Page 35 of Gilded Dreams

There’s a clattering before Justice shrieks, “What? What the hell? Attack? Is she okay? Can I speak with her?”

“She is now. She’s not leaving our sight again.”

“Ever,” Atlas adds on, and I feel the finality of his claim. But I doubt Kandy will go for it. Should be interesting to watch that conversation happen.

“You can’t keep me locked up in a cabin in the woods forever. I don’t care how pretty it is.”

Speak of the angel. We turn to see our beauty walk through the archway looking a little worse for wear but more beautiful than a ray of sunshine. She’s sleeping in something between pajamas and striptease lingerie. Justice must have left it behind.

I leave the conversation to Atlas and Brogan and cross to Kandy. Rage wells inside me so thick it’s hard to hold back a roar of fury. Black and purple markings cover most of her jaw. The pretty cheeks of hers I watched turn such a lovely red for us just hours ago are now swollen and already turning their own shade of purple.

She settles calm hands over mine. Up until that second revenge and the taste for blood drove my mind. But when her palms touch mine, I anchor myself to the here and now.

“Can you just hold me for a minute? I want to see the sunrise.”

“Sure, myhart. Anything you want.” My nickname for her always gets a reaction. Usually her breath will hitch and her cheeks will warm. Right now, it makes tears well behind those pretty lashes and I want to murder the man who dared touch her.

I tuck her beneath my chin, and we stand like this a moment, watching the snow fall beyond the large balcony door.

“Continue searching. Keep us posted,” I hear Atlas say before he hangs up the phone. He builds a large fire and Brogan hands her the coffee he grabbed from town.

Together we all three stay silent. I can’t tell if it’s because we have nothing to say or all of us are so fucking furious we let this happen in the first place.

I haven’t felt this much pain since losing my parents. In the military I signed on knowing I would lose team members and friends. But losing the people who loved me and raised me tore out a part of my soul.

And tonight, it happened again. The years we were apart from Kandy tore a gaping hole in my chest. Only Atlas and Brogan know the truth of how far gone I became. Only thing that brought me back from the edge of self-destruction, reckless endangerment, and me taking any assignment I could get with the highest chances of me not making it home was that Atlas finally pulled his head out of his ass.

I run my hands over the tight, supple skin and drop a kiss to the top of her head. “Let’s get you a warm shower and then some food.”

I take her hand in mine. I’m already stripping off my shirt and toeing off my shoes before we hit the stairs.

“We’ll get the food stored and gather some firewood from the shed.” I wave a hand and pull my girl next to me. Let them do whatever they need to do. I have my own plans.

In the bathroom I flick on the showerhead and make sure the water is warm. Steam boils over the top of the glass shower door and I silently help Kandy strip away the silk from her body.

“Where’s your dress?”

Kandy points to the trash bin. I pull her chin up to mine and I search her expression for signs of regret, guilt. Anything that suggests she doesn’t want to be here with me.

All I find is a woman even more beautiful than who we walked away from. Her hair is gathered around her shoulders and spills over her back. I ease the curtain of long blond locks to the side and grit my teeth at the climbing bruises over her ribs.

“Hey, don’t look at me with pity. I got in a few right hooks of my own.”

I smile down at her, my little warrior. So brave and tough.

“That motherfucker will die for touching you. Mark my words, I will put a bullet in his head.”

“You’re not really the violent type.”

I find her gaze in the fogging mirror. “I’ve hidden a lot of true nature from you, baby. That boy Samuel. From your prom. Hegot off lucky. This piece of shit, he will see the true monster I lock away.”

She shudders in my touch, and I tuck her beneath my chin. “You will never have anything to worry about again. Do you trust me?”

“I trusted you once. Then you told me to never return.”

Her intoxicating scent burrows into my senses, and I rock back on my heels as the memory of Atlas’ harsh words tears through my mind.

“I was an asshole, butterfly. Will you ever forgive me?”

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