Vicious Cycle (Vicious Cycle #1)(86)

Clutching the phone, I didn’t hear Deacon come into the bedroom. The sound of his voice caused me to jump. “Who was that?”

“Oh, just Uncle Jimmy,” I answered.

“Is he wanting us to come get Willow ASAP because she’s driving him crazy?”

I laughed. “No, nothing like that.” After I set the phone down on the chest of drawers, I asked, “Your meeting go okay?”

“Well, it did up until I found out you’d lied to me.”

My hand froze as I reached to pull my skirt off the chair. I couldn’t bring myself to look at him. “What do you mean?”

“I found out from Rev and Bishop that more happened in your meeting with Sigel than you told me.”

I swallowed hard. Frantically, I searched my mind for a way to defuse the potentially volatile situation I found myself in. “Oh, that,” I replied, with a flippant wave of my hand.

“Yeah, that.”

Turning toward him, I sighed. “I’m sorry, Deacon. I’d just gotten you back. I wanted to enjoy the time I had with you, not have you getting needlessly angry. There was nothing malicious or calculated in what I did.”

Lies. All lies.

Deacon’s accusing gaze turned over to one of hunger. He seemed to appreciate my lacy black and pink panty and bra set. In that fraction of a second, I knew what I had to do. “You’re looking at me like you want to devour me,” I said in a throaty whisper.

“I do.”

“Mmm, maybe I should give you a quickie. Whet your appetite a little until I can get back.”

“I like the sound of that.”

“Get on the bed,” I commanded.

Deacon’s brows shot up at my authoritative tone. “Excuse me?”

“Just taking the reins, cowboy. I need to top you so I don’t mess my hair up.”

He grinned. “Just don’t forget who’s the real boss around here.”

“Oh, I’m well aware of that one.”

When he flopped back on the bed, I took a shaky step forward. With trembling fingers, I opened the nightstand drawer. Instead of taking out one of the gold foil packets, I grabbed the handcuffs that we’d played with at the Lounge.

Swinging them around my fingers, I winked at him. “Let’s play a little cowboy and bad cop together.”

Deacon’s eyes widened. “What the hell has gotten into you?”

I shrugged. “Just glad to have you back—that’s all. Got a lot of fantasies to enact together.”

“If you say so, babe,” he replied with a chuckle.

“Raise your arms.” He hastily complied by bringing his arms over his head. His hands reached out for the intricately designed rails in the iron bed. It was now or never. Once I handcuffed Deacon, there was no going back with him or with Sigel. Deacon held up a code of loyalty and honesty, and I was breaking that. I wasn’t sure he could ever forgive me for what I was about to do.

I couldn’t help but wonder if I was looking into the eyes of the man I loved with all my heart for the last time with love between us. I was standing on the tracks, staring down a runaway train.

The clasp of the handcuffs echoed around the room. For a moment I kept my hands wrapped around them, unblinking and unmoving. Then I slowly pulled away. I took a step back and then another. Deacon’s brows crinkled. “What are you doing?”

Ignoring him, I grabbed my skirt off the chair and slid it on. When I went for the silky blue blouse with the ruffled front, Deacon asked, “Is this part of the game?”

Tears burned my eyes as I worked frantically to button the blouse. When I was finished, I glanced at him. “I’m sorry.”

“What do you mean? Alex, what the hell is going on?” His tone had turned from amusement to desperation.

“I have to do this, Deacon. It’s the right solution. Really it’s the only solution where you and Willow don’t get hurt.”

“You’re not making any sense.” He jerked at the handcuffs and winced. “Get me out of these.”

I turned away from him to start digging in my suitcase. At the very bottom, I slid aside the lining and stared down at Andy’s cut. With trembling fingers, I took it out. I rose from the floor and then turned back to Deacon. His eyes left mine and drifted down to my hands. With widened eyes, he demanded, “What the f*ck are you doing with that?”

“I took it from the war prize closet.”

Deacon sucked in a breath so fast it sounded more like a hiss. “Alexandra, I want you to get me out of these handcuffs right f*cking now!” When I gave a slight jerk of my head, he growled. “Don’t you even think for one minute you’re going to go alone!”

“There was something else I left out about my meeting with Sigel—something I didn’t even tell Rev or Bishop.” I drew in a deep breath. “Sigel caused the accident that killed my parents.”

Deacon stared at me in disbelief. “What? How?”

I glanced down at the cut before telling him about how my parents’ love of children had caused their deaths. When I finished, I dared to meet his eyes again. “Besides you and Willow, I now have a stake in this I never imagined. A chance for justice in my parents’ murders.”

“Alexandra, you cannot take a man like Sigel down. You are walking to your death, you stupid, stubborn woman!” Deacon shouted.