Chapter 24: Erin

I didn’t know how many hours went by or how many climaxes racked my body, but Dez didn’t lie. He truly could go on for as long as he wanted, but I couldn’t. Sleep and pure physical exhaustion pulled at me. I was close to breaking, telling him the truth, and dealing with the fallout later. I just wanted to sleep and chug a whole gallon of water.

“Tired? Tell me the magic words, and I’ll even tuck you into bed.” Dez had just finished inside me, rolling me onto my stomach before preparing to enter me again from behind.

“I...” A thought struck me, not because of any stroke of genius, but because I suddenly remembered the woman whose mouth had bobbed against Dez’s shaft. The only position we hadn’t done tonight, and I wondered if that was because it was special to only Dez and Angelica. I snorted, surprised by the flare of jealousy. Even after everything, I was feeling jealous? Maybe I was suffering from Stockholm syndrome. Yes, that was it.

It wasn’t the best decision; it would reveal what I knew and was risky, but I was ready to risk it all at this point. I didn’t think my body could take much more. “Was Angelica murdered?”

Silence.

“Dez?” I turned, but Dez had gone deadly still as if I had flicked an off switch on him somewhere. I expected his anger, sadness, any emotion, really, to give me a break from this sexual marathon, but I hadn’t guessed it would be this ... uncanny stillness.

Something cracked. Over his shoulder, splinters in the glass branched out like lightning—right before all the windows in the room shattered.

I screamed and ducked as glass shards rained inside the room. A light fixture fell over, and the bed rattled against the wall. Dez remained frozen, his eyes lost in time as the room spiraled out of control. It was exactly as Rowan described it when Dez last lost it.

“Dez! Dez, stop it!” I yelled, shaking his shoulders as I dodged flying glass. I just got done healing; I really didn’t want to get all cut up again.

Dez didn’t move, and I had no choice but to leave. He didn’t stop me as I crawled onto the floor, using the side of the bed to protect me from flying debris. My knees bit into glass, and I hissed in pain as I continued to shuffle toward the door, using my hand as a shield for my eyes. My arms and legs stung from where shards pelted me. I ducked, narrowly avoiding the armchair that shot across the room. I yanked open the door and slammed it behind me.

I ran. I ran as if my life depended on it, ignoring the soreness in my whole body and the burning between my thighs where Dez had his way with me. I had to find Lucy and get to the room with the red door before Dez caught me again.

“Erin?” I ran into Saya, who was curled up in an oversized chair, reading a book, when her eyes bulged. “What happened? You’re hurt!”

“Lucy, where’s Lucy?”

“Do you need clothes and bandages? We can go to my room—”

“I need to find Lucy. Now.”

Saya opened and closed her mouth, then nodded. “She should still be in her room.”

I threw a thank you over my shoulder as I sprinted. Lucy’s room was on the third floor and, thankfully, was in the same spot as before. The door was locked, so I pounded on it.

A wild-haired Lucy appeared, looking as if she’d been sleeping. “Good gracious, where are your clothes!” She pointed. “And you’re bleeding!”

I shoved past her into the dark room. It was still nighttime, which made me wonder why Saya hadn’t been asleep too. Not long after that thought, Saya turned up in the doorway, out of breath.

“Where’s the coin?” It didn’t matter if Saya overheard; I was running out of time.

Lucy averted her eyes. “What coin?”

It felt like a blow to my stomach. “Lucy, please. Where is the coin?”

She bit her lip, her fingers fumbling with the edges of her pink nightdress. In the faint light spilling from the hallway, I noticed her nose sat straighter and her lips looked fuller. Her face now held an almost unnatural beauty. She’d been using the coin on herself, which meant it was on or close to her person.