Ruined (The Eternal Balance #1)(35)

I stepped aside and gestured to the door. “Go for it.”

Sam knelt in front of the lock and pulled a small, silver pick from her pocket. It took her twelve seconds. Maybe fifteen. She had the door open and was standing in front of me wearing the same grin I saw most nights in my dreams. Mischievous and sexy as all hell. “Shall we?”

I scanned the hallway, listening carefully. Once I was sure the coast was clear, I slipped into the office, fighting back the spike of desire as I brushed against Sam on the way in. The demon felt it, too. It flashed images of the kiss outside the club, urging me to do it again. When I didn’t act, the demon rumbled, angry, and a twinge at the base of my neck trailed up toward my temple, then bloomed into pins and needles and spread throughout my body. Next came the flash.

Sam stood in front of me, eyes wide and mouth slightly agape. There was fear in her eyes, but also fire. Fire that, despite the rage building inside me, spread throughout my entire body like a match set to dry leaves. I tried to shut out the scene, to force myself back to the here and now, but the demon was determined. Almost happy. I could feel the thing’s pleasure and knew it salivated at the building mix of lust and anger.

Sam took a step back as I stalked forward. A starving lion cornering prey. That’s what this was. Primal and dark and on the verge of sending me over the edge. Four steps from where I stood to the tree, I watched as vision-me in the demon’s scenario lunged for Sam.

I gripped two fistfuls of her shirt, and with a single flick of his wrists, tore the material down the center exposing a wash of cream-colored skin with just the smallest hint of a flush. The remnants of the shirt fell to the ground, and something roared inside. A feeling that tugged against the very thing that kept the demon in check. It bowed and twisted, and in the sickest parts of my soul, I wanted this to be real. To be something more than the monster’s sick way of communicating.

I shoved her hard into the tree and she gasped on impact. There might have even been the hint of a protest, but the words were stolen as I claimed her mouth with savage force.

It was nothing more than a flash.

The same kind of illusion the demon had tormented me with my entire life, but it felt different somehow. Maybe because it was playing out a scenario that I wanted more than anything else. A twisted fantasy that the darkest parts of me wanted to be real. The one thing I wanted.

Sam.

The sensation was electric. I was, in reality, nowhere near her, yet I could feel her lips on mine. Her small body beneath me. The tremble of her chest as I crushed her to the tree and the sharpness of the bark as it bit into our flesh. My body reacted, a tightening in my belly drifting lower and fanning into an all-consuming fire.

A soft noise escaped her lips, driving the demon—driving me—straight into madness. Fingers knotted through her long hair, pulling and tugging to bring her closer. When that didn’t quench the fire, I gripped her shoulders, yanking her from the tree, and forcing her hard to the floor. She laughed, throwing her head back and baring her neck to me. A tearing sound filled the clearing, and a barrage of warmth exploded beneath my fingers as the material between us was no longer a hindrance.

It broke me.

A roar tore from my throat and the flash ended, leaving me breathless and burning like a supernova.

“Jax?”

There she was. Still standing a few feet in front of me, just inside the office door. I tried to stop myself, but I was under her spell. As in the flash, it took four long steps to get from where I stood to her. I backed her against the wall, stopping just short of crushing my lips against hers.

“Jax?” she asked again, but this time the tone was different. Breathless and hopeful.

Excited.

It was enough to snap me back to reality. “We need to move quickly.” I shook my head to clear the muck and stepped away from her. Control. “Um, the filing cabinet,” I said, pointing to the large set of drawers on the other side of the office. “Start there. The apartment number is 882.”

She went right to work, while I kept to the far end of the room, doing my best to keep Azirak under control. It probably wouldn’t be helpful if I jumped her right here in the office, but I got the impression that the demon wanted it.

As badly as I did.





Chapter Sixteen




Sam

Keeping quiet siphoned every bit of self-restraint I had. Questions. There were so many. I wanted to know the details behind Jax’s demonic side despite the possible answers, because crazy or not, I still wanted him same as always. But first we had to deal with the threat to my life. After that was handled, there’d be time to ask questions. Time to crumble and mourn the death of my parents again. And if he was still determined to run, I’d get him to change his mind.

Several subtle glances told me he was on the other side of the office, riffling through a pile of papers on the manager’s desk. Every once in a while he’d pick his head up and catch me watching him. Each time, chills raced down my spine, and my heart went into overdrive. How the hell was it that a single glimpse could do that? It was like he devoured me with every glance.

“Got it,” Jax exclaimed. He snatched a paper from the filing cabinet on his side of the room and waved it back and forth. “The file says the apartment is rented to Bob Dowdy. There’s another address in this file for him, too. We can check it out.”

“Bob Dowdy,” I said, rolling the name around in my mouth. I closed the filing cabinet and climbed to my feet. “The demon’s name is Bob?”