Wicked Devotions (Wicked Devotions Duet Book 1) by Nichole Greene

Author:Nichole Greene [Greene, Nichole]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-09-17T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter

Eighteen

DECLAN

As soon as I hear the shower turn off in the bathroom I share with Harper, I test the knob of my connection door to see if it’s locked. I count to thirty to give her time to dry off before opening the door. A cloud of vanilla-scented steam escapes as she yelps in surprise.

She’s clutching a white towel to her chest. It only covers her down the front where it naturally lays. Her sides, which are what I want a look at, are exposed. Her mouth gapes open as water drops from clumps of her hair.

“What the heck do you think you’re doing?” She takes a step back as I close the door behind me and prowl toward her.

Since it’s fairly obvious what I’m doing, I choose to ignore her question. “What the fuck is on your side?”

Her eyes widen, and she tries to hide the scars. “Nothing. Get out.”

“No.”

I’m in her space now. She tries to fight me off from nudging the towel over, but she can’t do much without dropping the entire thing to the floor. Her skin is still hot from her shower, but as I run my fingertips over two of the circles, her flesh erupts with goosebumps.

“Let me get my pajamas on, and I’ll let you get a better look.” Her voice sounds resigned to having to have this conversation.

I turn and walk into her room, dropping down onto her bed to wait for her to finish drying off and changing. Every muscle in my body is vibrating with rage as I sit. Part of me hoped that Cy was just confused or something. I should have known that he of all people would be able to see and identify them.

It takes her about five minutes, but she finally comes out in a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. Her hair is coiled up in a towel on top of her head. She crosses over to me and slowly tucks her shirt under her breasts leaving all the skin of her abdomen bare.

Cy was right; there are dozens of cigarette burn scars dotting her sides. Some are extremely faded, like they must have happened when she was a girl. Others are still pink and somewhat fresh.

“Who did this to you?” There’s an obvious answer, but I need to hear it from her lips.

“My dad.”

I wrap my hands around her waist, my thumbs moving over her damaged skin gently. “You didn’t deserve this.” I look up into her eyes. “You know that, right? There’s nothing you could have done to deserve this.”

She nods as she blinks away tears she won’t let fall.

“Did Banks know?” The question is laced with an angry growl.

“No, I never told him. And he has never seen me exposed. No one really has. Not like you have now.”

“And Cyrus.”

She shakes her head. “I wore a shirt.”

“He saw them when he woke up.”

Surprise flickers in her eyes. “So he told you?”

“I walked into the gym to find him bloody from going at the bag for fuck knows how long without tape or gloves on his hands.

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