She swallows hard and wrings her hands. “I’m scared.”
“I’m not going alone, Jamie. Everyone’s coming with me. Roger said Crane’s got a skeleton crew. His asshole friends are gone. We outnumber and outgun him. He’s got nothing. And when I’m done with that motherfucker, you’re going to be a merry widow.”
She stops wringing her hands and nods, as if she’s done working it out in her mind. “Of course, he’s too evil to live. I just don’t trust that bastard not to have a trick or two up his sleeve.”
I grunt out a laugh. “No worries, runt. We’re counting on him having tricks up his sleeve. Prick like that? It’s all he has because he can’t fight a man fair.”
Jamie is desperately trying not to dive for cover. I know it because I see the fear sparking in her eyes. “I really do love you, Wraith. I have since kindergarten.”
My brows shoot up at that revelation. “The fuck? That long? And you waited all this time to tell me? What other secrets are you hiding?” I meant it lightheartedly, but Jamie reels back like I hit her. The color drains from her face, and she looks like she’s going to puke all over herself. “What?”
But a pit opens in my stomach, and my blood is liquid nitrogen as warning bells force the monster to crack open an eye and curl its fingers around the bars of its cage.
“I need to tell you something.”
Christ.
“What?”
She inches away from me—moving out of striking distance. “It’s my fault.”
I close my eyes and pinch the bridge of my nose. Not now. Not when I just handed this woman my fucking heart. The betrayal will be too much, and I’ll go full fucking beast. But I open my eyes and push off the bed and fight to keep control no matter what she tells me. Force myself to hear her full confession before I condemn her to hell. “What, exactly, is your fault, Jamie?”
“I’m the reason David brought you to Gomorrah.” She lowers her head and drops her gaze. She’s crying but I don’t give a single shit. “I watched videos of your fights.” She swipes tears off her cheeks, and when she looks up at me, shame stares back at me from her haunted eyes. “David must have tracked my internet use and found those videos. He chose you because he was jealous. I’m sorry, Wraith. Please don’t hate me. I missed you so much. I should have let you be, but I just to know if you were okay. Oh God, I’m sorry.”
Violent tremors rack her body and tears saturate her face. When I drop on the bed next to her, she shoots away. I haul her back and take her in my arms.
“This is your big secret? That you internet stalked me, and it got your psychotic husband’s balls all twisted?”
When she nods, the top of her head bumps my chin. “Isn’t that enough?”
“You think what he did to me is your fault?”
“I know it is.” Fresh tears roll down her face. “If I’d left you alone, David would have never known who you were.”
I wipe them away and press my forehead to hers. “Did you pay a bitch to roofie me?”
“No, of course not.”
“No, of course not,” I repeat. “Did you have a bunch of men fuck me up? Put me on a plane? Lock me in a dungeon, and do all that other shit to me?”
“Oh God, no.”
“No. You were the one who put everything on the line, and risked her friends’ lives, to get me the hell out of Gomorrah. Because of you, all those corrupt bastards and child rapists in Marion County are out of power.” I jab a finger at her chest. “Youdid that, Jamie. Not me. Not anyone else.You. Whatever guilt you’re feeling, you need to let that shit go. You aren’t to blame for what Crane did, and I promise you, I don’t, and will never, hold you responsible for what that fuck did to me.”
“How can younotblame me?”
“Because you didn’t do a damn thing wrong.” I cup her chin and brush my lips over her. “And I’m so fucking glad you stalked me because If you didn’t, I never would have ended up in Florida, and we wouldn’t be together now.”
She gives me a sheepish smile. “I would have eventually come home.”
“Yeah, well, apparently, the universe thought you were taking too long and sped shit up.”
She’s killing me slowly, tracing over the lettering of my Unholy tattoo. “You know I won’t stop beating myself up about this, right? It’s what I do best.”
“Yeah, well, from now on, you’re sitting shit out, because I’m taking the beatings since I’m bigger and stronger.”
She stiffens. “Not funny, Wraith.”
