Page 101 of Hell or High Water

My eyes were locked on the road leading to Linc’s house as I paced back and forth in front of the cabin. The longer she was away from me, every minute that ticked by, I grew more unstable. There was a snap that I could feel was about to break, and I wasn’t sure I’d survive it. Running my hands through my hair, I let out a guttural roar of frustration and anger.

“He’s gone. She’s on her way here. Calm the fuck down,” Ransom said as he stepped out of the cabin.

My heart slammed against my chest, and I started walking toward the road.

“Are you gonna fucking walk to meet Jayda’s car?” my brother asked.

I didn’t answer. I kept moving. The closer I got, the less the beast inside me shook the cage it was currently being held in. A fucking animal I hadn’t known existed. One that had been woken up by a pair of sea-glass eyes and dimples.

“You’ve lost your damn mind!” Ransom shouted. “You need therapy, you crazy fucker!”

Jayda’s car came around the line of trees, and it took everything in me not to break into a run. I stopped and waited. My pulse racing and my hands aching to grab her. I refused to let anyone force me away from her again.

Jayda slowed and rolled down the window, looking at me with an amused grin. “You lost?” she asked.

I looked past her to the passenger seat, where Montana sat. God, she was beautiful. She made men do crazy shit. If I didn’t hate Wayon Davidson, I’d understand why he’d done it.

“Come here, Six,” I told her.

She immediately reached for the car door and opened it. She was as anxious to see me as I’d been to see her. But the uncertainty and hesitancy in her face kept her from acting on it. I’d fix that.

“Thanks, Jayda,” I said, not looking back at her, but wanting her to drive the fuck away, to leave us alone.

“Anytime,” she drawled.

When Montana stopped a few feet away from me, I smirked. “What? You worried I’m gonna bite? I thought we covered that already.”

A smile tugged on her lips, but there was a sadness in her eyes that I didn’t fucking like.

“No, I just think it would be easier to talk with some space between us.”

Yeah, hell no. I closed the few feet that separated us and slid my finger under her chin. “That’s not going to work for me. I’ve had enough space today. I don’t want to ever repeat it.”

She frowned as confusion flickered in her expressive eyes. “What don’t you want to repeat?”

I leaned down and pressed a kiss to the corner of her mouth. “Being away from you.”

Her soft intake of breath made me grin.

“But…Wayon is leaving me alone now. I don’t have to hide.”

I pulled back and looked down at her. “Yeah, so?”

I didn’t like the tone of her voice. Her eyes were entirely too close to a goodbye, and I’d be damned if she was leaving. She might have been at Linc’s for a little over an hour without me, but in that time, I’d faced some facts. And it was clear I wasn’t going to be able to handle letting her go. No other man could touch her, or I’d end up on death row for the mass murder I caused on my way to blow his head off. It was much safer if I just gave in to the fact that it had happened.

I’d handed over my soul.

She dropped her gaze to stare at my chest. “There isn’t a reason for me to stay here now.”

I grabbed her chin this time and forced her to look at me. She was going to shred me if she said one more word.

“I’m not a reason?” I asked. “Because I sure as hell thought I was. Did I read that wrong? Am I alone in this? If I am, I will warn you right now that I’ll lock your ass in that cabin with me until you can’t breathe without me.”

Her eyes went wide, but it was the hope that flared in them that made my knees go weak.

“What?” she asked softly, as if she was afraid to ask for clarification.

I pressed a kiss to the other side of her mouth, then directly on the lips as I gripped her waist and pulled her against me. “Seems I can’t breathe without you, Six. You got in my blood. Took over my soul. All I see is you. Now, if you try and leave me, I’ll make that fucker from Louisiana look sane. You ain’t seen crazy yet.”

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