The doctor said Jenna needs to stick to female visitors only for now, and despite her knowing Rex, I don’t want the sound of his voice making her worse.
“Did she mention anything about…what they did?” he asks, eyes darkening as he looks above my head, gaze burning holes through the walls.
“No, but with what we know, it’s not hard to connect the dots,” I say quietly.
I watch his shoulders tightening, his hands fisting at the sides as he drags his gaze to me, a sharp tilt of his head.
Everything is beginning to make sense now, things I missed before and took them as off-the-cuff comments. Saint said that Rex would burn the place to the ground. I thought it was because of them killing her.
Now I know the exact meaning.
My hand reaches for his forearm, squeezing as he looks at me, eyes softening when I speak. “She just needs time…” I take a steadying breath, hoping my suggestion doesn’t cause him to freak out. “You should write her a letter too.”
He glances down at the ground, biting his cheek, and when his soft eyes land on me, my heart twists when he answers, “Idon’t think there’s enough paper in the world for the things I want to say.”
9
Saint
rehab - rihanna
Thebulletsplitsthroughthe air in the undisturbed woodland, echoing as its violence slinks through the trees.
“Why couldn’t you shoot me like that at the cabin?” I say, pouting my lips as Indie lands the marks I’ve set out for her.
She rolls her eyes at my mocking tone, shoving the rifle as I take it from her, swapping it for something bigger and heavier.
Every single one she’s hit with ease; it’s fucking impressive, but I’m not feeding into her ego. I want her in the mindset that she constantly needs to improve her game.
She swiftly gets comfortable with the new gun’s weight, whilst I walk ahead and lay out more targets for her. She doesn’t need one that size, but when I told her to go for the smaller one before we left, she waved me off and told me:I know what I’m fucking doing, Rex gave me a lesson on this one.
I should have known he was responsible for her eying up shit she’d never need nor have the knowledge to use.
That man doesn’t care for what’s logical; if he’s shooting, you better not to be in his fucking way.
He sprays bullets like a turret.
When I make my way towards her, she’s already started.
Bullets whip past me, and I hear each and every one being impaled into the trees, not needing to turn to know she’s meeting the target.
A zip rushes past me with a hot burst of air, a bullet pretty fucking close skimming past my head.
Fuck, that’s hot.
“You hoping I catch a stray, darling?” I growl when I reach her to take the gun, putting the safety on, placing it down into the bag settled in the snow.
She pushes the stray hairs away from her face. “No, just returning a favour. Seeing as you shot at me through the woods not long ago.”
My gloved hands grip the side of her puffy jacket, tugging the zip back up to keep her neck warm.
A gentle smile spreads across her reddened cheeks. “You’re always warm,” she whispers, opening those doe eyes to look up at me, the sadness in them thankfully subsided.
Ever since she spoke to Jenna, a little bit of light’s come back in their depths. Not much, but it’s better than the rain that usually roars behind them.
It doesn’t last very long, and the storm does a U-turn, and that’s when I usually need to step in to put her demons in their place.
“I wouldn’t be able to rule hell if I was cold, would I, darling?”
