It was full of love, of fear, of everything we still had to lose.
His thumb brushed under my eye, catching a tear I hadn’t even realized had fallen.
“I’m not losing you again,” he whispered.
It wasn’t a threat or even a promise. It was a vow. And that scared me more than anything.
“Iwillmake him pay,” he murmured against my lips, his voice turning cold, lethal. “I swear to you, Lexi... he doesn’t get to walk away from this.”
A cold chill puckered my flesh, drawing me from a fitful sleep. After Killian made love to me, I’d fallen into the deepest sleep of my life, wrapped in the safety and warmth of his powerful arms.
Something wasn’t right.
My eyes snapped open, and I scanned the murky darkness of the cabin. My hand instinctively reached over to the empty side of the small bed, and fear’s claws razed across my heart.
“... Killian?” I jolted up and nearly smashed my head against the top bunk. Rubbing my eyes to force back the haze of sleep, I slid off the bed and tiptoed around the cabin. The tiny bathroom was only a few feet away, the lights off. “Killian?” I called out again, the tremor in my voice impossible to disguise.
I crept across the small cabin and silently pulled the door open. Peering through the crack, I searched the murky deck praying to a God I still wasn’t sure existed.
Please be here.
“Killian!” I whisper-shouted.
Nothing.
He couldn’t have gone to confront Stan, could he? He wouldn’t be that fucking stupid.
I raced back into the cabin and searched my discarded clothes for my phone. I jabbed my finger at Killian’s number and held my breath.
One ring, two, three.
No answer.
“Shit!” I hissed.
This wasn’t happening. He promised me?—
My thoughts whirled back to our earlier conversation. No, he didn’t. He never said he wouldn’t go after Stan, just that he’d make him pay. That idiot was going to get himself thrown in jail, or worse, and it would be my fault.
Panic invaded my chest, and I drew in a slow, steadying breath to keep the fear at bay. Maybe there was a logical explanation. Maybe he’d gone back to the house to get supplies, or perhaps he got hungry after all the mind-blowing sex...
Yes, that was totally possible.
But deep down, I knew better.
I flipped through my phone contacts until I found the one I needed. Axel. At least I had one of Killian’s friend’s numbers. Thank gawd he’d insisted on putting it in my phone after we’d returned from the Dominican Republic. I pressed the call button and paced the cramped interior.
“Hello?” A rough voice answered on the fifth ring.
“Axel, it’s Lexi,” I blurted. “Sorry to call you so late, but is Killian with you by chance?”
“No, he’s not.” He yawned then cleared his throat. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m just worried.”
“I don’t know what shit you guys are into, but knowing Killian, it can’t be good.”
That fear intensified, strangling me, and my fingers tightened around the phone. “I have to go.”
