Chapter 15

CHAPTER 15

“ W e had a deal, Angel,” came the softly murmured words that had Jill releasing a heartfelt sigh as she turned the page of the book that she was almost ninety percent sure that she read already.

“And as soon as their cuffs are removed, I’ll be more than happy to fulfill my end of the bargain,” Jill said with a sad shake of her head as she continued reading.

“Gray should be back with their remotes in the morning,” came the announcement that had her biting back a sigh.

“And I’m sure that he’s doing everything within his power to get here as fast as he can,” Jill said dryly.

“Probably not,” Logan murmured as she went to turn the page only to go still when he added, “I want to make another deal.”

“And what deal would that be?” Jill asked, placing her book down on the mattress next to her as she looked up and-

She hated that she noticed just how incredibly handsome he was, hated that he was the one man that made her feel this way, and she hated that she’d never been able to force herself to react like this to another man.

She’d tried.

God, she’d tried,

There were so many times that she’d wished that she could make herself feel something, anything, for someone only to end up feeling more alone than ever. When she was in high school, she went for the nice boy, telling herself that she would never have to worry about him hurting her only to have him pull away when she couldn’t stop flinching every time he reached for her hand.

After that, she’d stopped trying, stopped caring, and let the anger that she’d been fighting for so long take over and would have probably ended up sharing a burial plot with her mother if her reality hadn’t been destroyed in one night. She went from hating her life to realizing that she was seconds from losing the only thing that mattered to her.

Her family.

Almost losing Chris…

It changed her, gave her something else to focus on and made it so easy to pretend that she no longer wanted all of those things that she used to dream of when she was a little girl. Then, one day, a vampire followed her into an alleyway and took her by surprise with a simple touch that left her wanting more.

“That depends on you,” Logan said as he held his hand out to her.

After a slight hesitation, Jill reached up and took his hand, allowing him to help her to her feet. She felt the gentle caress of his thumb across the back of her hand, making her breath catch in her throat as she watched his eyes flash silver and just as quickly, he released her hand and gestured for her to join him in the bedroom.

“Meaning?” Jill asked as she put some distance between them.

“You’re not afraid of me, are you, Angel?” Logan asked instead as she made her way to the large bed, the sounds of her metal chain dragging across the carpet behind her accompanying the move.

“No,” she said with a soft sigh as she sat down on the edge of the large bed.

“Why is that?” Logan asked, watching her curiously as he leaned back against the wall.

“Because you haven’t given me a reason to be afraid of you,” Jill said because there were worse things that he could have done to her besides pissing her off and leaving her locked up in a penthouse with a million-dollar view of Central Park.

“Yet,” he said with a look that she couldn’t quite read before he looked away and took in the rest of the large bedroom. “You want to tell me why you’re sleeping in the closet?”

“No,” Jill said before countering with, “You want to tell me what this new deal is?”

“Tell me what you want first,” Logan said as his gaze settled back on her.

“Besides my freedom?” Jill asked, blinking at him.

“Besides that,” Logan murmured.

“I want to know what type of demons you have stationed outside the front door,” Jill said, still wondering how she was going to get three marked shifter children out of here safely, especially since they still refused to talk to her or leave their room.

“Still planning your escape?” Logan asked, considering her for a moment.

“I never stopped,” Jill said, watching the way that his lips twitched as he pushed away from the wall and made his way to the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Central Park.

“Shifters,” he said, making her frown as she shifted on the bed so that she could watch him.

“You have shifters at the door?”

“I couldn’t leave demons guarding the door with three marked shifter children in residence,” Logan said, sounding distracted.

“And you really trust adult shifters to overlook the fact that they’re marked?” Jill demanded, knowing enough about shifters to know that they would see the children as a threat.

“You’d be amazed what shifters are willing to overlook with the right incentive,” Logan murmured. “What else?”

“I want access to the internet,” Jill said, already knowing that he would never-

“Done,” he said, making her frown.

“Done? Just like that?” Jill asked, watching him.

“Just like that,” Logan murmured.

“What do you want?” she asked, wondering why he was suddenly giving her everything that she wanted.

“Your blood.”

“My blood?” Jill repeated back slowly.

“Your blood,” Logan said as she tried to make sense of what he was asking. “I want a taste of your blood.”

“Why?” Jill asked because nothing about this made sense.

“I’m curious about something,” he said, watching her closely as she thought about everything that she knew about vampires and-

“It will kill you,” Jill said hollowly.

“Afraid you’ll miss me, Angel?”

“No, I’m afraid we’ll get stuck with someone worse,” she said, wondering why he was asking for the one thing that they both knew would kill him.

It was one of the first things that she’d learned when she’d discovered the truth about the real world she lived in. One drop of her blood would slowly kill him, destroying him from the inside out in what she’d been told would be an excruciating death that would leave him too weak to do anything more than lay there as he bled out and-

“I’m not killing you,” Jill said firmly.

“Fair enough,” Logan said, nodding absently as he turned around to face her. “One week.”

“One week for what?” she asked, trying to figure out what she was missing here.

“I’ll take one week off the two months that you owe me if you do this.”

“You’ll be dead,” Jill said, telling herself that the only reason that she wasn’t jumping at the chance to do this was because she couldn’t risk Gray or someone worse taking over. She-

“And you’ll be free,” Logan pointed out as he pulled his phone out of his pocket and tossed it on the bed next to her. “If your blood kills me, you’ll have plenty of time to scan my fingerprint and shut down the system before I turn to ash so that you can take the children and leave. No one will stop you.”

When she hesitated, he said, “You’re not going to kill me, Angel.”

“Then, why are we doing this?” Jill asked as she stared down at his phone and knew that this was their only hope.

“We’re testing a theory,” Logan said, holding his hand out to her.

“What theory is that?” Jill asked, telling herself that he wouldn’t do this if he wasn’t sure that he’d survive as she forced herself to climb off the bed and made her way over to him.

“The one that proves that you’re too fucking kind for your own good,” Logan said as he reached over and took her hand in his, giving it a reassuring squeeze as he used his hold to bring her closer.

“This isn’t a good idea,” Jill said as he released her hand so that he could reach up and cup her face in his hands.

“Probably not,” Logan murmured, pressing his lips against her forehead as she closed her eyes and slowly exhaled while she thought about the last time that they did this.

When he’d pulled her onto his lap and pressed his lips against her throat, she’d expected pain, but instead, he’d taken his time, gently caressing her skin with his fingertips as she felt his lips brush against her throat and-

She stopped thinking when she felt the familiar caress of his fingertips running over her jaw before making their way down her throat as his lips left her forehead and brushed against one cheek and then the other before they were lightly brushing against her lips in an achingly sweet kiss. “Trust me,” came the soft whisper as his lips left hers and found her chin before kissing a path down to her throat as his arms wrapped around her. She felt the tips of his fangs press against her throat seconds before they were pushing through her skin.

There was a small pinch, and then…

A soft moan was torn from her lips as pleasure tore through her body. This felt so good, Jill thought, dropping her head back as her hands fisted in his shirt and he pulled her closer, moaning against her neck and-

“One week,” Logan bit out, struggling to catch his breath as he suddenly released her and stumbled back, his silver eyes locking on her as he grabbed his phone off the bed before abruptly turning around and headed for the door, leaving her standing there trying to figure out what the hell just happened.