Page 91 of Wicked Oath

“Why?” I ask. “You were there for him when I couldn’t be. You’re not trying to take him from me. You both regret it. I’m not concerned.”

“I cheated on—“

“No, you didn’t,” I say. “It had been over five months, Talon. It would be unrealistic for me to sit here and say that I expect you to wait around forever. I got fucking lucky that he was an arrogant piece of shit and sent that video. Otherwise, you might have never found me. From the very beginning, the only thing I wanted was for you to find happiness, even if that meant moving on. It would’ve fucking hurt to come back to you being with another woman, but I just want you happy.”

“I feel like I have to make up for it,” he says.

“Okay. If you want to make up for it, then do it,” I say. “Do what makes you feel better.”

My head snaps in the direction of Sam when I hear him scream as he cries. One of the others has a pool cue up his ass. “May I?” I ask.

“Please,” Ripper says with a grin.

I walk over and grab it by the end before pulling it out slightly. “I hope fucking me was worth it, Sam,” I say before shoving it back in as deeply as I can. I keep pushing as he thrashes and screams. I put all of my anger behind it. I here in audible popping sound as the resistance breaks and the stick disappears and I’m able to shove it deeper as blood leaks out of his ass. Talon recognizes what I am trying to do so he steps behind me and covers my hand with his. Together, we pull out again before Talon rams the stick into him. His body goes limp and blood leaks from his mouth and drips to the table.

“Well goddamn, girl,” Ripper chuckle, making everyone laugh with him. “Remind me not to upset you.”

“That was fun,” I say. “I kinda wanna play pool now.”

“What were you saying, Ashley?” Talon asks.

“I’ve been searching on the dark web, and I think I found him. Admittedly, it was from him, putting a hit out on Delaney and Talon.”

“What?” I ask.

“Literally no one is biting though. Everyone knows that you are back with Talon and we all know his reputation. No one is willing to go against that,” she says. “I pretended to be a hitman, basically. He is desperately trying to dig out of the shit he’s gotten himself into. He’s making a lot of mistakes and those have led Ned and I to finding his location. Ned has agreed to give it twenty-four hours. He lives out in the middle of the woods it seems.”

“Well, damn. Let’s load up,” Adam says. “Time to go hunting.”

We all went backto the house and prepared. Everyone made sure that they had weapons just in case he is prepared for someone to come looking for him. Once we had that taken care of, we changed clothes so we could hide in the dark, we are hiding in the wood line outside of the cabin. We can see Grim sitting on the couch and rage is boiling inside all of us.

“So?” I ask. “Do we have a plan?”

“Yep,” Talon says. “Do you trust me?”

“I do,” I say slowly.

“I just want you to walk up and knock on the door. Keep your distance so he can’t pull you inside, but he will run,” Talon says.

“Are you sure I’m safe?” I ask hesitantly.

“Absolutely. He knows if you are there, so are we. My goal is to get him out into the woods so we can hunt him down. There’s no one for miles and everyone is spread out enough that he won’t get far,” he says before kissing me.

“Okay,” I say. “Just… don’t let him grab me.”

“We won’t,” he smiles.

“I won’t lie. This feels like a trap,” I admit.

“I know, baby. I just need you to put a little bit of faith in me. Can you do that?”

“I can,” I say with a sigh. Before I change my mind, I turned and walked toward the cabin while keeping my eyes on Grim. I am shaking as I approach the front steps, but I keep pushing forward. I hesitate for a second and glance back at Talon. It’s too dark, so I just turn and knock on the door. I take several steps back so that I’m in front of the stairs in case I need to run.

The door opens and his face instantly goes pale as he turns and runs back into the cabin. He doesn’t even bother to shut the door. Everyone suddenly comes out from the tree line and Jude is with me now. “Time to play,” Jude says happily, handing me a hunter’s knife. I wrap my fingers around the hilt and tighten my grip. I smile up at Jude before we turn and walk off the porch.

“Grim!” Adam calls out in a sing-song voice. “You can run… but you’re only going to make it hurt worse when we catch you.”

“Griiiim!” Tony says.

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