Steal the Day (Thieves #2)(40)

The room was silent. I thought about what Felicity had said earlier. If Daniel hadn’t come to me that night, their plan might have worked. The Council wanted to upset the balance, and the only thing that stood in their way was Daniel. He took another shot and now his hand was unsteady. I reached out and covered it with my own. He sighed and turned it over, weaving our fingers together. He was so alone.

While the rest of us were living our lives, he was planning a war.

“I’m going to have to sacrifice one of them, Z.” His hand tightened around mine. “They’re pressing me. It’s been months since I started this project, and so far I’ve delivered nothing. I can’t have them getting suspicious. It would out me and Michael and all of us. I’m going to have to send one of them to the Council. I’m not ready to start a war yet. I would lose.”

A fierce practicality came over me. “Then you’ll pick the strongest, and he’ll be our spy.”

Daniel nodded. “I believe my blood will hold. I don’t think they will be able to turn him if he’s strong.”

“Promise me something, Danny.” Rage and fear curled in my gut, fighting for precedence.

“Anything, baby.”

Rage won. “Promise me we’re gonna kill them all.”

Daniel’s smile held not an ounce of humor. “Oh, yeah, baby, we’ll kill ‘em all.”





Two hours later, dawn was near. I knew everything now, and I wouldn’t sleep a wink knowing what was coming. Daniel, however, didn’t have the choice to sit up and worry. I managed to get him to his feet, steering him toward the third bedroom where Daniel stayed when he slept here.

“You don’t want to do that, Z.” Daniel laughed as if I’d done something hilarious.

There was a whole lot of moaning from behind that door and something that sounded like a howl. He was right. I really didn’t want to interrupt that. Unfortunately, Neil and Chad were in the only light-tight room in the house. “Where am I supposed to put you?”

Daniel smiled and raised his eyebrows suggestively. “Baby, I can think of a few places where I would fit just fine.”

I rolled my eyes but had to laugh. He always got horny when he was drunk. “There’s a body bag in my closet.”

It was sad but true. Most girls’ closets were full of shoes and sweaters, and I had a body bag.

Daniel protested, but I got him to my room and sat him down on the bed. I pulled out the heavy bag and laid it out on the right side of the bed. It was habit. For years I’d taken the left side and he’d slept on the right. I still slept on the left side. I unzipped the bag and turned back to my husband, who was trying and failing to get out of his shirt. I pulled the soft cotton over his head and kneeled down to work on his jeans. He threaded his hands in my hair and pulled back, forcing my face up. He looked down at me, his face flush with desire. I closed my eyes and let him kiss me, his lips molding mine softly, his tongue seeking entry. It felt like forever since he’d been this close. My skin lit up the minute he touched me.

He groaned as I opened my mouth beneath his and let him fill me. My hands found the hard muscles of his chest, and I couldn’t help but remember the last time we’d made love. He pulled me up and pressed me close with one hand as the other started to explore, trailing down my neck toward my breast. Gentle and smooth, Daniel treated me like I was made of glass, precious and fragile. It was so different from the sensations Dev pulled out of me.

I pulled away, pushing against his chest. Daniel dropped his arms and sat back, a hollow look in his eyes.

“I’m sorry. I thought…I don’t know why I thought that. I had too much to drink. God, Zoey, I can still smell him on you, but I didn’t care.”

I sat back against the closet, and didn’t even try to stop the tears that came. It was so f*cked up. I loved Danny, and I just realized that there was a part of me that was starting to love Dev. Anything I did, any way I went, I hurt someone. Anything I chose would break my heart.

“Don’t, baby.” Daniel kneeled down and pulled me into a hug, settling me on his lap. “Don’t cry. I won’t push anything. I won’t mention it again. Just don’t cry, Zoey.” He held me for a while but dawn was coming, and it didn’t care that I needed his arms around me. “I have to go to bed, Z. I hate that. I pray every dawn that I’ll wake up and I’ll turn over and you’ll be next to me. I’ll tell you about the really crazy-ass dream I had and we’ll laugh. I’ll get up and go to class, and we’ll graduate and get married. We’ll have kids and yell at ‘em and cry when they leave home. We’ll spoil our grandkids, and we’ll be happy.”

I thought about it all the time. I dreamed the same dreams. My head rested against his chest. “It’s a nice thought, Danny.”

“It’s a comforting lie. I’m never gonna wake up.”

He kissed my forehead and lay down in the dark, heavy plastic that would protect him from the sun. I forced myself up.

“That life is dead, Danny. It’s gone,” I whispered as I started to zip up the bag. “Until we let it go, we can’t move on. We have to find a way to move on.”

He nodded, but I could see the dawn stealing his strength, his life. His eyes were closing. “I love you, Zoey.”

And then he was dead until the night came again. I leaned over and kissed his lips while they were still warm. “I love you, too, Danny,” I breathed against his skin.