Page 48 of Crave Me

“I love you.”

He smiled and sank back against the headboard, taking my hand and holding it on his thigh over the covers. “Is Cas with Caleb? There’s something I need to tell him about what Cal went through. He was steeped in major denial, so I’m worried he might not reveal what really happened to him in that room.”

Oh God. “He’s… he’s not here, Bastian.”

He jolted. “What? No, he has to be. You guys picked up me… I got clear of the signal jammer and my pendant started transmitting again… and that’s how you found me, right? Cal said it was just a two-mile distance I needed to get for that to happen. That would’ve been close enough for you guys to find the mansion too, to raid the place and pull Caleb out.” His hand left me and he shoved it through his hair. “I mean, I did pass out in a bank on the roadside. I couldn’t… I just couldn’t keep going. Then I woke up briefly when a construction worker pulled over to help me. He was lost because that area is like a maze.” His eyes flashed. “A maze… is that why you couldn’t find Cal right away?” Urgency took him over as he told me, “I know the way, I can guide you guys to that hellhole. I can—”

“Caspian is headed down to the area.”

“Without my information?”

“He didn’t want to wait for you to wake up.”

“How long have I been out?”

“A few hours.”

“Hours? You guys should’ve just forced me awake.”

“The doctor advised against that.”

“Fuck.”

“It’s all right. Just tell me everything you know and I’ll relay it to Caspian while they’re still on their way down there.”

“Yeah,” he said, calming a little at that. “Yeah, okay.” He grimaced and warned, “It’s a lot, Sky. You’re gonna need to brace yourself.”

“It’s okay, go ahead.”

And then he did.

He told me everything, every little detail he could remember.

The further along he went, the worse it got, especially the details about what had befallen Caleb.

I felt sick to my stomach when he got to that part, but I forced myself to swallow it down, and listen to every word so I didn’t miss anything to pass onto Caspian.

My God.

It was brutal.

All so horrifically brutal.

12

~Caspian~

“At least blow it out the window.”

Asher swung his head toward me, his smoke wafting even closer. “I was. It’s the wind. You know, on account of you driving one-hundred-and-sixty miles an hour?”

“You’re just sore that your BMW can’t pull this off.”

“Sure. We’ll go with that,” he muttered, before taking another drag of his cigarette. His third in the last forty-five minutes. “You should be used to this from Cal.”

“Caleb is much more considerate of those around him.”

“You mean stifled with rules and boundaries?”

---