“Because Aalyiah was dead the next afternoon, and you said it was dark outside when you saw Rhett. I think you went to meet her but stumbled upon him instead.”
I close my eyes, recalling the relevant flashbacks. “What if I met Aalyiah there the night before?”
“Then you’d have no reason to go back the next day,” Dante says. “Unless you and Aalyiah were supposed to meet up again, but given she took her life less than twelve hours later, that doesn’t make sense.”
“Nothingmakes sense. Most of all why Alex would givemethe evidence.” I snatch the wine Broadway opened earlier and top up my glass, pacing the room. “He said I was his insurance policy. He said he’d end up in jail if he didn’t finish the job,” I chant, spewing everything that seems important. “I need another trigger. Do you have pictures of the warehouse? Maybe my house? Where else would I hide the evidence if not there? How about Alex’s car? Maybe I’ll remember more of that night if—”
“Hailey,” Carter demands my attention. “Stop. You’re exhausted, pale, and shaking. What did your neurologist say? You can’t face everything all at once. Too much, too fast—”
I roll my eyes and sip the wine, still pacing. “Spare me, please. I’m fine and you know it. We’re running around in circles!”
Carter’s shoulders square back, annoyance tainting his features, almost masking his arousal. “You need to rest. And calm down. We’re leaving for the new safe house in the morning.”
“Why? What’s the point? We’re safe here, aren’t we? Only I know where the evidence is and since these triggers obviously work, we should try harder. Give me another!”
“And fry your brain?” he snaps, his patience long gone. “No. You can’t seeyourself when you get a flashback. You tremble, you cry, you fight... Sometimes you’re sad, sometimes you’re perfectly still, but you’re always so fucking scared... It’s getting worse. With every flashback you go deeper; today, you were so fucking deep I wasn’t sure you’d come back.”
He cracks his neck, dismissing that last thought, and gets up, towering above me. “I’m not putting you through it again unless there’s no other option.”
“There are no other options.”
I angle myself left, looking at Carter’s men and Dante, hoping one of them will back me up.
They don’t. Not even Broadway.
“Go to bed,” Carter tells me. “I’ll come over soon.”
???
My stomach flutters me awake from a dreamless sleep. Carter’s warm, strong chest is flush with my back, the smell of his shower gel overpowering the warm air.
Another flutter, more intense when his lips draw a line down my neck, trailing a path of open-mouthed kisses into the crook.
I’m instantly hot and... wet.
My eyes fly open. I try moving onto my back but Carter’s too close and I end up pressing myself further into his chest. My stomach cramps pleasantly when I realize his hand is between my legs, his fingers expertly rolling my clit under two fingers, his hard cock jutting against my ass.
“Morning,” he whispers, biting my ear, his labored breaths transmitting heatwaves through my system. “How did you sleep?”
“Good,” I pant, angling myself back to give him better access, desperate for more friction. “Waking up is better.”
He smiles against my neck. “I couldn’t wait for you to wake up. You’re almost there, aren’t you?”
“Yes, don’t stop.”
“Wasn’t my intention.”
I grab his free hand, the one curled under me holding my throat, and move it over my mouth. We’re alone at the guest house, but I love when he muffles the sounds I can’t control.
“You’ll come for me now, then I want you on top,” he says, pressing his hand firmly to my lips. “I want you to ride me. I want a repeat of the night you stole my fucking heart, but this time, I’ll be inside you.”
All I can do is nod while his fingers work faster.
“Good girl,” he tuts in my ear and those two words tip me over the edge.
The orgasm wakes me up completely. My back bows and my thighs trap his hand between my legs. Carter buries his face in my hair, molding me further into his hard chest, his low groan amplifying the orgasm that strips my firewall.
“I love it when you come, pretty girl. You come with your whole body. Every muscle winds up tight and then you tremble, drowning in the high.”
