Page 9 of Uncaged Obsessions

“Try me, wifey.”

I want to,fuckI want to. I want to fight; I want to push him to his limit. I can see the remnants of my struggle on his skin that he tried to cover up. The scratch marks on his neck, the bruise under his eye. I’m curious how he explained those at work.

“There’s also Drew. You know he has a violent past and I have people willing to say whatever is needed to make sure he ends up where he should have been this entire time—in a prison cell.”

I don’t want to believe him. I want to fight this, but I can’t risk the guys. I know I can’t, we all may have started our relationship off in an impractical way, but I can’t deny that I’ve started to soften for them. The feelings I have for them are impossible to deny and knowing I may never see them again is only making it worse.

Knowing that I could be the reason their lives are ruined is something I could never live with.

Which is the only reason why I stand up reluctantly and silently agree to go with Carson. The pleased smile he has as he says, “Good choice,” has me doing everything in my power to not punch him in the face. Again.

I don’t pay attention to my mother as we leave, but Carson says something about family dinner atourhouse this weekend. I would love nothing more than to be long gone by then.

Carson drives us away, the drive from my parents' house to Carson's is about an hour, and I look out the window the entire time, ignoring every conversation attempt he tries. All I'm paying attention to is the scenery as we pass through it. The areas between two rich areas, while everything that lies between is essentially rotted.

Whenever I drive through an old town with rundown buildings, the remnants of what once was still evident, I think about what it may have been like in its prime. That club with the writing on the chalkboard outside and the cocktail sign in the window. I wonder if people look at me the same way. What would I have been if all my pieces weren’t shattered. My life altered and my feelings shut down. I guess we will never know. And just like the buildings, I need to rebuild myself. Stronger and better.

CHAPTER 5

CAINE

Idon’t remember the last time I was able to sleep. I’ve wanted to rip apart every single thing I come across since she’s been missing. I've turned her house upside down, destroying it even further, looking for any clues that could possibly lead me to her.

“Seriously, Caine.. You need to calm the fuck down,” Drew says, but I ignore him, continuing to search. Maybe I need to go to the gym or have a fight to get some of my anger out. I know I’m not thinking clearly, but I can’t stop. I need to find her, need to bring her back here.

“Caine,” Adam tries to break through my haze, but it’s not going to happen.

“Aldridge!” he yells and my eyes fall on him, even more pissed off that he’s using my last name. “This isn’t helping.”

“Well all you’ve done is sleep and bitch at me, so please tell me what’s supposed tohelp.”

He pulls his phone out of his pocket, looking at it for a second then putting it back. “It’s still really fucking early, but we can try.”

“What’re we trying?” Drew questions.

“If whatever this is sucks, then I’m doing things my way,” I insist.

“If your way is pissing Max off even more by destroying her place, then I think you’ve succeeded. So again, you need to calm the fuck down.” Adam shakes his head. “Come on.”

He walks out Max’s front door, and I don’t want to follow him. I feel like I should be here just in case someone comes back, with or without her. Whoever would dare to show up may have information or something for us, but I follow anyway.

We end up at Uncaged and I feel like Adam just lured me here to try and work out some of my aggression rather than do anything to actually help. Then I see a car pull up and I’m ready to fight whoever it is, until I notice the woman that steps out is the blonde that hangs out at the bar with Max. I think they’re sort of friends.

“Danner,” Adam greets the woman while I glare at her.

“Will you tell me what the hell is going on?” she asks, looking between all of us.

“Inside.” Adam nods toward the front door, and leads us all in. Once he’s locked the door, the rage is back and I’m about ready to start losing my shit again if we don’t start getting some answers.

“Where’s Max?” Danner asks. I let out a scoff at the fact that she's just now asking about her. She narrows her gaze to daggers and focuses directly on me.

“That’s what we’re hoping you’ll help us with.” Adam turns to me. “Show her the video.”

I grumble about how we’re wasting our time as I pull up the footage. As she watches, I force myself to watch it again, letting the anger fuel me even more. It’s like adding more fuel to an already raging fire.

She watches the same video I have no less than fifty times, and once it’s over I’m ready to throw my phone again, but I manage to keep it together. Just barely.

“Look,” Adam tells her, “I know you don’t talk about what you do with anyone and I respect that. But we need your help.”

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