Page 140 of Wreck Me

“Yes,” Cas responded definitively.

She pulled up the texts, telling us, “This is everything he’s sent me since I left.”

Unknown Number: The longer you ghost me, the harder I’m gonna go on that tight little cunt of yours, sugar.

Unknown Number: I swear to fuck, I’ll make you hurt for me, bleed for me, fucking well cry for me.

Unknown Number: My bad, we both know you’d like that, my little pain slut. I’ll have to think of a better punishment, one that doesn’t get you off and make your cunt drip.

Unknown Number: This isn’t a game you can win, sugar.

Unknown Number: I’m gonna rage-fuck you until you’re raw and begging me to show mercy.

Unknown Number: What’s that? You don’t beg. The way I’ve heard it, you’ve gone soft. Gonna be a lot easier to bring you to your knees for me now, make you my good little girlfriend the way it was always meant to be.

Unknown Number: Continue ignoring me while you’re in your stubborn phase, but don’t think for one fucking second that you can replace me, sugar.

“Jesus Christ,” I breathed, once I’d read through them all. “This is beyond obsession.”

“And you haven’t responded in any way?” Cas asked her.

“No. I didn’t want to add fuel to the fire.”

“Good.” He laid his hand gently on her shoulder. “I need you to tell me everything where your relationship with him is concerned.”

She frowned. “Don’t you already know?”

“I need to hear it from you.”

So he could read her and also weigh her firsthand account to his research to ensure nothing had been missed. And there always tended to be something when an in-person account was missing from research on a person.

Bastian eased her from his grip and wrapped his arm around her. “At least let her wash up and eat first. She clearly came in her panicked after that message, which hasn’t given her any time to take care of herself yet.”

I saw the urgency of the situation with Cas warring with his care for us and that which was starting to develop when it came to Skylar too after last night.

Bastian didn’t know that it went a lot deeper than any of this, what his brother’s true crimes were toward us. So I saw Cas containing his reaction so as not to have Bastian suspicious and reading into it. He was nowhere near stable to know about all that yet. Last night had done a lot, brought a ton to light, and one of those things was definitely how on the edge he was right now. I just hoped that getting back down to our work as The Jackals would be enough to help reel him in.

“Yes,” Cas said, smiling at Skylar. “Let’s take care of you first, love.”

She cupped Bastian’s cheek and told him, “While I appreciate you being so sweet and thinking about me like that, I actually need to get this out now. It will be the first time I’ve ever talked about what happened and now I’m there, I have to do it, while I can.” She released him and scrubbed her hand over her face, unable to hide her distress. “And then I never want to talk about it again.”

My gut twisted. I’d heard such similar words from my sister after what had happened to her, what had been done to her. Despite my attempts, she’d refused to say a word about it, to unload any of it, to purge it.

It had me stepping forward and taking Skylar’s hand, urgency I couldn’t contain bubbling from me as I told her, “Talk about it as much as you need. No one here is gonna judge you or the circumstances, any of it. No one is gonna think you’re weak, a victim, or anything at all close to that. Ever. You’re a fighter. You’re powerful. You’ve even given me and Bastian a run for our money. Nothing you could ever tell us will diminish that. It takes nothing away from you. So, talk, get it all out, please, darling.”

She looked startled by my words and she clearly wasn’t sure what to do with them.

Cas, knowing where my mind had gone, wrapped his arm around me and tucked me into his side. He planted a soft kiss on my cheek, then told Skylar, “I have a compromise.”

21

~Skylar~

This certainly wasn’t what I’d expected when King had mentioned a compromise.

It was surreal.

The entire thing was.

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