Wicked Game

by Romy Lockhart

  He sounds genuinely angry. Good, I am too. I don’t need your opinion. You told me Diana could get to my men when she couldn’t.

  “It’s better for new Goddesses to err on the side of caution, Eden. You can’t even read minds yet.”

  Hah! Want a bet?

  He folds his arms. “That was a fluke. You don’t even know how you did it.”

  So what if it was? I bet I can get Lawson to sit down and show me how to do it later.

  “You need to go home, Eden. Listening to a God is not the answer. You don’t know him.”

  I’d ask why, but I already know he’s been lying to me. What would stop him now? I don’t need him filling my head up with more bullshit.

  “There’s a reason Gods and Goddesses don’t mix.”

  And I’m sure you won’t tell me what that reason is. Get talking, or get lost.

  He takes the second option, and I’m left sitting in awkward silence with a guy whose bones I can’t jump yet. A guy who doesn’t trust me yet. I hold in the laughter that wants to burst forth at the thought of spilling my guts to him now. I was just mentally screaming at a guy you couldn’t see, Eli.

  I’m sure he wouldn’t think I was crazy in the slightest.

  But Cupid owes me one, and I’m going to make sure the favor means Eli gets to know what I am. He’s one of mine, and I want no secrets between us. The sooner the better.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Asher

  I go home to Eden’s house after my shift and find a familiar car in her driveway. The dark-haired woman behind the wheel waves as she leaves, a catty smile on her lips. Shit. I can’t believe I didn’t think of it before now. If Eden’s mother was like her, then Diana’s mother must be a Dark Forces Goddess like her daughter had been. From what Eden told us last night, the only reason a Goddess of Destruction would have for coming near her is to try to come at her. Through her men.

  I park and rush into the house. I don’t need to worry about being targeted, considering I can’t die, but there’s someone home who really does.

  “Nick?” I call out to him as I get inside.

  “In the kitchen,” he calls back.

  I reset the alarm and move quickly.

  He’s burning something while he stirs something else. I go over and turn down the heat on the slightly scorched chicken.

  “What are you doing, exactly?”

  He shrugs. “Finding out the only thing I’m good at cooking is breakfast, apparently. This is supposed to be Spanish Chicken.”

  “It doesn’t look like Spanish Chicken.” The sauce looks more like gravy, and it stinks. I screw up my nose and spot the book wedged open at the recipe. It’s a book from the library, and it’s covered in tomato paste.

  Nick just smiles and shrugs. “Oh well. I have more useful talents.”

  I tear my gaze away from the ruined book, and remember why I just stormed in. “Did you just speak to that woman who was here?”

  He nods as he tries to keep up with his cooking, despite how obviously ruined it is. “She seemed nice. Kind of. Like if a vampire was trying to make nice and not show its teeth to humans, that kind of nice.”

  “Uh, yeah. That sounds like Catherine.” I want to touch him, to see what happened, but it feels weird to do it. I have to get over that. I need to know what she did to him, what Eden might be up against.

  “You’re looking at me funny.” Nick raises an eyebrow at me. “What’s up?”

  “That woman was a Dark Forces Goddess.”

  “No shit?”

  “I need to check if she did anything to you.”

  “You need to... Oh. Okay.”

  He turns off the heat on his already ruined dinner and holds out his arm. I look down at the tattoo covered flesh before I place my hand on his forearm. The light takes a second to appear. When it does, I raise my eyes to lock gazes. I don’t think it’s needed, but I want to watch his face in case his expression doesn’t match what he tells me. “What did she do to you?”

  “She asked me where Eden was.”

  “Did you tell her?”

  “I said she was out.”

  “Was that all?” It couldn’t be. Catherine Milner was a much nastier version of her daughter. She had to have a reason for coming here. Something important. Wait. I’ve got it.

  Eden caused her daughter to become mortal. My stomach sinks as I realise how bad things have just gotten.

  Nick makes a ‘hmm’ noise and then nods. “Yeah, that’s it. That’s all. She left without giving her name.”

