Endless Knight(30)

No, no, no! This was wrong. I didn’t want him to hit on me just because he was drunk and hard up.

Before I could put on my clothes, he’d spun me around, looping his arm around my lower back. “You swished that pretty ass in the wrong direction, bébé. You should’ve come to me when you were all naked and wet.”


“Don’t you dare make moves on me! You’re just going to accuse me again of mesmerizing you.”


“I realized you didn’t have all your powers when I first started wanting you.”


“Why would you think that?”


“Because if you were mesmerizing back then, all them Sterling boys would’ve been panting over you instead of Clotile.”


Chin raised, I said, “Hey, I didn’t do too bad, Cajun.”


“For true. When I saw you that day alone in the school courtyard, in your cheer skirt . . .” His expression was smoldering. “I wanted to lay you back on that table and take you right there, Evangeline.”


I shivered at the way my name rolled off his tongue in that accent. Irresistible. I knew this, because I was struggling to resist.

He was right; I was gone for him. Stupid to fight it. I gazed up at him, whispering, “Just, just don’t hurt me again. If I kiss you, and then you get disgusted . . .”


He gave a low laugh, moving his hips against mine. “Does it feel like I’m disgusted?”


I gasped. “Jackson!”


“You smell like honeysuckle. You likin’ ole Jack now?”


“I never stopped liking you. Even when you were warding me away with the power of Catholicism.”


“Can’t help the way I was raised—anything supernatural is supposed to be either a miracle or satanic.”


I rolled my eyes. “And you’re still trying to figure out which I am?”


“Non. I’m trying to figure out if I’m still Catholic.” He grinned that heart-stopping grin.

Gorgeous lips. I wanted them on mine.

Just before he kissed me, he said, “You might be different from what I thought, but I’m goan to protect you anyway. I’m goan to try to accept all this. But you got to accept me.”


“Accept you? What are you talking about?”


“I’m a nineteen-year-old bayou boy. I got a fondness for liquor. I’m goan to say stupid shit. Doan you go getting your feelings hurt at the drop of a hat.”


I laid my palm against his face. “You’re going to get more than your feelings hurt if you stay with us. And it will be my fault because I don’t want to separate from you. You wanted me to let you go.”


“That was before I realized something this week. I wasn’t goan to live a long life even before the apocalypse. Before there were Baggers, cannibals, and plague. Now I figure I’ll spend my limited time left doing what I want.”


“And what do you want?”


His grin deepened. “You’re what I want, and I’d like to be doing you.” He leaned down, pressing his lips to mine.

At that contact, the rain began to pour down at last, pelting the cabin’s tin roof. I hadn’t heard that sound since the night I’d gone to Jack’s home in the bayou.

He drew back. “Christ, your lips are sweet. Douces comme du miel.” Sweet like honey. He yanked off his shirt, revealing his damp chest, the rosary around his neck. I’d missed seeing him like this.

My fingers skimmed over the raised scar on his arm. How I loved that mark. If he hadn’t been getting that wound tended to the night of the Flash, he would’ve died like most everyone else.

His hands landed on my ass, giving it a possessive squeeze. “T?’es pour moi, Evie. You’re mine. Every part of you.” He leaned down, took my lips once more. Between kisses, he said, “I told you once and I’ll tell you again: there is nothing that can happen to you that we can’t get past. Just give me a chance to get to you. Promise me.”


“Jack . . .”


“Promise me. You doan leave me again.”


“I promise.” Staring at his lips, I said, “Would you always come for me?”


He drunkenly murmured, “Chase you like a junkyard dog.”


I laughed. How could I feel this much happiness in our situation? “I’m glad I don’t have to hide this any longer. No more secrets then—for either of us.” Wait. Had his eyes darted? “Do you have something you want to tell me?”


“Non, rien.” No, nothing.

“Are you . . . are you lying to me? Jack, nothing is more important than trust right now. Considering this game, this whole world, we have to be able to depend on each other.”


“I’m not lying. You can trust me alone, Evie,” he said more firmly. “I got no secrets, peek?n. Except for how bad I want you.”


Relieved, I gave him a shaky nod. “I believe you.”


“Good.” He swept me up, cradling my body against his chest to head for the bed. “That night by the pool, you would’ve let me have you if I’d gone slower. I’ll do that now. Nice and slow, me.”


“We can’t be together like that. What if I hurt you with my powers?”