Page 43 of Jared's Redemption

“I only got two.” She croaks, looking at the man dead behind her with a frown. “You stole my kill.” She gives me a grumpy look, pouting as we walk to the front of the building, and Markus pulls out his phone to call Alec.

“That’s a weird way to thank me for saving your life.” I grumble. She turns, hands on her hips and a fierce look in her eyes.

“You’re a dick.”

I stop walking, twisting my body to face her. We are all soaked, and her clothes are clinging to every inch of her body. Her pale hair looks darker, plastered down to her head and making her blue eyes shine brighter.

“Excuse me?” I say, stepping towards her. She takes a step back and her back hits a crate.

“You heard me.” She says. Her voice betrays her confident façade as she crosses her arms over her chest. I slam both hands onto the wood on each side of her head and press my forehead to hers.

“You are fucking insufferable, Lunatic.” I say harshly, closing my eyes as I fight for control. “I want to throttle you for putting yourself in danger. That stunt you pulled cannot fucking happen again. You are done with these jobs, do you hear me?” I grit out, grabbing her throat possessively and forcing her head to tilt back.

“You don’t get to decide that.” Her breath fans my face. She was poking the bear. And he was ravenous.

Chapter 32- Luna

Part of me wanted to slap his hand away, another part wanted to beg him to squeeze. After being choked, nearly to death, that should be the last thing on my mind. But with Jared, there wasn’t an ounce of sense in my head. I could see the control wavering, his hand trembling against my skin.

“I just decided, Luna.” He says my name mockingly, his grip loosening. He’s pulling away again.

“I don’t belong to you!”

I finally snap, knocking his hand away and shove his chest. Catching him off guard, Jared staggers back a step with a shocked look on his face. His demeanor changes and his expression darkens as he steps towards me.

“Luna, I will fucking own you until I take my last breath.” He says, his hands gripping my hips as he presses his body against mine. I wrap my arms around his neck, gripping his hair to jerk his face down to crush our lips together. Jared’s hands slide around to grip my ass, his fingers digging into the soft flesh. They drop lower as he grabs my thighs and lifts me to wrap my legs around his waist.

I moan against his mouth while he grinds his hard length against me. An icy chill billows around us and Markus clears his throat.

“Vincent is on his way to pick up everything, so you might wanna put a pin in this until you get home. Please, no freaky stuff in the car, either. If you can’t help yourself, I’ll just get an Uber or some shit.” Markus interrupts, and Jared growls, dropping his head to my shoulder.

“Markus, shut the hell up.” He groans. I snicker, burying my face against his neck and shivering in the cold.

“She’s drenched. Tell them to bring towels.” Jared says, letting my feet down to stand again.

“Okay, ew. I didn’t need to know that.” Markus says, shaking his head as he kicks the door shut behind him to stop the winter breeze from blowing in.

“Not what I meant,” Jared huffs, running a hand over his face as he turns away. The look he gives me over his shoulder is not what I want to see. His eyes are cold once again as he closes off from me. Bearing the freezing winter air as opposed to him, I storm out of the warehouse and ignore his shouts for me to come back as I head straight for the SUV. I climb in, starting the vehicle and cranking the heat as I sit in the driver’s seat and shiver.

Tears burn as I finally let them rip through me, taking out my knife to cut my sleeves off and tie them together to press against my ribs and slow the bleeding. A stray bullet took a small chunk out of my side right above where I was previously shot. The adrenaline was wearing off, and it hurt like a son of a bitch. Nearly as much as my breaking heart every time Jared turned away from me.

Speak of the devil.

“Open the fucking door, Luna.” Jared demands, holding up his bloody hand as he jerks on the doorhandle. I was hoping he wouldn’t notice, but maybe I’m an idiot.

“Can’t a girl get some peace around here?” I groan, pulling the lever to lay the seat back and put on a show of yawning and draping my elbow from my good side over my eyes. Jared pounds on the window and I flip him off, not even bothering to look. He gives up, his footsteps crunching as he walks away, and I sigh in relief.

Until the rear passenger window shatters in, making me jump up and spin to see Jared staring at me with his arm through the window to unlock the doors.

“Are you fucking crazy?” I cry out, shivering against the blast of cold as he pulls his arm back out. He pops the front passenger door open, climbing in and reaching for my makeshift bandage.

“Did you think I wouldn’t realize you were bleeding when I had my hands all over you?” He grumbles while peering at my side.

“It’s not even worth worrying over and now we are both freezing because you went all cave dweller on the fucking window.” I hiss between my teeth when he grabs my ribs right under the wound and gives a soft squeeze.

“Remember that the next time you think you can hide from me,” He says, his tone dangerous. Ignoring the pain of him twisting and adjusting my bandage, I snort at his words.

“I thought you enjoyed playing hide and seek with me. My bad.” I smirk at him from the corner of my eye.

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