  I let his arm go. So she didn’t target Nick. What does that mean? She has a more complex plan, most likely. Diana’s devious streak lacked the finesse of her mother’s. It’s usually obvious what she wants. It’s never obvious with Catherine, until she strikes.

  “Shit.”

  “Did I do anything I shouldn’t have?”

  I shook my head. “That woman was Diana’s mother. I don’t think she’ll be happy that Eden’s actions caused her daughter to become mortal. Of course, that’s conjecture, but why else would she show up now?”

  “Holy shit,” Nick says, shaking his head. “That does not sound good.”

  It’s an understatement to say the least. I’ll have to tell Eden when she calls. She needs to know another threat reared its head. A bigger threat, I remind myself.

  Nick sighs as he gives up on his cooking attempts and claps the ruined recipe book shut.

  “Well, dinner’s fucked. Where can we get take-out in this town?”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Eli

  Being pushed away was nothing less than I expected. Eden’s words had just stirred my desire for her into a frenzy. I couldn’t have stopped myself from kissing those soft lips of hers in that moment, but I knew it was too soon to get more intimate, even if my body wanted it so badly that the erection she’d caused was refusing to go down. It’s easy to feel like I know her, inside and out, because she’s famous as hell and private details of her life have been spilled out all over the tabloids. The truth is I don’t know the important stuff.

  She doesn’t know my secrets, and I don’t know how she would react if she found out. I killed her bodyguard. She might forgive that if she knew he’d tried to kill Asher. Or her moral compass might be too straight for what Logan did to matter.

  She comes out of the bathroom and we go back into the kitchen, then Eden decides we’re moving into the living room to sit and wait for Lawson’s return. I’m tempted to go into the bathroom and get rid of the rock-hard problem in my jeans by taking it in hand, but leaving Eden alone wouldn’t be acceptable so I ignore the damned thing and hope it’ll go down on its own.

  The awkward silence we settle into is heavy. I want to talk to her, but I’m afraid I’ll spill out all of my secrets. Tell her everything and send her running for the hills. Too soon, Elias. Too fast.

  Too bad I don’t think anything sexual is going to happen until I tell her. She knows I’m hiding something. I wonder if she’d still be so eager to flirt if she knew I put a bullet in her old bodyguard. Did she even like him? They had to be close. He was her main guy for years on tour. Probably doesn’t matter. She’ll be turned off the moment she realises I’m a killer. I’m one of the bad guys. I only dress up as a good one for work.

  Contrary to popular belief, good girls don’t really want bad boys. In my experience, they want someone who looks a little dangerous, acts a little cocky, but would never actually hurt a fly. Maybe they want someone who’d start a fight for them, but not the guy who’d outright kill. That’s a line they wouldn’t want to see crossed, because deep down their hearts are still made of gold. They don’t want to stray beyond the familiar, the safe. They just want to be possessed by some asshole they believe they can change. Or they want to be treated like a whore because they’re so used to playing the sweetheart. It’s a kink for them. It’s just as well I’m not into good girls, they couldn’t handle someone like me.

  Eden’s choices tell me she’s not one
of them. I wouldn’t have been so attracted to her if she was. There’s an openness about her that makes it obvious when she’s hiding something. We both have our secrets. Difference is, I know hers won’t change how I see her.

  “He’s been gone a long time.” I wonder where the hell Lawson really is.

  “I guess,” Eden says, getting up. “I should call Asher. I promised him I would.”

  “Don’t leave the room,” I tell her.

  She already knows I’m not letting her out of my sight. She gets her phone out of her pocket and stands by the window as she puts it to her ear. I pretend I’m not listening, but she’s too close to completely ignore, even if I wanted to.

  I listen to her reassure her lover that she’s fine. That there’s nothing to worry about.

  I can picture her telling me she’s fine with what I did, that she understands. Telling me I shouldn’t be worried about it ruining anything between us. We’re solid. She’s not going anywhere.

