Page 47 of Redd

My heart raced inside my chest, thrashing around violently against my ribs. His hands were still gentle and kind, despite what he was trying to provoke them to be.

Firm thumbs stroked the inside of my arms, forcing a knot in my stomach. Heavy fingers held me in place, sending a shock to my system.

I was excited, I was suddenly lightheaded and unable to focus on anything but his face. His lips were thick, his chest was puffed up, pressing his hard muscles into the fabric. The way his hair fell over his eyes and his skin glowed with hot sweat, it was too real, too warm, too raw.

My nerves went wild, they were warm and tingling, but for all the wrong reasons. I was everything I shouldn't be and I couldn't understand it.

All I could do was feel it.

What the hell is going on with me?

Drawing in a quick breath, I looked into his eyes. “I'm not trying to upset you. But you wanted to know who you're dealing with, and that's him. He's a vile man with no limitations. He doesn't give a shit about who he kills, not if they get in his way. You got in his way, Redd.”

Dropping his arms, he stood up, turning to face the wall. Every muscle in his body pulsed, throbbing and beating as he allowed himself to hear my words.

“Why were you there?”

Rubbing my arms where he had just held me, the skin was still blazing under his shadowed touch.

“Why do you think? He took me, I didn't ask to be there.”

“And what about your family? You said you have a dad, he didn't come looking for you?”

Shrugging a shoulder, my brows arched up high. “I don't know. Not that it matters, there was no way for me to know if he did or didn't. Diablo would never tell me that.” I didn't want to tell him that my father might be the reason I was there to begin with.

I was afraid to say it out loud, fearing it would sound so much more terrible. Like I was auctioned off as property, given away like a bartering chip.

Inside my head I could tame down the words, I could work them in a way that helped me to accept whatever choices he had to make.

I refused to put any anger into his role until I talked to him myself.

If I ever get the chance to talk to him again.

Pacing in a small circle, Redd's jaw locked in place as he grumbled. “Fuck, what the fuck.”

“You still haven't told me what you were doing there.”

“I went looking for something, and I found you instead. I told you that already.”

Tilting my head a hair, I scrunched my brows. “Looking for what exactly?”

Thinning his lips, he whipped his head over his shoulder. “I don't know.”

Pushing myself up off the floor, I sat on the couch. “Let me get this straight; you don't know who Diablo is, but you knew he had something in his house, and you just decided to go take it? That doesn't make any sense, why would you do that?”

I watched his shoulders roll forward, like giant boulders had just dropped down from the sky and pinned him place.

“Forget it, it doesn't change anything. The details don't matter, what matters is how I fix it.” Spinning on his heels, his hands fell to his sides, hanging with precision. “Iamgoing to fix this.”

“There's no fixing this. There's only two things that are going to happen. Diablo is going to come for me, and he's going to kill you and anyone you love. That's it, that's how this is going to go. That's how he works.”

Slowly, his head lifted up, eyes piercing mine and holding me still. “You don't know me, Bijou. . . And neither does he.”

“If you knew what was good for you and your sister, you'd pick up everything right now and leave.”

“I'm not going anywhere. I worked too hard for this, I won't be driven away by some prick with a stick up his ass. And if I leave, then you have no one. I won't do that to you.”

He said it with such confidence that I almost believed him. A small flicker of heat ignited in my gut, warming my veins and sending chills over my body.

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