Page 57 of Red Captive

“That’s all, huh?” His eyes crinkle a little on the edges, and his mouth sort of turns up, but he keeps his brooding thing going, which is so damned sexy, especially paired with that tool belt and all of those tattoos.

“Yep…that’s all.” I keep my eyes on his. “Are you going to fix something?”

I could do with some fixing.

I chew on my lip to keep from saying it out loud. I can’t joke around anymore. It isn’t hitting the same way as it used to. It feels real…not like teasing but flirting, which Steel doesn’t like. We can’t flirt or do anything else, for that matter.

“Can I go into your bedroom?” He points at the door, which is half open.

I have a few choice retorts, but I swallow them all back. “Um…sure…”

He goes inside, and I follow. My heart is beating wildly in my chest, although I’m not sure why. He probably wants to board up the tiny window in my bathroom or something. Especially now that my bedroom door is no longer sealed shut.

That isn’t what he does. Instead, he goes over to the window he boarded nearly two weeks ago and starts removing the boards one by one.

I don’t grasp the meaning behind what he is doing because I’m too busy admiring his back, which is a thing of beauty. I watch as his muscles contract and flex underneath that beautiful ink with each and every movement. A small bead of sweat trickles down his spine, right to the small of his back, over the Latin letters.

“There,” he says. “Don’t you dare sprout wings.” He turns, catching me staring all over again.

His eyes seem to darken. His whole body tightens. Holy shit, but he’s beautiful.

I need to snap out of it and right now.

“I was just…um…looking at the tattoo on your back. Wings. I like that. I noticed the letters. I was wondering what it says.”

“It says ‘volare,’ which means ‘to fly’ in Latin. It’s a reminder for me to keep moving forward, even during tough times,” he says, his face a mix of longing and vulnerability. “It’s something my mother used to say to me when I was a kid. She’d always tell me that the answer was to fly. To rise higher. To be stronger and braver. To spread my wings, even in the face of extreme adversity. I did this.” He reaches to his back. “For her and as a reminder to me because her advice was sound.”

“Is she still around? Your mom, I mean. Do you see her sometimes?”

His eyes cloud. “I haven’t seen her in a while.” He looks down at his feet for a moment.

“But she isn’t—?”

“Dead? No.” He shakes his head. “I haven’t been home in a while, that’s all. I need to fix that.”

“Four years?” I ask. “Is that how long you’ve been away?”

He gives a shake of his head. “Let’s not go there, Jen. Not today.”

I doubt he will ever tell me. Everyone seems to know. The general’s PA doesn’t like Steel because of it. Rex thinks he’s a legend despite whatever happened. Ultimately, everyone seems to know but me. Whatever happened, I know it’s bad. He lost his job. He hasn’t been home since. At least, I doubt he has. He feels the need to look at every single woman on the street, trying to find the person who did something terrible, who wronged him. He looks sad talking about his mother in much the same way as I must look when I talk about home and my own mom.

“Will you tell me about The Pit? Rex said you were a legend in The Pit. What does that mean?”

He shakes his head, making me want to groan in frustration. “No, I don’t think so, Jen. Let’s leave it alone.”

“Will you tell me anything?”

“Nope. I don’t think I should. I think we need to draw a firm line in the sand, so to speak.”

“Because I’m your ward?”

He takes a step toward me, and I have to crane my neck to keep looking him in the eyes. The oxygen seems to leave the room because I can’t quite catch my breath. The way he’s looking at me has my nipples tightening.

Down girls. Down! No, he’s not for you.

“I’m not going to mince my words. I’m just going to say it like it is.”

“Okay.” I nod far too many times. This is where he tells me that I’m his prisoner and blah, blah, blah.

---