Page 100 of Gatsby's Starlet
A breath broke between us, thin, unsteady, before I closed it again, not letting the distance stay, my hands sliding under his jacket, needing more, needinghim, and he reacted instantly, backing me up without breaking the kiss.
One step. Then another.
Until my back hit the wall.
The impact didn’t slow anything, it heightened it.
His body pressed into mine, firm, controlled, like he was holding himself right on the edge, and I could feel it, the restraint, the tension, the part of him that wanted to take more and the part that refused to push me too far.
My hands stayed on him, gripping, anchoring, feeling every bit of that control as his mouth moved against mine again, slower now, deliberate, like he was memorizing it—like he wasn’t risking losing it again.
When we finally broke, it wasn’t clean.
It dragged.
His forehead dropped to mine, breath rough, uneven, his hand still locked at my waist like letting go wasn’t something he trusted yet.
And for a second, just a second, he didn’t say anything, didn’t move, and I felt it then, the crack under everything, the part of him that hadn’t caught up yet, that was still somewhere back there thinking he’d lost me.
“You scared the hell outta me,” he muttered finally, so low it almost didn’t make it out.
“You’re here,” I whispered, the words catching because it still didn’t feel real.
His grip tightened, just enough to ground it. “Yeah,” he said, rough, calmer now, but not by much. “I’m here.”
His thumb pressed into my side, like he needed the contact, like he needed to feel me there. “You’re mine to protect, Evie… don’t take that choice away from me again.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
BY THE TIMEwe stepped into the war roomthe next morning, the place already carried that weight to it, the kind that settled in before a word was spoken, chairs filled, men quiet in a way that had nothing to do with calm and everything to do with what was coming, and I felt it the second I crossed the threshold, my gaze cutting across the table before it landed on her.
Evie sat at my side, not tucked away, her posture straight even if the strain sat just under it, and for a second I let that settle in, the fact that she was here, breathing, out of that hole and back in a room where no one was putting a hand on her, which didn’t make this easier or safer, but still mattered more than anything else in that moment.
Devil stood at the head of the table with his arms crossed, his attention already locked on her as the rest of the room fell in line around that without needing to be told, and when he finally spoke, it cut clean through the silence without needing any edge behind it.
“Start from the beginning.”
Evie didn’t look at me right away, didn’t look anywhere but straight ahead as she drew in a breath and steadied herself before she started talking, her voice quieter than most in this room but not weak or breaking, carrying just enough to hold every man there without forcing it.
She told them what we already knew, about Drago, about the Fire Dragons, about how it started and twisted into something she couldn’t get out of, and I stayed still where I was, leaning back just enough to keep it together, my jaw tightening as pieces of it filled in gaps I hadn’t been able to see before, each one settling heavier than the last.
“Ruby’s gone,” she finished.
Mystic’s voice came next, controlled but carrying the tension we all felt. “She took off?”
Evie nodded once, her hands tightening slightly in her lap before she forced them still again. “She said she wasn’t staying, that she couldn’t testify against Drago, and she didn’t say where she was going… just told me not to worry.”
A low curse moved down the table, not loud but enough, and something settled in my chest at that, dark and certain, because now Ruby had both Drago and the feds looking for her, which was going to end one way if she didn’t get smart fast.
“Feds?” Devil cut in after a second, shifting it before it could spiral too far. “What’d you tell them?”
That pulled the room tight again, every eye on her now, weighing and measuring because this part mattered just as much as anything else.
Evie finally looked up then, not at Devil or the table, but at me, just for a second, and there was something steady in that look that told me she wasn’t guessing her way through this or hoping she got it right.
“I told them the truth.”
Devil didn’t move. “Which is?”
