The honesty in his eyes erased the doubt in my heart. Either he was giving me an Oscar-worthy performance, or he meant what he was saying. I only had two options: tell him what I knew and hope he’d keep his word, or stay silent and hope he’d eventually let me go. Even though I’d never been super great at math, I could work out those odds pretty easily in my head. My best chance at survival was to put my trust in a stranger.
I wiped the tears away from my cheeks with the back of my hand and sank against the pillow. Hoping I wasn’t making a huge mistake, I looked Six straight in the eyes and started to speak.
CHAPTER7
SIX
My fingers achedfrom being clenched into fists for the past forty-five minutes while Ginger spilled the secrets of her past. I wanted to wrap my arms around her and cradle her against my chest as the tears coursed down her cheeks. She told me how her brother got involved with the club and how he became obsessed with becoming an officer. So, when the VP—some dick named Snake Eyes—started showing an interest in her, her brother figured he’d use her as a bargaining chip to secure himself a higher rank.
“The night I ran was the night my brother gave me to Snake Eyes.” She looked down at her lap and the curtain of fiery red hair fell forward to block her face.
“He had no right to do that.” I bottled up the rage building inside me and vowed to get my hands on those bastards. They needed to pay for what they’d done. “The tattoo?—”
“It’s supposed to mean that I belong to him.” Her head snapped up. Heat sparked in her eyes. She still had some fight left in her, and she was going to need it.
I had a feeling Snake Eyes wasn’t going to be very willing to give up his prize. “You don’t belong to anyone, Little Deer. They might mark you on the outside, but no one can ever own your mind, heart, or soul.”
“He traded his only flesh and blood.” She broke eye contact first. “My virginity for a title.”
She was a virgin? White hot rage filled my chest. The thought of some asshole putting his hands on her made me see red. I got up from the bed and leaned over to look her in the eyes as I made a promise I fully intended to keep. “I’m going to kill him.”
Her hand on my arm was the only thing stopping me from storming out into the darkness and racing back up the mountain. “He didn’t get that far. He wanted the tattoo done first so I’d be marked as his before he…”
“You don’t have to say it.” Relief coursed through my veins. At least she hadn’t been violated by the lowlife in that way, though he’d taken way too many liberties with my little deer.
Fuck. Me.
Mylittle deer? I had no business thinking about her like that, especially after just telling her she didn’t belong to anyone.
“I need to get this ink off of me.” She peeled back one side of my flannel shirt to reveal the black links that had been carved into her body against her will. Her skin appeared angry and red underneath. “I won’t go back to them.”
“If I have it my way, you’ll never have to see them again.” I reached for the cream I’d asked Everly to bring when she came over earlier. “My MC brother Priest has a tattoo shop and one of his guys does the best cover-up ink I’ve ever seen. When you’re ready, I’ll take you over there and you can turn that ugliness into something beautiful. Until then, I need you to put some of this on your skin.”
She shook her head. “I can’t. Just looking at it makes me sick.”
“Then I’ll do it for you.” I waited for her consent. After what she’d been through, I wouldn’t touch her again without her explicit agreement.
Her eyes closed as she nodded and slowly unbuttoned the front of the shirt. “Can you make it quick?”
My stomach twisted tighter and tighter with every inch of marked skin she revealed. Underneath my anger, another kind of heat simmered. I’d been around beautiful women before, but none of them had ever filled me with the deep, hot longing I felt when I looked at Ginger.
I squeezed a small amount of thick cream onto my finger. Then I touched her skin. My nerve endings blistered from the way my blood boiled through my veins. The attraction I’d felt for her earlier sparked and combusted like an out-of-control wildfire.
She didn’t move. I would have believed I was the only one affected except for the way her chest trembled each time she drew in a shallow breath.
Slowly, I spread the healing balm over her shoulder and across her collarbone. The bottom of the Savage Bones logo disappeared under the top edge of her tank. I was ninety-nine percent sure she’d had on a bra when I laid her down on the bed last night, but she must have removed it since. Two pert nipples poked through the thin cotton. My cock liked the sight of that. Fucking loved it. I had to shift my legs to make room for the growing bulge in the front of my jeans.
I paused, not sure if I was physically capable of sliding my finger any farther. Based on what I could see, the ink probably covered most of her breast. It had been a long damn time since I’d been with a woman, and I wasn’t planning on making a move on Ginger. She was way too young and way too fucking innocent for a man like me.
My brain got the message, but my cock had gone rogue. The longer I sat there touching her skin, the thicker and fuller it grew. I’d probably have an imprint of my fucking zipper pressed into my dick if I didn’t walk away soon.
Ginger’s eyes stayed closed as she reached up and wrapped her fingers around mine. Then she slid my hand past the edge of her tank.
Jesus Fucking Christ. Blood whooshed through my ears—just passing through on its way straight to my cock. With her guiding my hand, my fingers traveled over the curve of her full, round breast. I had to bite down hard on the inside of my cheek to contain the low moan that threatened to rip from my throat. Beads of sweat broke out along my brow.
In all the years I’d spent as a sniper, my hands hadn’t shook, not even once. Now, I couldn’t make them stop.
Ginger pulled her hand away from mine and lifted the hem of her shirt. With her other arm injured, she struggled to get the shirt up and over her head. I shouldn’t have helped her, but I couldn’t stop myself.
