The Devil's Bargain (Deal with the Devil, #1)

by Carin Hart

my Link.

Because the buzz? It’s not coming from the phone I placed face-down on the tabletop in front of me. It’s in my pocket, and that means only one thing: the phone I’ve carried around for fifteen fucking years without it ringing once in the last thirteen or so is going off.

Remember her? The woman I’ve obsessed over for nearly half my damn life? Who haunts my dreams, stars in my nightmares, and is the closest thing I get to finding any pleasure in this fucked-up world when I stand outside of her place, watching her through the window, knowing that so long as she’s safe, everything I’ve ever done—everything I’ve ever lost—is worth it?

And then she says, in a voice that’s closer to a broken sob, “I need your help,” and nothing else in the world matters.

my Ava

Ten-year-old Lincoln? I knew. I’ve known since the pretty little girl with pigtails and an impish grin joined my kindergarten class that she was mine.

There isn’t a fucking thing I wouldn’t do for this woman. She means more to me than my own life.

But that’s the thing. I’m not sane. When it comes to Ava Monroe, I never have been.

“Link. You came.” Of course I did.

“I promise you this, pet: no one will touch you when Devil marks you as his.”

“Yeah, and that’s why I brought you to the bathroom instead of just bending you over Callihan’s desk.”

“Understand me, Ava: once I fuck you, you are my wife. This is your last chance to change your mind.

I don’t know why I’m so surprised, but it hurts a little that Link can’t even look me in the eye when we have sex for the first time as a married couple. If I had any delusions that he picked me to be his wife because he had any lingering feelings for me, they die a quick death as he lowers himself behind me.

aw😕

as I wait for this to be over with.

NO STOP OMG

This isn’t making love. What’s going to happen next is fucking, plain and simple, and I don’t feel like his bride. I don’t even feel like his former lover. Right now, I’m just a pussy to him, something he’ll use to get off, and to make it so that I know just what I signed away when I scrawled my name on the marriage license.

STAWPPPP

“Told you, pet: if I knock you up, I need an heir anyway. You’re my wife now. There will never be anything between us.”

“I did my penance. Now you’re mine, Ava, and I fucking dare anyone to try to take you away from me.”

“It’s our wedding night, pet. The beginning of forever. I wouldn’t miss a minute of it unless I had to. Remember that.”

I can’t believe I let her think for a single second that the only reason I want to fuck her is because she’s a wet pussy and an empty womb and not because she’s starred in every single fantasy I’ve had since I was twelve years old.

Oh, Ava…

STOP MY STOMACH JUST DROPPED

“This woman is Ava Crewes. She’s my wife. My everything. And I want each of you to know that she owns me. Got that?”

I’d burn the fucking world down for this woman if I had to, and I’d offer her the match to blow out when I was done.

“You’re the reason it fucking beats at all.”

The last thing I remember is the triumphant smile tugging on his thin lips as Bobby shows off the small needle nestled in his palm. After that, everything goes black.

bro. can i never check a break?

“Tanner… he’s our tech guy… he made it so that no other numbers can get through. I keep it charged every day. I always have.”