Between the Devil and the Sea (The Devil and the Sea #1)

by Chani Lynn Feener

When people knew they could manipulate you simply by pretending to care, it left you vulnerable, and Shade wouldn’t allow himself to be taken advantage of like that. But that’d never stopped him from fantasizing about being wanted so badly by someone that they’d do literally anything to him to have him. Tie him up, pin him down…His mind wandered to the slaps Apollo had given him and he bit his lip as his dick twitched at the memory.

That wasn’t normal, right? Normal people were capable of having a one-night stand and moving on with their lives without hating themselves or second guessing every little detail of the act itself, wondering if they’d been bad and—

It’s not that people don’t like you, Shade, it’s that you don’t like yourself. It’s kind of hard to see the world with your head always tipped down.”

“Don’t worry about that,” Apollo told him, voice dropping to a low whisper, “there’s a great chance I’ll end up hurting you on purpose.”

They weren’t so different after all, it was just that the detective was afraid of his darkness. Afraid of what giving into it might make him.

The best way to conquer something was to uncover them completely. Expose them to the things that made them uncomfortable. Shine a light on the skeletons in their closest and watch how they reacted when forced to confront them.

“If you run like that,” Apollo changed tactics, “how do you expect me to believe you when you claim you’re not repulsed by my demons? You can’t even stand your own.”

“I want to get to know you too. That means being introduced to your demons, as you call them. Show me. I won’t run away. Trust me, I’ve been a detective for a decade now. I’ve seen it all.”

For some reason, Apollo didn’t like the idea of Shadow playing with other people’s monsters. He wanted all of his focus, all of his attention. He didn’t want to share anymore.

Shade claimed he could accept him? Heavens help him if he was lying too, because he might not yet be aware of it, but he wasn’t up against your average run-of-the-mill demon. Apollo was the Devil. And the Devil took no prisoners.

He’d felt his disgust and his fear, potent and rich. Like warmed melted chocolate. And he’d wanted to dip his fingers in it and lick it off.