I turn, or try to. Everything hurts.
“You bring me that marriage license by morning. I want to see the proof that this is legal. And if I find out you forged it, if I find out any of this is bullshit, I won’t just brand her. I’ll kill her. Slowly. Painfully, and I’ll make you watch.” He takes a long pull from his beer. “We clear?”
“Crystal,” I manage.
“Good. Now get the fuck out of my house.”
Levi practically drags me out of the dining room, through the entryway, out into the cool night air. Behind us, Sawyer’s guiding Saint, her face pale as death, that handprint livid on her cheek.
We make it to my truck before Saint breaks.
She tears away from Sawyer and doubles over, retching into the bushes. Nothing comes up but the whiskey Levi gave her, nodoubt burning twice on the way back out. Her whole body shakes with the force of it.
I want to go to her. Want to hold her hair back, want to comfort her, want to do something other than stand here useless while Levi keeps me upright.
But I can barely stand. Can barely breathe. And the look on her face when she finally straightens tells me she doesn’t want my comfort anyway.
“You knew,” she says, and her voice is hollow. “You knew what he would do, and you brought me here anyway. Was it another kind of punishment to have me watch you beaten?”
“Saint—” I expected her anger at Roman’s treatment of her, but she’s upset because of his treatment of me? My mind can’t wrap around that through the pain.
“Don’t.” She wipes her mouth with the back of her hand. “Just don’t. Not right now.”
Sawyer steps forward, ever the mediator. “Let’s get you both home. We can deal with the rest tomorrow.”
“The rest,” Saint repeats bitterly. “You mean the branding. The ceremony where your father burns his mark into my skin like I’m cattle.”
None of us has an answer for that.
Levi helps me into the passenger seat of my own truck because there’s no way I can drive like this. Saint climbs in the back without being asked, as far from me as she can get in the confined space.
“I’ll drive you back to your place,” Levi says quietly. “Sawyer, follow us? We need to make sure Calder gets inside okay.”
“Yeah.” Sawyer’s already moving toward his SUV. “I’ll grab the marriage license from their house and bring it to Dad first thing in the morning. Might cool him down a bit if he sees we’re complying.”
“Nothing’s going to cool him down,” Kade says, lingering nearby and watching us all. He’s been doing nothing but watch this whole time, arms crossed, expression unreadable.
“Thanks for the reassurance,” Levi snaps.
“Just stating facts.” Kade’s gaze finds mine through the truck window. “You made your choice, Calder. Now you get to live with the consequences.”
He disappears back into the house, probably to help Roman celebrate his victory.
Levi starts the truck, and we pull away from the main house. In the side mirror, I can see Saint’s reflection, her hand pressed to her cheek, tears finally spilling down her face now that we’re out of sight.
She’s not making a sound. Just crying silently, staring out the window at the darkness rushing past.
And I can’t do a goddamn thing to help her.
Because in one week, my father’s going to burn his mark into her skin. Going to make her scream. Going to break whatever small amount of trust I’ve managed to build with her.
And there’s not a fucking thing I can do to stop it.
Saint
The truck doesn’t turnthe way I expect.
I don’t know where we are. The couple of times I’ve been out of the cabin, Calder’s never let me drive, never let me see the route out of the immediate area. But I know we’re not going back there. The road feels different, smoother. And we’re heading deeper into the valley instead of up into the mountains.