  And then I realize this is reality and I’m feeding myself fantasy to try and push myself into revealing my darkest secrets to the woman I’ve fallen for. It won’t be okay and I shouldn’t try to tell myself it will. How could it be?

  Because she’s the one. I felt it when we met and it’s the only reason that shuts up the doubting voices in my head. There’s some draw there that I can’t resist, that she can’t either. We’re meant for each other. She’ll accept my secrets, she’ll keep them.

  She hangs up with a sigh and comes over to sit back down on the couch across from me.

  I decide then and there I’m going to tell her while we’re in L.A. Not right now. Not while we’re waiting impatiently for Lawson to return. I don’t want us to be interrupted. I need to pick the moment, but it’s definitely happening.

  “Are you okay, Eli?” Her softly probing question makes me smile.

  “I will be.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Eden

  I wasn’t sure what was going on inside Eli’s head, but his expressions had fluctuated from anxious to relaxed a bunch of times while we’d been sitting there alone together. We hadn’t run out of conversation exactly, but it wasn’t the time for any of the important ones we needed to have.

  I’d been calling Cupid in my head to come back, and closing my eyes to check on Skyler, and both efforts proved fruitless.

  I’m relieved when Lawson gets back, even if it’s late and he’s looking kind of dazed. I’d checked in on Sky a few times but absolutely nothing had changed. I think of this as he locks eyes on me. He winces and I know he heard the thought. I raise my eyebrows expectantly as Eli excuses himself to visit the bathroom.

  “Find anything?” I keep my voice low, knowing Eli might still be able to hear us otherwise.

  He shakes his head. “Nothing yet.”

  “What are we supposed to do?” Without a lead, I may as well go home. We aren’t going to be able to find Skyler.

  “There’s a way to track Gods of Destruction,” he starts, before shaking his head, “but that would be going backwards. Forget it. I don’t want to risk it. So nothing has changed with Sky?”

  I shake my head. “Nothing. She’s still right where she was.”

  He sighs. “I was afraid of this. They won’t get her ready until morning, I suspect. Check in as much as you can and tell me if anything changes. I’ll show you where you can sleep tonight.”

  Eli comes back and grabs our bags when Lawson tells him he’ll take us to our rooms.

  “We’ll be sharing,” Eli tells him. “Same bed.”

  I blush at the conclusion his words would be making Lawson jump to, if he hadn’t already seen inside my head. He knows I’m not sleeping with Eli yet, but he thinks I should be, if I want to.

  Lawson turns to me. “Eden?”

  I just nod and we go past the bathroom to a bedroom that has an en-suite. Eli puts our bags by the king sized bed. It’s almost ten p.m. according to the alarm clock.

  Lawson motions to the bedside cabinet. “There’s a fridge in there with water. The air-con remote is on the dresser. I’ll see you in the morning.”

  He leaves, closing the door behind him. Eli goes straight over and turns the lock.

  Okay, I’m locked in a room with a giant bed and a guy I’m seriously in lust with. What could possibly go wrong? I try not to think about it as I get my toiletries out of the bag and go into the en-suite.

  Eli is pacing around the room, checking the possible entry points when I close the door on him.

  Alone, I get ready for bed as if it’s any normal night. I only realise I didn’t bring something to wear to bed once I’m done brushing my teeth. “Shit,” I curse quietly, wondering if anything I brought would do. There must be a T-shirt I can shove on, or something.

  I go into the bedroom and get down on my knees to rifle through my bag.

  Eli goes into the bathroom and just closes the door over. I find a long-ish sleeveless shirt that will have to do and strip out of my dress while he’s out of the room. I keep my underwear on and haul the shirt over my head. It barely covers my butt. I get under the covers and realise I feel completely awake. It’s too early to be in bed to actually just sleep.

  Eli comes out of the bathroom and his hands go straight to his jeans. He unbuttons them and I just realize how closely I’m staring when he clears his throat. Get it together, Eden. I look away and then my heart starts to race when the bed creaks a little under his weight. He’s under the covers. Oh my God, his shirt is off. How the hell am I supposed to sleep?

