The devil's advocate

He rubs the spot with his thumb. “I didn’t tell you any of this to cause you pain.”

“I know.” I skim his jaw and he leans into my touch. “But I want it.”

Part of caring about someone is accepting their flaws and their pain. Carrying bits and pieces of it with you, so they don’t have to bear all of it on their own.

“Eden…” I feel his entire body tense. It’s torture for him…being this vulnerable. Being this close to another person after the way his mother treated him, and what Cain did to him.

But I’m not out to hurt Damien. I want to give him what he deserves.

A friend. A lover. Someone willing to take on some of his pain…not inflict any more.

“Damien,” I whisper, lightly trailing a finger down his back. “It’s okay to let someone in again. I won’t hurt you.”

They say the Devil was once an angel.

But no one ever bothered to ask the Devil what led to his downfall, or why he became so evil.

No one wants to hear his side of the story…because no one cares.

But I do.

Damien closes his eyes, still fighting it.

He doesn’t want to be touched or cared for…even though he deserves it.

I can empathize because I didn’t want him to bring me back to life, either…I didn’t want to see the truth.

But I’m so grateful he showed me.

The day he contacted me on that app, pretending to be the man I loved…was the begi

It hurt like hell, but it was worth it in the end. Because now I’m wiser and stronger. I’ve got scars, but those scars give me tough skin.

All because Damien saw me. Not the Eden everyone else saw.

“You don’t have to be a ghost anymore.” I cup his cheek, forcing him to look at me. “I see you. I feel you. I—”

Snarling, he grabs my wrist. For a brief moment, I think my piranha is going to bite me.

But then it happens. His mouth finds mine and his arms wrap around me so tightly all the air in my lungs rushes out.

His kiss is turmoil and his body is a violent wave, sucking me under.

My insides swoop when he pulls back and looks at me in that way only he can before his mouth dips lower. His stubble prickles my skin as he sucks and bites the tender flesh of my neck.

I grip the back of his head. “More.”

Tension in my core tightens when he pushes my dress up and tugs on the fabric of my bra, causing my breast to pop out. Shivers of desire race through me when his mouth descends and he pulls my nipple into his mouth, laving wet circles around the puckered bud before giving the other the same attention.

“Damien,” I breathe, pulling off his jacket and then tugging open his shirt so I can feel his warm skin against mine.

His hands tangle in my hair as he maps kisses up my throat before finding my mouth again. His tongue is greedy, urgent.

“Need you inside me.” I lift my hips, grinding against his bulge. I know he’s trying to take his time and make sure it’s good for me…but that’s not what either of us really wants. It’s not what he needs. “Fuck me.”

I spread my thighs wider and his hands pull at my panties until they’re nothing but torn scraps. I barely have time to catch my breath before his zipper is down and he’s rooted inside me, driving as deep as he can before he stills himself.

“Eden.” My name is a dark rumble. A warning of what’s to come.

“I want it.” I’m a glutton. I can drown in him and still it will never be enough. “I want everything.”

A feral groan tears out of him as he starts to move. “Jesus.”

I nip his earlobe. “That’s not my name.”

A small smirk unfurls as he picks up his pace, fucking me so hard against the carpet my back burns. I dig my heels into his ass, spurring him on.

Burn me. Bruise me. Mark me. Cut me.

I’m strong enough to endure it.

Clinging to his shoulders, I rock my hips against his as he pumps into me hard and fast. So good. Too fucking good.

My toes curl and I claw his back as I match his savage thrusts. I let out a sharp gasp, pulsing around his cock when he hits a spot so deep, pleasure spikes through me, triggering a full-blown orgasm.

I bite my lip, holding back a scream as the first ripple hits. Damien watches me intently, his hand clasping my jaw as I shake and tremble beneath him.

“Eden.” The moan he lets out is guttural, coated in longing and agony as he shudders his own release.

We lay silent for a bit, his head buried in the crook of my neck while I trace lazy circles up his back.

As much as I wish I didn’t have to interrupt this moment with him, I have to. A burning question is still lingering between us.

“Damien?”

His breathing picks up, like he already knows what I’m about to ask. “Yeah?”

“If you didn’t kill them…who did?”

He doesn’t answer right away. Instead, he pulls us into a sitting position, locking his hands around my waist.

“According to the police…Mrs. Miller did.”

Why in the world would their teacher—who they were sleeping with— kill Cain’s family?

“That doesn’t make any sense.”

“It doesn’t,” he agrees. “Part of that is my fault.”

My mouth goes dry. “How?”

I watch his Adam’s apple bob. “When Cain was called in for questioning, he told the detective—who’s now Chief Trejo—that his twin brother Caleb and I were the ones involved with Mrs. Miller. He claimed she started the fire because she didn’t want her husband to find out about the affair and Caleb was threatening to expose it.”

“That’s…” Bile rises up my throat. “Why would he do that?”

I’m not stupid, it’s obvious Cain’s lying in order to cover up something.

My intuition doesn’t just whisper the truth. It slaps me in the face with it.

Oh. My. God.

“Before I get into it, I need to ask you something.” He tips my chin. “After you saw us in the conference room, what was your first thought?”

I have no idea why he’s asking me this when there are more pressing issues at play, but I answer him anyway. “Pain and betrayal…jealousy. I thought maybe you were both playing me. Then I thought maybe you were manipulating Cain and blackmailing him like he claimed. And then—”

“That’s all I need to know,” he interjects, cutting me off.

“Are you angry?”

He shakes his head. “No. Like I said earlier, I don’t blame you.” He sighs heavily. “But it also means I’m not the person you should be asking for the truth.”

I raise an eyebrow, not understanding his logic. “You think Cain’s just going to come clean about murdering his family?”

He shakes his head. “No. Probably not.” His shoulder hitches. “But I want you to think for yourself and come to your own conclusions about what happened. I know what it’s like when feelings get in the way…it makes it hard to see things objectively and separate the person you loved from the killer he really is.”

He’s right, but Cain killing the people who abused him isn’t what has me tied up in knots.

It’s the backstabbing, manipulating…the i

Because deep down inside…that’s who Cain is. It’s who he’s always been.

I’m just finally seeing him without my rose-colored glasses.

Same goes for Damien.

“I believe you when you say you didn’t kill them. I can even see Cain seducing you and then setting you up.” And ugly feeling crawls up my gut. “The only thing that doesn’t make sense to me…is why he pi

If Damien helped throw that teacher under the bus for murder in order to help Cain cover it up? Now is his time to come clean.