Blackbird (Redemption 1)

It felt like I’d run a marathon. I felt shaky, weak, exhausted, and like I’d never been more alive.

“You are incredible, Blackbird. Everything about you.”

His words warmed my chest as my heavy eyelids finally slid shut.

I had given my heart to a man who had no intention of giving his to me. As much as I wanted to believe that he could, I wasn’t sure he was capable of such things.

Because he is darkness.

He is the devil . . .

. . . and I love him.

Devastating.

Chapter 27

Day 71 with Blackbird

Lucas

This girl was going to be the death of me. Literally. I couldn’t see an outcome for us that didn’t end with me staring at the barrel of a gun—and I didn’t care. I would take every day with her until that death came, and I would welcome it when it did because they would take her from me. And of everything and everyone that had been taken from me during my empty life, Briar was the only person I couldn’t live without.

She stayed.

My eyes darted over her sleeping face as I replayed the night before in my mind, and my heart thundered in my chest. She’d been in the city, surrounded by dozens of people she could have reached out to . . . and she’d stayed.

The rest of our lives wouldn’t be nearly long enough. Not after how much I’d come to care about her—and definitely not after last night.

I wanted last night forever.

My blackbird had been beautiful when she’d let go for me, and I would never get the image out of my head of her moaning and fighting against me when it had become too much.

This girl made me want impossible things.

I was disturbed and twisted in more ways than she would ever understand. She was fragile and so innocent to my world and the sickening darkness that touched it. But I embraced her life and she embraced mine even though each other’s lives went against our very being.

I traced the line of her jaw and suppressed a smile when she curled closer and mumbled something in her sleep. Her full lips parted slightly, and I dipped my head to taste them, unable to stop myself.

When I pulled back, green eyes were watching me. “Morning,” she murmured, her voice thick from sleep.

“Good morning.”

She looked away from me for a second to glance around the room. “Are we in your room? That’s against the rules,” she said when I nodded, as if she were informing me.

My lips curved up into a smile. “So is everything else we’ve been doing for months.”

A smile crossed her face before she hid behind her hands to cover a yawn. She giggled when I kissed her hands, pressing them to her face.

“I’m gonna call the driver, have him bring food.”

“Okay, I need to go shower.” But though she said the words, she didn’t move from her place in my bed . . . and I didn’t want her to. She stretched lazily for a few seconds before rolling over to climb out, and I pulled her back.

“Use my shower. Come find me when you’re done.”

Seconds passed as she stared at me. “Find you down here? Really?” Her excitement abruptly faded. “Was last night a test to see if I was ready to be down here? When we were in the city?”

“Briar, no. I was . . . Christ.”