Hideaway (Devil's Night 2)

“But it’s Devil’s Night,” he teased, inching toward her. “Come on. Kai, Will, and Michael will follow, no doubt. We’ll have fun. Just like old times.”

She scoffed, looking more daring. “Is that what you waited a year for? Devil’s Night?” She glared at him. “God, you really do need this, don’t you? The old times, that rush, your friends who hate you now…?”

He shot out, diving into her space and caging her in with his arms planted on the wall on both sides of her head.

“Damon!” I shouted.

“Don’t worry, babe,” he answered me. “She’s not scared of me. Are you, Rika?”

She gripped the bottle in her hand, staring defiantly up at him.

“You hate me, because of the things I do, but you love Michael for all those same reasons.”

“Michael didn’t try to kill his friends,” she said.

“Oh, you’ve always hated me,” he retorted. “I remember you at fourteen, running out of a room as quick as you came in when you saw me at Michael’s house. People dictate rules based on how they want to be treated, but I’ll tell you something. When someone else misbehaves, it’s black and white, isn’t it? We judge, and we condemn, but when we do it, it’s a gray area all of a sudden. Other people are subject to your convictions, but not you, right? Not Michael?”

Her jaw flexed as she glared at him.

“People are hypocrites, Banks,” he told me, still staring at her. “They do the same things they’ll hate another guy for doing. The only moral compass I trust anymore is my own.”

He grabbed her by the jaw, holding her firm. “And I’ve come to the conclusion,” he bit out, “that a man deserves whatever a man can take.”

She shook her head, her face twisted in anger. “I hate you.”

He dove in close, whispering, “I love that you hate me.”

And then he leaned into her right ear, and she reared back but then stilled as if listening. I couldn’t see his mouth, but his jaw appeared to be moving. And she wasn’t pushing him away. Was he whispering to her?

I watched her eyes, pinched together in fury, sharpen, and then, all of a sudden, her chest caved as her body froze. Her gaze fell, and she just stood there like she couldn’t move.

Damon straightened back up and looked down at her, releasing her. “Fuck the world, Rika. You’re welcome.”

She pushed him away, breathing hard. But he just laughed.

I stepped up. “What did you say?”

But just then, lights shone through the windows, and I blinked, knowing a car had pulled up.

“Oh, look who’s home,” Damon taunted, looking toward the windows.

Rika took her chance. She swung the bottle across his head, the dull clank knocking him to the side as he brought his hands up to shield himself and fell into the wall like rag doll.

Without hesitation, she threw the bottle at one of the guys holding Alex, making him duck for cover long enough for me to rush over. The other one spun around, and I punched him in the jaw, following with a kick to the groin. He stumbled, falling to a knee, and Rika grabbed Alex.

“Run!” Rika yelled.

“This way!” I led them across the foyer and into the den. “Through here, hurry!”

Pushing into the bookshelf with my entire body, I slowly got it to give way and crack open into the tunnel. Rika must’ve caught on to what I was doing, because she followed my lead and leaned into the shelf, Alex taking a cue from her.

Once we got it open enough, I pushed them through. They dived inside the secret passageway, but I didn’t. I gripped the edge of the “door” and pulled it closed again.

“Banks, what are you doing?” Rika cried out. “Banks!”

“Just go!” I shouted. I needed to get to my brother before Kai did.