Conviction: Devine Read Online Free

that.” He blinked at my outthrust hand. “Can we start again?”
    He smiled and I was taken aback with how wide and bright it was. His usual smile was tight and leery but the one he gave me then was genuine and open. Taking my hand he shook it hard. “Nice to meet you, Isla. I’m Gary Tenby, Deviant’s car park assistant.”
    “And right hand man to Jake Devine,” I whispered giving him a wink.
    He winked back and smirked, leaning into me. “But that’s between you and me. I’m positioned here to keep out the riff raff. But only you that know that.”
    I held up a hand as I made my way into Deviant. “Take it to the grave!” I shouted back, crossing my finger over my chest.
    He chuckled behind me and I smiled to myself. The smile dropped when I saw Blair Rochelle’s fierce glare find me as I walked through the glass doors. Groaning to myself, I gave her a wide false smile. “Good afternoon, Miss Rochelle, welcome back to Deviant.”
    “Well,” she snapped as she clicked her fingers at her bag on the floor, gesturing for me to pick it up for her. “It’s about time. I’ve just spoken to the receptionist about your punctuality. I mean, really? I arrived ten minutes ago. I expect someone to be ready and waiting to escort me. This never happened with previous visits. And another thing . . .”
    I nodded in time with every other syllable, rolling my eyes every other word and curling my lip every sentence as my afternoon went from bad to worse.
    But then again, it was just like every other day in my life.

T HE SMILE THAT COVERED my face was wide as my fingers moved blindly over the keys; my mother’s favourite song now an instinctive tune for my subconscious to play. My gaze was focussed on the moon through the window as Debussy’s Clair de Lune teased the stale air in my room, the music gentle and almost eerie. A slight breeze blew through the open window teasing my hair, the long brown curls I’d inherited from my mum dancing softly to the melody.
    I hated the tears that trickled across my cheeks, tickling and irritating as they gradually progressed to my chin and dripped onto my fingers, splashing across the keys as my fingers moved.
    My heart hurt, physically ached, as I closed my eyes and finished the song, my mother’s very last smile tormenting me and bringing on a sob that seemed to tear me apart as it ripped through me. I missed her so much, her soft smile and comforting words, even her honesty when she would tell it how it was. I missed every single part of her.
    I knew he was there, I’d smelled his cologne and his unique scent when he’d entered my bedroom quietly. I hadn’t acknowledged him but I knew he’d sensed the slight stutter in the music halfway through the song when I’d become aware of his presence.
    His arms wrapped around me from behind, his chest a strength for me to bury my face into when he turned me, his arms a shield that protected me from myself and his quiet soothing words a gentle comfort to the guilt ripping my soul apart.
    “If I could take your heart and soul and lock them up in a glass container to keep them safe, I would,” Jake whispered softly in my ear. “I would. My heart and soul is already yours and all I can give you now is my arms.”
    I didn’t answer him, I didn’t know what to say.
    “I’m so sorry,” he continued, the ache in his voice matching the one in my chest. “I’m sorry. I tried, I tried so hard to stop it.”
    I swallowed, knowing we’d gone from talking about me to my arrest. Pulling back, I looked up at him, his face blurry through my tears. “What are you doing here, Jake?”
    His expression flicked from offended to angry to frustrated. “I’m here for you.”
    “For me?” Had this man any scruples? “For me?” He blinked at me, shocked by my outburst. I shook my head at him. “You never do anything but for yourself, Jake Devine. Don’t you dare try to . . .”
    My breath left me in a single burst when I was hoisted over