Page 51 of Bleeding Blackheart

He sighs and looks over at me. “Wait here.”

Feeling exhausted, I stand in the middle of the field while he runs off to the barn, and when he comes out, he has a large blanket under his arm and lays it on the grass.

“Come sit.”

I sit down on the blanket across from him, looking at the man I wish I never met.

He starts his argument off strong and basic. “I’m sorry, Montana.”

His words feel honest and sincere, but I’m still so crushed.

“You left me up there for two hours, Gunner. Dirty and alone for two hours.”

He grimaces.

“I just can’t believe after the past few days that you’d treat me like that. I thought—I thought you might actually like me a little. But I was wrong and stupid. You really fucking hurt me. Physically and emotionally, Blackheart.”

“Don’t call me that, Montana.”

I stand up, getting ready to leave him out here alone. “That’s who you are. Isn’t that why you’re called that? Because you have a black heart. You’re cold, cruel, and uncaring.” I spin on my heel, stepping onto the wet grass when my stomach hits the ground hard from two strong hands grabbing my ankles.

“GET OFF ME!” I scream as loud as I can, hoping Colt will come out and help me. Gunner flips me onto my back, pinning me down by my wrists and dirtying my hair. I’m transported back to last night again, and I cry while he sits on his heels, hovering over my center.

Huffing, he holds me down effortlessly. “I do like you, Montana. And it’s unacceptable that I treated you like that. You’re not wrong, and you’re not stupid. I am.”

I want to knee him in his dick and crawl away, but when I look into his eyes, all I can think about is when he kissed me last night. How for a brief moment, it felt like I was his girl. “Why did you leave me like that?”

He grips my wrists tighter. “Because I’m a mess, Montana. I don’t know how to date. I suck at being romantic, and you’re so pretty and I was so weak that I didn’t treat you how you deserved. And when I realized that I’d given you a very traumatic experience, I felt guilty, and I wanted to make you hate me because I don’t deserve you, Montana. I deserve to be alone.” He finally lets my hands go but stays over me.

I want to hate him. I want to tell him he’s dead to me, but I can’t tell him that because I wouldn’t mean it. “No one deserves to be alone.”

He frowns. “I do. I’ve done nothing but hurt you since I met you. I’m the reason Margaret’s dead. I kill people forpennies. I deserve worse than hell.” He eases off me and sits back on the blanket with his legs stretched out, leaning on his hands.

I’m free to go. I heard him, and I listened, and I can turn my back on him and leave these past few days in the back of my mind with the rest of my trauma. But I can’t leave him. My body won’t let me no matter how much my brain wants to.

I take out my wet scrunchie and fluff out my damp waves. “Why do you want me to stay?”

While Gunner hasn’t asked me to stay since last night, it’s clear that he still wants me here.

He sighs and smirks. “Because I have a friend in that house who doesn’t want me to fuck up my life more than I already have and helped me realize that I need you in my life even though I have no right to be in yours.”

I want to forgive and forget. It’s what Charlotte would do. But I wear my heart on my sleeve, and when I get burned, it’s hard to let things go. “Where are we supposed to go from here, Gunner?”

He plays with the ring on his tattoo-faded fingers. “I want you to give me another chance.”

The wordsmurderer,abuser,psychopath,gaslighter, andnarcissistflash in my mind. Gunner is exactly the type of guy that mothers tell their daughters to stay away from.

But my mother’s not around anymore.

I stand up, wiping dirt and grass off me and give him my meanest look, trying to make him sweat. When his ears turn red is when I can’t take it anymore, and I show off the smile I’m trying to hold back. “One last chance.”

23

Gunner

Ihold Montana’s hand while we head back to the house, fighting the urge to take her in Colt’s barn and fuck her over a bale of hay. I hardly slept last night in bed alone, and I’m eager to have my little fox back beside me and under me, but first, we need to get home.

I grab the front door for Montana to go inside, getting ready to grab our things and thank Colt for the last minute stay when my phone rings. I let Montana’s hand go to get it out my pocket, and when I see who it is, I pick up immediately. “What’s going on?”

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