Page 42 of Destroy (Deadly Hearts 2)

ChapterNineteen

Layton

I’m trying not to think about being away from Ruby anymore. It’s doing my head in, and I can’t stand the thought of anything bad happening to her because I’m not there to protect her. I have to put my faith in Declan and trust that we will be returning to Manchester soon. I look up from where I was hovering at the window that overlooks the back garden of this 3-bedroom cottage not far from Declan’s mum’s place, when there is a banging on the door.

“What the fuck?” David asks, leaping up from the armchair where he was comfy with his laptop.

I stride over and open it, ready to growl at the person on the other side when Ruby falls forward, her fist in the air, having been about to bang again.

I catch her by her elbow and steady her, but then let her go. “Ruby?”

“Layton,” she pants. “I need you.”

“What’s happened?” I ask, my blood running cold.

She barges past me, which is not an easy task, leaving me to stare at the white Ferrari in the driveway with Declan leaning up against it.

“Thought you were gone,” I snarl.

“Cillian,” he says. “Not Declan, just to get that out there straight away.”

“Humph,” I mutter. I’ve heard about this twin. I need to keep my eye on him.

“Ruby asked me to bring her here. Take care of her,” he says and straightens up, giving me a shrewd look before he climbs back into the car and fires off.

I shut the door and turn to face Ruby. She is beyond agitated. She is pacing and fretful and something isn’t right.

“What is it?” I ask gently.

“I did something,” she says. “Something bad!”

“Whatever it is, we can talk about it,” I say quietly, calmly because she is losing it. I don’t approach her, knowing it will only send her even more over the edge, so I stay where I am. Unfortunately, that has an undesirable effect.

She drops to her hands and knees and crawls towards me. “Layton, please. Without Declan here, I need you to do this for me.”

My stomach twists.

I can’t bear to see her prostrate herself in front of me. Not now. Not like this. How the fuck does Declan handle this?

I crouch down so that I’m at her level and ask, “Do what?”

“Absolve me,” she sobs. “I did something bad to you. To all of you. It was wrong, but I needed to do it.”

I look up as Ramsey has come closer. David is still standing by the armchair, clutching his laptop like a deer in headlights.

“What did you do?” I ask, my mouth going dry. This has something to do with Cillian, I’m sure of it.

“Please, let me confess.”

“Okay,” I say reassuringly. Her eyes have gone wild, and I’m worried about her having a breakdown. I take her wrist and stand up, hauling her up with me. “Okay.” I let go of her and hold my hands up slightly so she can see I’m not intent on restraining her.

“Tell me what you did,” I murmur. There is no chance in hell I’m going to whip her, even if she begs me. I’m not hurting her for anything. It’s not my place. I hate that Declan had to do that the other week. It sickens me, but I saw how much she needed it. It was easy to let him deal with it. He knows what he's doing in that area. They have their roles set. This makes me uneasy because it isn’t in a setting that I’m used to. If this were sexual, I could handle it without a single hesitation, but this is as far from that as possible.

“Take your belt off,” she says and turns around, stripping her coat off.

David’s gasp gets me to move forward from the freezing stillness that had fallen over me.

“No,” I say steadily. “Tell me what you did first and then I will punish you if I see fit.”

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