  He leans out of the bed and hits a switch. The lights go off overhead. Somehow that’s worse. I’m alone in the dark with him now. I lie down and turn his way.

  “I’m kind of awake.” I doubt that’s going to change anytime soon so I might as well be straight about it.

  “This has been some first date, huh?” He sounds half-amused, half like he’s deep in thought.

  “You’re counting this as our first date?”

  “Well, maybe not. It hasn’t exactly been romantic. I wonder what we could do to fix that. Maybe I could kiss you goodnight?” Oh, he knows exactly what he’s doing. His tone is teasing and sultry, and I want him to make a move. Any move. I’ll grab onto it with both hands and refuse to let go if he just touches me.

  I feel him move closer and I shiver in anticipation. My body is heating up at the thought of his body pressing mine into the mattress. His lips touch my shoulder, warming my skin. Oh he is so not getting away with that.

  “I don’t think it can be called a goodnight kiss if it’s not on the lips.”

  “Well, if you insist...” He pulls me in close, and a thrill rushes over me as I’m pressed up against his hard body. My T-shirt is pulled up over my stomach in the movement, and his hand drops to rest on my hip before slipping lower and further to stroke my ass, his fingers going under the lace of my panties.

  My breath is taken from me as his lips find mine in the dark and work feverishly against them. His stubble scratches my face in a way that sends shivers down my spine. Need burns through me, bright and aching. I want this man so badly, but he’s not completely mine, not yet.

  He stops abruptly after sucking on my tongue, and leans in close to my ear. “Now, it’s a date.”

  “Eli?” I run my hand down his arm and bite down on my lip. I feel the evidence of his arousal rubbing against my stomach as he rocks lightly against me. His underwear is containing it for now, but he’s so close to me I can barely stand it.

  He groans before he says, “Tell me what you want. Anything, Eden. I’ll give you it.”

  I take a breath and veto the first dozen things that want to fly from my lips on his command. Fuck me, Eli. I want your cock buried deep inside of me. I want to feel your body pinning me down. I want your hands all over me. I want... Damn it. My wants don’t matter. There’s something else I need first.

  “I trusted you with a secret,” I tell him, refraining from the urge to wriggle my pelvis against his erection.
“Trust me with one of yours.”

  He’s quiet for a moment and I wonder if I just asked for the wrong thing. I want things to feel right between us before we go any further. Please let this be something he can do.

  “The only secrets I have are big ones. I’m not sure, Eden.”

  I use my light on him, not to force him to reveal, but to assure him my feelings won’t change. “Not sure I can handle it? Trust me, Eli. I knew the moment we met that I could trust you. It doesn’t matter what it is, I promise you that.”

  “It’s a mood-killer, but if it’s what you need...” he hesitates.

  I move back a little, so we’re still hugging but his dick isn’t digging into me anymore. I desperately need the haze of lust to pass. I need to be listening to what he’s saying instead of thinking about what we could be doing instead of talking. Instead of thinking about how wet I already am for him, how ready.

  “I know a lot of people think I killed my last girlfriend.”

  It’s off to an ominous start. I don’t know what I expected, but this wasn’t it.

  He clears his throat. “I didn’t. I never could have. I can’t say I loved her, we hadn’t been seeing each other that long...” He swallows and I can tell how hard this is on him. “But she wasn’t a bad person and what happened to her was fucking awful. I didn’t know what I was being questioned for to begin with, Eden. Then they showed me pictures. I blacked out in the interrogation room. It was shock. I attacked the officers who were questioning me, screaming at them to tell me what they’d done to her. Why they did it. I don’t remember any of that, but I saw the tape later. I was out of control.”

  “Oh, Eli...” My heart goes out to him.

  “I know it could have been used as evidence against me if the case went to court. If they found some real evidence to convict me. They didn’t. The killer had taken my handcuffs. I might have left them at her place. I honestly don’t know. If he’d used a rubber when he raped her, I never would have caught him.”