Page 81 of Regret

Chapter 25

When Hunter saw that tear slip down her cheek, he knew. He goddamn knew. There were a few seconds when he felt like she was no longer there with him, but somewhere else. Hence the reason his palm hit her thigh that one last time. He had to bring her back to him, to what they were doing. Being the selfish bastard he was, he wanted her all to himself. There was no way he would share her with anyone, even if it was just a memory—or a nightmare.

Her body trembled against him and he spun her around, cupping her cheeks in his hands, forcing her to look up at him.

“I swear on my fucking life that I will never let him hurt you again. I swear it, Scarlet.” The second his words left his mouth, she started to sob. Heartbreaking tears streamed down her face, her entire body shuddering from her pain. There was nothing else he could do but wrap his arms around her and just hold her. Her sobs wracked through her body, and all he could do was stand there and hold her as tight as possible.

When did this happen? When did he become the guy who hugged and comforted women? He didn’t do shit like this. But there he was, in the middle of the bathroom, his pants still around his knees and hugging a woman who was crying her heart out against his shoulder.

Well, fuck.

Even though her crying started to slowly subside, it didn’t seem like he was doing enough. He wanted to go out there and track this son of bitch down, make him pay for what he had done to her. Hunter wanted her to have her revenge, but he wanted to be the one to serve it for her—to give her this motherfucker’s head on a silver platter.

He wrapped his hands over her shoulders and pushed her away just a little. “I will make him pay, Scar. I will make him pay for what he did to you.”

She shook her head, her tears still moving freely down her beautiful face. “No. All I want is for him to leave me alone. I just want my life back, Hunter. That’s all I want.”

“And you will get it back. Even if it’s the last fucking thing I do, I will make sure you get your life back.”

She wiped away the lingering tears on her face. “Why? Why would you want to do that for me?”

“I don’t know. I can’t answer that right now. But all I know is that when that big-ass motherfucker had his hands all over you tonight, I couldn’t take it. I wanted to slit the man’s throat.”

She snorted and tried to look down to the floor, but he tightened his hold on her. “I’m serious, Scar.”

“No, you’re not.”

“Yes, I am.”

“What about your rules, Ace?”

“What rules?” He smiled.

She cocked a brow. “Seriously?”

“Scarlet Woods, you have managed to get me to break all my rules in a matter of days. Rules that countless others have tried to get me to break, but never could.”

“I thought you said you had one rule?”

For a brief moment he kept her gaze, no longer feeling the hesitation he used to feel whenever he looked into her eyes. It was the weirdest thing.

“Blue eyes,” he whispered.

“What?”

“Blue eyes. That’s my second rule. Never a woman with blue eyes.” He stroked his thumb over her eyebrows, his eyes never leaving hers.

There was no need to say anything else. The look in her eyes told him that she understood. Just like he understood her, she now understood him. Both of them had been hurt in the past. Both had something taken away from them. Yet here they were, two broken people who had somehow managed to break down the walls they had built.

His gaze dropped to her dress, which was still wrapped around her waist, and he reached down, pulling the top over her breasts, letting his fingers softly trace down the perfect, rounded swells.

“I have no idea what you did to me.” He grabbed a towel from the rail and softly rubbed it between her legs, gently cleaning the remnants of his release. After tossing the towel to the floor, he moved his hands to her waist and tugged the skirt of her dress down over her hips. “All I know is that from here on out, you’re mine. And I will tear apart any man who tries to take you from me.”

And that was the goddamn truth. Whether he was capable of ever loving again, he didn’t know. But at that moment, he was closer to loving a woman than he had been in a long, long time. And he’d be damned if he would lose that.

“Come on. Let’s get you out of here.” He wrapped his arm around her shoulder protectively and led her out of the restroom.

They made their way through the bar, and the guy who had walked in on them getting an eyeful of Hunter buried balls deep inside Scarlet stood by the jukebox. Hunter gave him the one finger salute, smiled smugly, and walked out.

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