The Devil I Hate (Devil's Knights 1)

“You broke the promise you made ten years ago.”

She sighed. “I said I would never hurt you… not like your dad. I’m sorry. I don’t know what you want me to say.”

I slid off her, resting my arm on the back of the couch. Alex sat up and felt around in the dark, too scared to make a run for it. Her fingers brushed my thigh, then moved to the couch.

To put her at ease, I stroked her bare arm with my fingers. “I know you’re sorry, baby. You have the rest of our lives to make it up to me.”

Alex ran a hand through her messy curls and blew out a deep breath. “Why did you send me away? You could have told me this nine months ago.”

“Because you were out of control,” I shot back. “You needed professional help. I barely survived the knife wound. I wasn’t sure if I was going to kill you or marry you.”

“You would kill me?”

Yes.

Maybe.

No.

Could I kill her?

I was a heartless bastard, but Alexandrea Wellington was a part of me. She was the only good thing I had in my life. In a world tainted by violence and corruption, I needed her.

What binds us will destroy us.

Carl Wellington did his best to fix Alex after he’d found out about her traumatic childhood. He hired the top doctors in the country to treat her, but her bitch mother had fucked with her head. It made her doubt anyone but Aiden could love her. It had taken years for Alex to trust her precious Pops. And me, I wasn’t sure where we stood, somewhere between love and hate.

After her brother’s disappearance, she craved blood, her hatred turning her into someone unrecognizable. Not like I was any better. I just handled my shit in different ways.

I painted the town with the blood of my enemies, and Alex painted Devils. We were both fucking lunatics, which made us perfect for each other. Who else would understand the shit running through my psychotic mind? Only a crazy person could love someone like me.

“Luca,” she whispered against my neck, her body still trembling.

“Yeah, baby?”

“I don’t remember all the details. Not exactly. But I know what I did.”

She slid her hand to my thigh, slowly making her way to my stomach. Her hand hovered above the scar over top of my dress shirt. I had so many scars they looked like spider webs etched into my skin. But the one from Alex was unique. The deepest of them all.

The scar ached whenever I looked at it. Thought about it. But I deserved it. We were both guilty of different crimes. She’d had every reason to want to kill me that night. If I didn’t have money, I would have bled out on the patio before the concierge doctor arrived. I would never have made it to a hospital.

Alex didn’t hold back that night, slicing right into my guts. She stole the knife I carried in my back pocket and tried to gut me like a fish. And she didn’t even care. Because she wasn’t in her body that night, it wasn’t my girl driving the crazy train.

Aiden caused her to snap.

Her internal clock reset.

I unbuttoned my shirt, and Alex leaned against me, feeling the scar with her fingers. “Luca, I don’t… I can’t believe I did this.”

“It wasn’t you, baby. You had a breakdown.”

“Not real,” she whispered. “You’re not real.” Alex moved her hand away. “This is a dream. Not real.”

I grabbed her hand and held it over the scar, forced her to feel the rough edges. “Real, baby.”

“No,” she gasped. “If I tried to kill you, then that means… Aiden.”

She needed to remember what happened to Aiden on her own. I offered no additional information. Let her form whatever opinion she wanted. This was her mystery to uncover.

I dipped my head down, my lips inches above hers. The heat from her breath warmed my skin, sending a wave of electricity throughout my body. With Alex, there was always palpable energy I’d felt from the night we met. It gave me a high, unlike any other.

Until Alex, I’d never felt a connection with anyone, not even my brothers. I never even kissed a woman. Because I couldn’t handle intimacy. I didn’t like it. It made my skin crawl, my stomach turn.

Alex was the exception to every rule.

She stuck out her tongue and licked me before sucking my lip into her mouth. “I’m sorry, Luca.”

She deserved a good spanking.

A little punishment for being a brat.

Instead, I opened my mouth for her, let her tongue tangle with mine as I fisted her curls in my hand. She tasted like mint toothpaste and lemons. And I needed her so fucking bad.

As I slipped my hand into her pajama shorts, she moaned. Her nipples poked through her thin tank top, the tiny buds scratching my chest as I pushed two fingers inside her. My cock strained against my pants, begging to come out and play. Not yet. I wanted to toy with her for a while before I handed out my punishment.