising from behind a hill, no doubt from the bus. “I really don’t have time for this.” She glanced at Nick, and he could see the worry in her eyes. Too many threats closing too fast on her. Her time was running out.
“Can I deal with them? Please?” Paige asked, her fists clenched by her side.
Becca hesitated. “Are you sure you’re ready? There’s lots of not-so-nice people out there.”
“Totally! Can I?”
“Sure.” She hesitated, then said, “Hold out your hands.”
Paige stuck them out, still breathing heavily, and Becca hesitated, then clasped them, palm to palm, as Nick sat up more erectly. Was she doing what he thought she was doing?
After a moment, Paige shrieked and yanked her hands free. “Oh my God! What did you do? That hurt!” She hopped around the room, her hands clenched in tight fists.
Becca smiled and threw a fireball at her. Paige immediately threw up her hand, and a fireball shot out of her palm and crashed into Becca’s. Paige stared at the mini-explosion. “You gave me fireballs?” she whispered.
“I figured you needed it to deal with the bus.”
Nick felt a flash of pride for the apprentice. “You earned it, Paige.”
“I love you!” Paige threw her arms around Becca, and Becca couldn’t help but smile as Paige danced away from her. “This is so awesome.” She shot one at Nick, then giggled when he batted it away. “Sturdy elf, my fanny. You’re not an elf, are you?”
He Loves Me, He Loves Me Hot Page 17
