Master of Death (Hollow #2)

CHAPTER 14

Work is busy the following week. I come in earlier, skip my lunches, and leave well after seven o’clock. The plus side is I don’t have time to think about Harvey. The downside is I also don’t have time to search for a place for myself.

I knock on Damon’s door and enter his office, locking up behind me. Watching Damon work is like observing an alpha take his throne—mesmerizing and unforgiving.

I step forward, the click of my heels filling the silence until I’m leaning on his desk near his leather chair.

“I forgot to tell you about Julia. She came to me last week. She knows about us.”

He closes his laptop and pushes his chair back to make space for me between his legs. “I know. I spoke to her.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

His brow arches. “Why didn’t you tell me?” The glint in his eyes begs me to defy him so he can lay me over his desk and spank me.

“I forgot.” I don’t know where my mind has been lately. I’m almost embarrassed to admit that I forgot, as if he’s all I can think about when I’m with him and nothing can ruin what we have.

“You forgot.” He palms the sides of my hips, sliding his hands leisurely.

“Yeah.” I bite my lip, feeling the shift in the air. It’s Friday. I’ve missed Damon. We’ve barely had a second alone like this all week. “I’m distracted around you.”

“Is that so?”

I suck in a breath when his hands reach the hem of my taupe pencil skirt. I nod. “It’s like nothing else matters.”

He stands abruptly, his chair rolling backward. “That’s because nothing else matters,” he whispers in my ear.

Does he believe that? Am I as important to him as he is to me?

Sometimes I look at him and wonder how I got so lucky. He’s not without flaws, but he gets me on a level no one else ever could.

“All the money in the world ... all the eager women ... and yet it can all be so dull and unsatisfying.” He taps my hips, prompting me to sit by the edge of his desk. “Part your legs,” he orders, and I comply, stretching my skirt as much as it’ll allow me to.

“I’m still waiting for the other shoe to drop,” I whisper, my heart hammering against my chest when he lifts my skirt midthigh and pulls down my thong. Once my thong is off, he leans forward, eyeing my pussy, his eyes sex-crazed, his jaw hard as stone.

“What will it take for you to believe me?”

I gulp when his thumb reaches under my skirt to slide it to my waist before skimming his fingers over my inner thigh.

“For you not to run away again and to open up to me.”

His eyes harden for a fraction of a second as he digests my answer. “Oh, Gemma.” He sends a bitter laugh my way. “I wouldn’t be here like this, with you, if you didn’t mean more than you should ever have.”

My breath hitches in response before he gently bites on my jaw.

He leans closer to my face. “I never wanted to love you.”

“But you do?”

He nods, thumbing my bottom lip. “Pity for me. Had to fall for the girl who loves another.”

“As if you don’t love someone else?” I brazenly ask. He’s so close to kissing me, and I don’t want us to argue until he’s done filling me up.

I need him. I need us.

I need the intimacy we share when we have sex.

“To be honest, I don’t fucking know.” He shakes his head. “A small part of me hates what we have because I know I didn’t love her like I love you. I didn’t love her.” He kisses my cheek. “Not like this. So, my first instinct is to run, because it shouldn’t be this easy to let her go. I shouldn’t get to be this happy after what she went through.”

I cup his neck and seal this moment with a kiss that could set fire to a hurricane. My tongue dives in his mouth, teasing him, enjoying how he sucks back at it as I unbutton his dress shirt.

I want to be there for him. I want to listen to him vent. I want to comfort him.

Murder his fears and doubts, his demons and his past, alongside him.

As soon as he takes out his cock and slides it against my sex, I whimper his name, wishing he’d go faster.

He stares at our intimate parts joining and parting ways like he’s discovered the next world wonder. I untuck his white shirt from his slacks, biting on my lip when I see molded abs, and the veins that trail down to his pelvic area.

I gasp when his hand grips at my neck, our lips unwilling to part. Then I moan when he rubs some of my wetness on my clit before picking me up in his arms, tightly holding on to my ass before he sits on the chair with my body straddling his.

He doesn’t waste a second giving me what I crave.

Our bodies are as close as can be, our lips refusing any distance between them. I love it when he presses on my neck tightly, then he lets go, letting me breathe in relief into his mouth.

He repeats the motion while I’m sliding up and down his length.

When Damon’s inside me, I’m in my own little world. Nothing could stop me, not even a knock at the door. It’s like he’s fucking the dead ashes out of me and bringing in life.

We stay still long after we’re both done.

His phone vibrates against his desk, yet he spares it no glance. Instead, he brings my chest to his, kissing my temple as he hugs me.

I’m beat and starving. I don’t even feel like driving back home.

“Your eyes are closing, Gemma. I’ll drive you.”

Too tired to argue, I unstraddle him, pulling down my skirt. I grab my thong from the floor, watching as he walks toward the restroom in his office.

I swallow, knowing what I’m about to do. I’ve barely had a second to think for myself this week, let alone pursue Palmer’s thoughts, yet here I am, my trembling hand hovering over the drawer—the one containing the pink diary. The one with answers I’m looking for, answers he won’t give me.

It’s a massive breach of privacy, but, well, curiosity killed the cat.

And I was never really scared of death.

I open the drawer quietly, grabbing the rest of the pages from the diary, and gently close the drawer. Then I reach my desk, stuffing my thong in my purse along with the diary, which is hidden in the same notebook.

