“Okay, that is wicked thunder,” I rasp.
“I agree. Let’s go.”
He steers me quickly back toward the main chamber, flashlight from his phone cutting through the shadows. At the cave mouth, the waterfall looks thicker…heavier. Like the downpour above is feeding it faster.
“Storm must have hit already,” Hayden mutters. “We should head out before the water level rises.”
I nod, pulse racing. He hands me my blanket, helps me climb the muddy incline, and keeps a steady arm around me as we navigate the slick path.
When we finally reach the cave entrance, the sky outside is a churning mass of black clouds. The wind whips violently, tearing through the trees, rattling the branches like bones.
“Well,” I say on a shaky laugh, “guess this is one way to end a surprise.”
Hayden smirks. “We’ll come back another night. When the mountain isn’t trying to murder us.”
He takes my hand—steady, warm—and leads me back toward the trail.
And for once, despite the storm, the darkness, and the chaos of everything in my life…
I don’t feel as tense.
Not even a little.
22
RYDER
After Kelsey and Hayden got back from the cave, Kelsey couldn’t stop talking about it. Am I glad they’re bonding again? Fuck no. I gave Hayden extremely clear rules and made sure he knew of the consequences had any of them been broken. I know their past, and that fucks with me, but I’m also trying to be a decent levelheaded motherfucker and not control Kelsey…too much. Hayden, however, is free game and gets no leniency when it comes to my assholeness.
I have the day arranged for Kelsey already, and nobody will interfere with it. This is long overdue, and I have my hands full with trying to fix shit with Kelsey. I thought the hotel was a turning point for us, but turns out she was incredibly traumatized and just needed tofeelagain. I asked her if she remembered anything from that night, to which she responded, “A little.” She was heavily medicated for pain and infections, so I know she wasn’t quite in theright state of mind. Should I feel bad about taking her that night? Probably. Do I? No. She’s mine, and besides, it was consensual. She could’ve said no.
I stand in the bedroom doorway watching her as her chest rises and falls with each subtle breath. She sleeps the way an alligator wrestles its prey. Tossing and turning all night. By the time morning comes around, there’s hardly anything left covering her bare body. Her creamy, silken skin was on full display, and her long, dark hair was a disheveled, knotted mess.
I step inside the room and shut the door until I hear the telltale click. Then I walk over to where she still sleeps peacefully and brush a few loose strands of hair from her face. The strands stuck to her cheek by dried drool. I grin, knowing the hellfire wrath I’m about to cause by waking her up. It’ll be fine, though, once she realizes where we’re going.
She groans in reluctance.
“Come on, we have to get going,” I say gently.
One eye eases open, only halfway. “Go where?” She drawls, groggily.
“We have to make a visit today.”
“How are they even still alive?”
Good fucking question. I guess the remnants of food and water I’ve given them have kept them just barely on the edge of life and death. It’s a wonder their immune systems haven’t succumbed to the infections that have to be brewing in them by now. Hell, the whole room is foul. I had to pay some of my guys to come install a specialventilation unit to keep it from reaching the top floor of the bank.
She rolls onto her back, and the sight of her bare tits and light blue panties has my cock straining in my pants.
“Stop staring,” She confronts, but her tone is playful.
“You don’t sound like you really want me to stop.”
“We don’t have time. You said we have to go now.”
“Did I saynow, though?”
That response earned me her signature eye roll, making me chuckle deeply. “Exactly,” I say as I lean over her, one knee on the edge of the mattress. I graze the side of her plump breast with the backs of my fingers, eliciting a shiver from her soft body.
