“You should check on her,” I blurt.
He frowns at me.
“You should check on her, Ruin,” I repeat. “She sounded scared. Call her back.”
He starts to shake his head, but freezes when I slap my palm on the desk. “Call her back!”
“Fine! Fine—okay.”
He hits call. A second later, he yanks the phone back from his ear, staring at it. “It won’t go through,” he mutters.
He tries again. Once. Twice.
Nothing.
His next call goes to Ryder. “Brother,” he says quickly. “Sarah called to say Glory paid her a visit tonight. At her salon. Around eight-twenty.”
A pause.
“Yeah… I figured. Hey, can you check on her? She sounded weird. And I can’t get through.”
I nod faintly, hoping—really hoping—that woman isn’t caught in a mess she has nothing to do with.
Ruin lowers the phone slowly when the call ends. We stare at each other like another tactical move was made in this war. And it wasn’t ours.
??????
“And your appetite? Is it back yet?” Isabelle asks.
It’s one of the rare days she’s actually at the clubhouse. I have no idea how she manages four night shifts at the clubandstillkeeps up with her sixty-hour weeks at the clinic. Honestly, I’m a little in awe of her. She’s a brilliant nurse.
“It’s back, yes. Sort of,” I say with a small smile, glancing toward my kitchen.
My secluded little sanctuary.
I gave Isabelle a quick tour of my club apartment earlier. She’d been momentarily stunned when I told her Ruin had done all of it.
Now we’re sitting on the couch with glasses of port wine, casually wondering why the hell my Devil’s flow hasn’t shown up yet. It’s been fifty-three days.
The first thing she asked me was whether I was sexually active. My entire face had burned with embarrassment. I just shook my head and stared down at my lap.
Because how exactly do you tell someone—someone who witnessed the most humiliating moment of your life—that yes, I was in Ruin’s room naked… but I’m actually a virgin?
“Well then,” Isabelle says reassuringly, squeezing my arm gently. “According to my assessment, it’s just stress. It’ll come, Charlotte. Stress can mess with your cycle. Just keep track of your symptoms. And you already have that appointment with Noah—err… Dr. Almonte tomorrow.”
I smirk at her slip.
“Oh, about the appointment, do I need to—”
A knock at the door cuts me off.
It reminds me that Ryder is on my protection detail today. Ruin and Wolf have been coordinating with someone named Tudor, quietly letting a few of Mihai’s men into the compound at a time.
Jesus.
Two days have passed, and I still involuntarily shiver when I think about Ruin’s arms. The thorned vines of the tattoo twisting around the veins that rise beneath his skin—
‘These aren’t the same hands anymore, Charlotte.’