I have time to replace the stack of pages I read already inside his drawer before breathing in relief when Damon steps out and doesn’t question anything. He eyes me warily, though, so I feel the need to explain.

“I thought I heard someone outside.” I shake my head and go to his washroom to clean up, needing a minute to steady my thrashing pulse.

Once we’re in the elevator, I tell him that I’ll sleep at home tonight, since I have a headache. I feel more alert—stealing and lying will do that to you.

“Okay, but I’m driving you home.”

I swallow. My purse feels heavier, yet my fingers are itching to go home and read every line. Take in every word.

My own actions surprise me. I’m not a curious person by nature. I seek adventure and thrills and new things, but I’m never one to meddle in people’s business. With Damon, everything is different.

He makes me more jealous than I’ve ever been.

He makes me want to know all there is about him. I don’t want to wait until he tells me. What if he never does? What if I’m in love with a man who had a hand in killing his lover?

I. Need. To. Know I don’t love a monster—that he wouldn’t hurt someone he previously loved.

When Joey arrives, Damon asks him to drive my dad’s car back to my place, so he won’t have to drive it tomorrow.

When he pulls up in my dad’s driveway, he parks the car, and I know he won’t stay the night. The sad part of me is eradicated by the one who wants to read the diary.

“My mom’s hosting a last-minute gala tomorrow.” He fingers his chin with his thumb. “I want you to come with me.”

“That’s ... I would, but I promised Gia I’d babysit for her.”

His jaw tightens, and I take that as my cue to leave. When I step out of the car, I walk around, waiting for him to slide the window down.

I lean forward and kiss him, my fingers sliding through his hair. When I pull back and stare at him, a look I can’t fathom crosses his features.

“Next time I’ll be there,” I promise, hoping he asks again.

I can’t bail on Gia. She’s done everything a twin sister could possibly do for me over the years, and she seemed too excited when she texted me this week that James was available for their date.

Besides, I’d like to spend time with Athena.

About an hour later, I’ve showered and am waiting patiently for my Thai food to arrive. I pull out the notebook from my purse and keep reading through the entries.

I read more than half the journal, realizing Palmer was a nice girl who liked to follow rules, and who was introduced to Damon by their moms. Her wealthy parents encouraged her to keep painting while she attended college.

She pulled me to the side today, asking me about Gregory. Even though Mom loves Damon, I think she prefers who future Gregory will be. Maybe someone with political ties, someone with more power and money than we could ever need. Deep down, she must know my biggest weakness is seeking to please. Especially her.

My food arrives. I bring it along with a beer to the couch after turning on the fireplace.

I take a few bites, too starved to put it off, as I notice her exquisite handwriting. Then I dive right back in.

I see more and more of Gregory behind Damon’s back. It’s not hard, since Damon works a lot. I sometimes wonder if he has other girls too. I see the way women look at him—like they want what’s mine. Except he doesn’t feel like mine. He feels like someone else’s dream, as if someone lent him to me for a little while. Damon loves tenderly, fiercely, but he doesn’t make love like a tamed man. I tell Gregory this when we talk about us being intimate. It should feel wrong, but it doesn’t.

I shut the book and take a few sips of beer before closing my eyes. How dare she cheat on him. Then I chuckle to myself, shaking my head, because I’m the master villain in Harvey and Claire’s story.

Gregory’s sweet and notices things about me. Damon does, too, but he keeps his observations to himself. Every minute I’m not spending with Damon, I’m spending with Gregory, or painting things that remind me of him. I hear my parents fight about him one night. Mom likes Gregory, while Dad favors Damon. I wish I could choose. I wish they were like Damon’s mother and didn’t care who I ended up with—as long as I’m happy. Perhaps Mom wants to keep Damon to herself. Rumors are she likes them young and freaky.

Tonight’s a special night. I want to be Gregory’s in every way possible. I think I might be falling for him. In fact, I know I am. He showers me with flowers and jewelry before we head to his cottage for the weekend. He makes love to me in front of the fireplace. He moves inside of me with a tenderness Damon could never muster. It’s not that Damon’s brutal with me, because he’s not. It’s that I see the dark waiting to unleash when he tries it my way. It’s too slow for him, too gentle. He looks eager to please me so we can get it over with, and he can go back to roughly stroking himself.

I never thought I’d be this girl, who’s sleeping with two men at once. Separately, of course. Gregory treats me like a princess. I don’t tell a living soul, not even my sister. She’d tell me to choose. Probably Gregory, since she was never a fan of Damon. Always said he was too careless, that he wouldn’t be loyal to me ten years down the line. I suspect Mom knows. She always knows everything. She’s the whispers on the wall when the clock strikes midnight. Secrets rarely stay hidden from her for too long.

I’m three-quarters through the diary when I close my notebook, finishing my beer and my box of food.

I feel empty, searching for truths I can’t seem to find while destroying the trust Damon has in me with every turn of a page.

It’s two in the morning when I check my phone, and my thoughts are in shambles. Would it even matter—whatever happened with Palmer?

Could I even leave him?

I picture his beautiful face when he’s sound asleep, and I know the answer deep within. It’s a disturbing one—one that proves love can truly trump all rationality.

I head for bed, dreaming the same old dreams.

“Easy,” a coarse voice greets me as I take a few sips. The water feels nice until I swallow. My throat is begging me to keep going while my pained chest is sending out burning signals all over the place.

Yet, through the pain, all I can focus on is the rough timbre of his voice.

And the fact that this angel was sent for me.