Page 27 of Torment

While they headed down yet another hall, making it seem like the damn house was just one giant maze decorated with nothing but a few carpets and paintings, seriously lacking some personal touches, Scarlet tried her best not to even breathe too loudly. She worried James would take the opportunity totalk, which she didn’t want to do—especially with him.

To her surprise, they reached the gym without him attempting to stir up some conversation with her.

That’s one point for James Baxter—knowing when to shut up.

When she walked into the gym, she was impressed. There was every gym apparatus one could think of.

Treadmills, bench presses, a squat station, barbells, dumb bells, leg extension machines. Name it, and this gym had it.

“Impressive.” Scarlet looked around and spotted the thing she was looking for. The punching bag. Exactly what she needed. If she could just find a picture of Hunter’s face, it would be perfect.

James followed her as she walked around. “In our line of work, the team needs to keep in shape.”

“Well, you certainly have everything you need to keep in shape right here.” Scarlet dragged her hand across the barbells stacked against the wall.

“Yes. Well. Gym clothes are in the locker room. You’ll find whatever you need in there.”

Scarlet picked up a dumb bell and held it in her hand. “Thanks.”

James glanced at the door, and then back at her. “Take it easy in here, would you?”

“Not a chance.” Scarlet shot him a wicked grin and turned around, walking toward the locker room.

Since it was obviously mostly men staying in this house, there wasn’t a lot of women’s clothing for her to choose from. But she managed to get some black leggings and a very bright lime green crop top. Not exactly her color, but at least it fit.

Walking back into the gym, she noticed the iPod docking station and pressed play. The sound of Evanescence started to blast through the speakers, and Scarlet turned up the volume. As she stepped up, she placed her hands on either side of the red punching bag, leaning her forehead against it.

She took a deep breath in…and out, closing her eyes and allowing a picture ofhisface to flash through her mind. That evil smile, those dark, malevolent eyes, and the way her skin would burn from his fatal touch. The revolting smell of his breath skidding across the skin of her neck, filling her nostrils, causing her to want to hurl as his wicked voice promised her more pain, more punishment. Scarlet allowed it all to consume her, to flow through her veins like a toxin. Why? Because she was about to let it all out.

Taking a step back, she opened her eyes and threw her first punch, sending the bag swinging in the other direction.

Another punch, and another, all the while she could feel her pain boiling in the pit of her stomach. Every ounce of pain she felt while Brent tortured her body, the hate she felt when he ruined her soul, and the grief that consumed her while he broke the woman inside her—she utilized all those emotions as she beat the punching bag like it was the devil himself.

Scarlet pushed her body to the point where sweat started to run down her back, down the sides of her face—just like her tears used to do while Brent had her bent forward, ripping all her hopes and dreams from her.

She just kept on punching and kicking, wishing it was him, wishing she could destroy him the same way he did her.

And then there was her father.James Baxter. The man who claimed that leaving her, letting her grow up without a dad, was the right thing to do. For who? For those hundred and something girls he saved? What about her? What about Scarlet? She was his own flesh and blood, his little girl. Yet he chose all those other girls over her and her mother—the woman he claimed to have loved with all his heart. What kind of man did that? What kind of man used any type of justification to ease his own fucking conscience?

More punching, more kicking. Sweat was now trickling down the back of her calves, and she wiped away the hair sticking to her face.

There was also Hunter Keaton—the man who kept on pushing her. Pushing her to trust him, to finally surrender her control to him. The man who managed to make her let go. The man who had the power to own her body, mind, and soul with just one single touch. He gave her what no one ever should have. He gave her what she knew she never should have accepted—hope. Being with him, feeling him, it made her think—for just a little while—that maybe there was hope for her to love and trust a man after all, something she thought would never happen. His touch that set her body alight; his kiss that made her insides burn to ash; and the way he would claim her by moving inside her, pushing her body over the edge over and over and over again. He managed to make her let go of her demons as he worshipped her body, letting her finallyfeelsomething good. She was so close to letting the walls come down all around her. So close to letting go of her pain.

My God.

She was so close to giving him her heart. And now? Now she had her sister’s ghost hovering over her, while Hunter, too, now blamed her for Willow’s death. Everything was so fucked-up. To think that Scarlet actually allowed herself to see a future with someone who accepted her with all her wounds and scars.

More punches, more kicks—sweat started to stream down her face, between her breasts.

Flashes of Willow and Hunter—together—started to plague her mind. Did he fuck Willow the way he fucked her? Did Hunter imagine she was Willow every time he moved inside her?

Fuck!

Scarlet was jealous of a fucking ghost. Jealous of how Hunter touched Willow, how he loved her so much that her death fucked him up for life. Made him live by rules in order to protect himself from ever feeling that amount of pain again.

God. When he said Blue while he fucked Scarlet in the bathroom, it made her think of Willow in a way she never had before. Hate. That was what she felt. She hated her dead sister because not only was her heart now consumed with toxic rage, it was also a lethal mixture of rage, regret…and jealousy.

“Scarlet?”

---