She didn’t say anything else to him, just accepted the answer and dismissed the call. Next, she opened my messages and senttwo separate ones before handing it back to me. Her body relaxed slightly as she folded her arms and looked out the window, the motion smearing blood all over the front of her shirt.
“If youdoend up killing me, just know they were notified of where to find the body.”
They.I assumed that meantshe sent texts to her roommates.
I nodded once in understanding before getting out and moving around the car to her side. She watched me carefully, as if still expecting me to attack her. Instead, I pulled the door open and offered her my hand.
She stepped out and ignored it, glaring at me from the side of her eye. I should have realized that every moment I’d been with her, I’d basically been fueling that fire. I couldn’t help the way my dick twitched in excitement as I motioned for her to lead the way inside. As she passed me, her shoulder deliberately hit mine, and another smile grew on my face.
That's my girl.
We entered through the back door where I grabbed a clean white mask from the extra stock and held it out. “Put this on.”
She snatched it from my hand but obeyed, we pushed through the crowds and went straight to my office. Once inside, I pulled out the first-aid kit and stepped toward her. “Let me see your wrists.”
She didn’t move. Instead, she walked past me, ripping the kit from my hands and sat down in my chair. “I can do it myself,” she said flatly.
I watched without protest as she unwrapped the gauze,cleaned the cuts, and placed the bandages down. For now, I needed to be okay with the fact she didn’t want me to help. In order to heal this wound between us, I needed to just exist near her for a little while. I leaned against my desk instead, watching her. Slowly, a reminder of everything I knew clawed at my insides.
Someone else was in her room.
Someone else had touched her.
And now I knew for a fact, I wasn't the only monster hidden in the dark.
“I’m gonna send a text, but if you need my phone again, I’ll keep it open for you.”
Ember waved her hand at me like she really couldn’t care less. “At this point, I’ve already accepted that you could call for backup at any time. Just don’t let it be the same guy as before—he didn't exactly play fair.”
Yeah, Greyson didn't do fair. As an act of good faith, I decided to feed into the conversation by offering her a small piece of me. “That was my brother, and I’mveryaware of his tactics.”
Slowly, her head raised, and she looked over at me. “There's three Sons of Solstice?”
Bait taken, which means there’s still a small part of her that cares.
I nodded as I pulled my phone out. “His name is Greyson, and he went through some rough things as a kid. Let’s just say it altered his brain a little bit. Sorry about that. He promised to behave, and I chose to give him the benefit of the doubt.”
Tilting her head to the side, she made a sound that was almost half of a scoff. “Sorry?! That's it? I don't think one apology makes up for everything you’ve done.”
I bit my tongue as I looked down.
Everything I’ve done?No, everythinghe’sdone.
I typed a message to Knox that was straight to the point. I needed him to understand how dire this was, and I needed a timeline. I couldn’t keep her here very long, but I’d be damned if she left alone.
Once the message sent, I gave my full attention back to Ember. When I looked up from my phone, she was done tending to her wounds and was waiting for my reply. She wasn’t only leading this conversation, but she was actually talking to me—something I would be taking full advantage of.
24
Ember
The gauze was too tight but I liked it. Every pulse of pain I felt reminded me that this was all veryreal, and very much happening to me. In the last hour, that’s all I had focused on—what was unfolding right in front of me. Each moment felt like a new form of chaos, and it was like I couldn't keep up with everything I felt. At first it was anger, then fear. When Silas fucked me in the car, it was pure desire.
That was why I had listened to him, and stayed.
Hell, maybe I was the delusional one.
If one thing was for sure, it was that I hadn’t made my mind up on Silas yet. Every time I thought that I had enough to walk away from him, I couldn’t. Something made me stay, and now, he had opened up to me.
