Page 124 of Brutal
I hold his gaze. “Fine,” I say. “I’ll go with you.”
Something shifts in his expression.
Not relief.
Not satisfaction.
Something quieter.
Something that looks almost like approval.
He reaches out, his hand closing lightly around the back of my neck. “Get dressed,” he says.
I nod once, but I don’t move right away. I stay there, close enough to feel him, to remember him, to know exactly what I’m stepping into.
33
SAMSON
“It almost looks like a castle,” she says.
Funny that she uses that word. Although Nathaniel has the codes and comes here, usually when he knows I’ll be here, this place is mine.
“It used to be a private dining club,” I say.
“And now?”
I don’t reply.
This castle belongs to a beast. Delaney feels it. I can tell by the way she shifts in her seat.
I bring the car to a stop, and she gets out first without waiting for me. She turns slowly, taking it in—not just the building, but everything around it.
“What is this place?”
“Mine,” I growl.
“That’s not an answer.”
“It’s enough of one.”
She exhales but doesn’t push.
Not yet.
I move past her toward the door. She watches me closely as I raise my right hand and press the face of my ring to the keypad.
Click.
The outer lock yields.
But the second lock doesn’t answer.
It should.
Three seconds after the first release, the inner bolt always pulls back. A lower sound. Heavier. Built into the frame.
This time there’s nothing.
