Page 124 of Wreck Me

The fucker had triggered me in far too many ways.

Because I’d opened myself back up.

He wanted me to know that he was aware of that fact, that he knew I was no longer shut down.

That I was vulnerable.

Targeting Sky had clearly been strategic, without a doubt.

Rationally, I knew this reaction I was experiencing now was exactly what he’d wanted.

Yet, I still couldn’t just cast it off.

The look on her face, the way he’d ripped her power right out from under her, violated her, humiliated her… I felt sick that she’d had to suffer like that, that he’d put her through that.

And it was all because of me.

All because I’d pulled her into our world.

“Fuck,” I muttered, as I pushed back into the foyer of King Manor. As my footsteps on the white marble floor echoed down the corridor, I took in the time on the ornate grandfather clock just a few feet from the double winding staircase. I’d been outside pacing and pacing like a caged animal for over twenty minutes.

When we’d first arrived here, I’d settled Sky onto one of the uber comfortable oversized black armchairs in the seating area and put on the TV. Over my time getting to know her, I’d found out that she was into 80’s action movies in a big way—no surprise there, really.

But given the violence that had happened tonight, I’d opened up Caleb’s profile on the PVR instead, which consisted of mostly sitcoms. Yeah, he had his own profile still here at King Manor. Good thing he did, because Caspian’s was all boring-ass mysteries, every Sherlock Holmes production that had ever been made, then a whole lot of medieval history documentaries and anything to do with King Arthur and his knights. For his rare lighter moods when he actually wanted to chill, he had every TV show and movie ever made about the Three Musketeers. He liked the honor and brotherly loyalty in it. And the violence, of course.

I didn’t have my own profile, I’d just watched whatever when I’d lived here. I’d gone the video game route instead and I also read a lot of epic fantasy, like Lord of the Rings and all that. It had been another way to sublimate during those dark days, another way to remove myself from reality.

While Cas had been on the phone to Luke dealing with the fallout of what had happened earlier at the fight venue, Caleb had sat with her while I’d gone to retrieve a first-aid kit to tend to her injuries—the bloodied scrapes and stark bruising that my fucking brother had inflicted on her!

But when I’d returned and found Cas sitting and just observing her from the couch and Caleb talking to her and exchanging discreet looks with Cas in the process, and then she’d looked out at me, I hadn’t been able to take her in without that rage threatening to take me over. All I’d seen in that moment had been my brother. That twisted look on his face, him sucking that vile fucking finger that had been in her panties right in front of me, thinking he could take from her, from me… shit, I’d just dumped the kit on the coffee table, then told them I needed a few moments, and I’d bolted out of the mansion into the cool night air.

And even after that, that rage and upset still hadn’t quelled.

It just wouldn’t.

I couldn’t get a handle on it.

And the last thing I wanted was to head back in there with them and still be in this state.

Cal had already been questioning my mental state, and it was a big fucking deal that Cas had had to tell me to stay my hand tonight. First time for everything. That was usually my thing, especially when we were out in the field as our other selves.

But, in spite of that and their reactions and the shit that could come at me from it, what concerned me the most was Sky. I didn’t want her seeing this rage coming off me again. And I certainly didn’t want to be blurting out something like what I had earlier, telling her she wasn’t fine. Way to make her feel like a victim. I hated that I’d said that. I hated every move I’d made and every word I’d uttered since Damien had stepped into that ring. All of it was reminiscent of the old me, the addict, the out of control and just completely out of it version of me.

I gritted my teeth, then shoved my hand through my hair.

As all those thoughts had been swirling, I’d been walking through the mansion, just wandering aimlessly.

Or so I’d figured, until I found myself outside Caspian’s home office.

The door was ajar.

Not like him at all.

When I’d headed into the kitchen to retrieve that first-aid kit, I’d also noticed that his liquor wasn’t hidden like he usually made sure it was whenever I was slated to come over.

He’d had to react extremely fast, in a hell of a rush, to get to us.

Or, was it to get to her?

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