Page 41 of Darkness

Fuck, it’s easy to do. In the short time I’ve known her, I have become addicted to her.

“Protect.”The whisper and cold air hits me from behind.

“No one, and I mean no one, will ever touch you again, that I can promise you.” She tightens her grip around me, which only tells me she believes my words. She pulls away from me, looking up and I wipe the tears away. “You’re mine now, my beautiful English Rose.” She smiles, leans up and gives me a kiss. Just a soft, gentle kiss.

“Hayden’s here, he wants to talk. He’s coming up.” I hear Lincoln in my ear. I pull away from Autumn-Rose, she stands next to me, and moves closer when the door opens.

“This is Hayden, Miles’ brother,” I tell Autumn. She steps closer to him.

“Hi, nice to meet you.” She puts out her hand for him, and I have to stop myself from smiling. Hayden looks at me, the same way Miles did, and I shake my head, letting him know not to say too much in front of her. “Is being good looking a rule in your family?” Her comment makes Hayden laugh. “And you are what to Cain?” she asks him.

Miles told me she kept trying to get him to say something about me, and asked questions, hoping he would answer them.

“How is it that Miles met her before me? What the fuck?” He looks at me and puts his hands out in surprise. “But now it makes the argument we heard this morning make sense.” Hayden laughs, a full laugh.

“What happened?” I ask him, folding my arms over my chest. Autumn looks between the two of us.

“So, Miles had a blonde in his bed, well he disappeared in the middle of the night, and she knew about it. In the morning she asked him where he was, and of course he wasn’t going to tell her the truth.” Hayden stops and laughs to himself, because whatever happened, he still thinks it’s funny. “He told her hewas with another woman. Fucking hell, it was funny. He told us he had to do something for you, but the blonde was throwing everything at him. Dad thought it was funny, mom was not impressed.”

“Oh, I should say sorry to Miles-” she stops when Hayden and I burst out laughing.

“The blonde was crazy. Plus, he fucks more than one woman, some at the same time. He likes it weird. Plus, you’ve not even met Mason yet, he’s a little-” Hayden stops to think of the word for him.

“Not right in the head.” I finish the sentence for him.

“You took the words out of my mouth.” Hayden puts his hand out for me to high five him, and I raise a brow at him. What am I, a ten-year-old boy?

“So, Miles is the weird one. Mason is his twin?” She turns to me and I give her a nod. “And he’s the freak, and you are?” She points to Hayden, and he stays quiet, then points to me. “And he is?” She smiles, hoping he would say something.

“Sorry Miss England, not saying a word.” Hayden looks at me, the same time Autumn turns to face me.

“Are they all scared of you or something?” she asks me, and I shrug my shoulders at her.

“Give me your cell.” I put my hand out to Hayden, and without even thinking, he gives it to me. “If this number calls you, you answer it. I don’t care who you’re fucking. You leave and get there. I’ll give you the address.” I hand the cell back to him, and he looks at me.

“And who am I dropping everything for?” Hayden asks, putting his cell back into his pocket.

“Her” I nod my head towards Autumn.

Hayden snaps his eyes towards me. The last time he had a number, it was Tessa’s, so he knows he only has this numberbecause I want her to be protected, and she’s the first woman after Tess.

“Always.” Hayden looks at Autumn.

“Sometimes I have to be out of town for work, no matter what is happening, even if you think you’re in danger. You call him,” I tell her, and she nods.

I trust Hayden as much as I trust Lincoln. He will protect her as much as I would.

“What are you doing here, anyway?” I ask him, stretching my legs out as I lean on the desk.

He looks between me and Autumn before talking. “Can you look at this? I don’t want to fuck it up.” He pulls out a file for me, and I take it off him.

“Hayden, if I thought you were going to fuck it up, I would never have let you do it. I’m an excellent teacher.” I look at him and he shakes his head, rolling his eyes at me. With a deep breath, I open the file and immediately hit with a mountain of research Hayden has done. I scan over the pages, trying to take in all the information. “If you had to do this tonight, you’d miss.”

“What?” Hayden takes a step closer to me.

“Hayden, you’re overthinking it. You don’t know the weather that day, the wind. Everything up to that point is good. You go there tomorrow night, set up like you’ve said, but then you adjust to the weather. Simple.” I hand him the file back. The man is about to do his first kill and he is over thinking everything. I give him about three kills before he’ll stop all this, and just kills the person. “And burn the fucking file and learn to remember everything.” I can’t have these things getting out to the wrong person.

“Are you around tomorrow night?” Hayden asks.

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