Page 31 of Uncaged Obsessions

I want it off of her because it's from him. But she didn't want to take it off yet. Caine seems close to losing it, watching her like this. We're all desperate to have her now that she's back, but I don't want it to be too much all at once for her.

She said she’s okay and that he didn’t touch her, but something happened. Clearly, tonight—and even the past couple of weeks of being back here—have been more than difficult for her.

Max strikes the match against the box, lighting it and looking at the flame as it eats at the wooden stick in her hand before tossing it toward the car.

I’ve never seen flames erupt so quickly. They consume the car in just a matter of seconds, to a point that even if we wanted to stop it, we couldn’t.

I step up behind Max, who’s stayed completely still watching the fire grow bigger. I slide my hand onto her hip gently and then move it around to her stomach, pressing her back into me just barely. She moves easily, melting against me. Brushing my lips gently up against her ear I say, "We should go."

She nods, and lets me guide her back to the car. Drew pulls her into the backseat with him, and Caine ends up pushing his way back there as well, leaving Danner in the front seat while I drive us away.

I watch in the rearview mirror as Max rests her head on Drew’s shoulder, but her eyes meet mine in the mirror. Now that the adrenaline has worn off, I see the exhaustion in her gaze. It’s more than just being tired. It’s like a weight she’d been carrying around has finally lifted and she’s able to relax.

When we get back home, I want to make sure she’s completely taken care of, even if there’s more for us to worry about. She’s safe and she will always be safe with us. I’m going to make sure of that. I’ll spend the rest of my life showing her how loved she is and how safe she is with us if she lets us.

She’s it for me. She was it for me the first day she walked into my gym. When her, Drew, and I fucked around at my house. When she trusted me to wrap my snake around her throat and do what I wanted to her body.

She’s everything and always will be for me. I don’t know how to tell her any of this, but maybe she can see it in my eyes right now because a small smile stretches across her face right before she closes her eyes and I feel like she knows exactly what I’m thinking.

CHAPTER 19

MAX

Iwant nothing more than to get out of here and never come back. I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow, next week, or even next month. What I do know is right now, I want to be done with this place, the people here, and any and all of the memories associated with it.

I’m sure my parents won’t let up easily. I know this isn’t over and that there’s a very real chance that I could get caught for what I did to Carson. But right now, none of that matters. I only want to get away and go back home and live my life to the fullest until the cops drag me away in handcuffs.

It doesn’t matter how much Danner reassures me that that won’t happen, I don’t fully believe her. I also am just now learning more about her. Like the fact that she’s some sort of a private investigator who also has some pretty shady connections.

She also hasn’t said it, but I think she may have killed someone before. She said she has help to “clean up” and that was all the information she would give me. We swung by a sketchypay by the hour motel so I could clean the blood off my body and change.

We get on the first plane out, and as soon as we’re seated, I rest my head on Adam’s shoulder. Feeling settled and safe, I close my eyes and fall asleep for the entire plane ride.

It takesa couple hours after we land to drive home to Seaside, but I fall asleep again in the car. It’s like my body knows that I can finally relax and is letting me for the first time in weeks. Months, even, because before Carson kidnapped me, I was always looking over my shoulder. The guys helped me relax when I would fall asleep wrapped around any of them, but even then, the lingering fear was always in the back of my mind.

Right now, any lingering fear regarding Carson finding me and dragging me back to Texas is gone, so I can drift off easily all the way home.

I'm carried inside by a pair of strong arms and I nuzzle into the broad chest more, breathing in his familiar leather and ocean breeze scent. I've missed it so much.

I want to drown in the smell, to be completely consumed by it for the rest of my life. When I lay down, I reach for Drew, not wanting him to let go. “Come back.”

He chuckles softly. “Go to sleep, little one. The guys and I are going to talk before coming to bed.”

“No. Stay,” I mumble, but I can already feel myself fading back into sleep.

He leans down, pressing a soft kiss to my lips. “I’ll be here when you wake up.” I fight to kiss him harder, but he lays me down, tucking the blankets in around me. “Rest, I’ll be back.”

I try to reach for him as he walks away, but he just gets further and further away and sleep pulls me under once again.

When I wake up,I’m overheated and I quickly realize it’s from the bodies pressed against me. The hot, hard bodies that make me feel so many things I can’t even put a name to. I sit up slightly, looking down at Adam. He’s sleeping so peacefully, one arm folded behind his head while the other is resting on his perfectly sculpted abdomen.

I’m careful not to touch him, just raking my eyes over the tattooed skin, wondering what they mean. The snake on his throat reminds me of when he had Athena wrapped around mine.

I bring my fingers up to the spot where she was coiled around the base of my throat. Remembering the fear and just how turned on I was at the same time as she tightened even more, cutting off my oxygen while Adam played with my body, bringing so much pleasure that I couldn't see straight.

My eyes dip down to where the blanket is pooled around his hips, wanting to tug it down and release his cock so I can bury my face in his lap to wake him up.

Before I’m able to do that, or anything else, a voice snaps my attention up. “What’re you doing baby girl?”

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