Page 131 of Redeemed

To comfort her the way Colton is.

To be who she runs to when she needs anything—pain, pleasure, or comfort.

“Just let it all out,” Colton murmurs. He’s holding her to his body with one arm and stroking her back with his other hand. “One day, you’ll understand.”

That only makes her cry into his chest harder. Yesterday, she looked like she wanted to kill Colton, but now she’s practically clinging to him.

That’s Colt, though. He’s a master at mind games, and Haven seems more susceptible to them than most. Especially now, since she has no one else to turn to. If she needs to cry in someone’s arms, it’s going to be in ours.

“What did you do?” Xander demands.

At first glance, he’s no match for Colton—still tall, but thinner. Xander hasn’t put anywhere close to the same effort that Colton has into building his physique, but right now, he looks ready to tear into him with the force of a hurricane.

He’d win, too. My boy fights dirty. He’s fucking relentless. And if he didn’t? He has me backing him up, and he knows it.

“I got her to open up,” Colton says coolly, not even glancing at us.

“Without us?” I grit out.

“I’ll update you both later.”

“Colton,” Xander snaps. “We agreed to do that together.”

He shrugs. “Didn’t feel like waiting.”

Xander’s fingers curl into fists. “You bas—”

“You’re the ones who wanted to go slow.” Colton raises a lazy, challenging brow, finally glancing our way. “I never said I was on board with that.”

Motherfucker.

Hurting Haven has always been a guilty pleasure of mine. Watching her break, knowing her tears are because of me—I eat it up every time, especially because she fights back. I love her determination to carry on, no matter what we do to trip her up.

But this feels different. She sounds downrightdistraught.

“Haven?” I kneel in front of them and place a hand on her thigh. “What did he do to you?”

I don’t think she’s in a state to speak. When she meets my gaze, there’s no fire in her eyes. Just… emptiness.

“Colton?” Xander prompts.

“I reminded her that she can’t get out of our original agreement.”

“Specifics,” I snap.

“I restrained her and flogged her until she told me what I wanted to know, and then I fucked her throat and forced her to come so she can get it through her head that we can do whatever we want to her.”

The cold, detached way Colton says it horrifies me just as much as what he just admitted to doing.

“You didwhat?”Xander asks as a million thoughts run through my head at once.

My entire life, I’ve always played the role of the protector. It’s embedded into my soul, and no matter how hard I try to fight it, that extends to Haven. Right now, I don’t think Ishouldfight it.

I’m moving before I realize it, tearing Colton’s arms off Haven and lifting her into my arms. She cries out in terror, and I can see it on her expression that she doesn’t know whether she should try to run, stay with Colton, or cling to me.

“What the hell are you doing?” Colton asks, obviously irritated.

“You don’t deserve to touch her.” I step back so Haven is out of his reach. “Not after what you just did. What the fuck, Colt?”

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