Page 17 of Torment

That was exactly what she was doing. She was shutting him out, and he hated the feeling. Why, after seven years of being alone in nothing but a pit of sorrow and regret, when he finally found something that resembled hope, did it get snatched away from him in the blink of an eye? And by what? A ghost? The ghost of the person he thought he would never get over.

Rubbing the back of his neck, he sighed. Maybe it was for the best. Maybe all this was a sign that he wasn’t meant to love anyone else but Blue. Maybe he was meant to live the rest of his life alone, with nothing but memories to haunt him every day of his miserable damn life. God knew he made peace with that a long time ago…until Scarlet. Until she gave him hope. Being with her, feeling the way he did about her gave him that tiny little shred of hope that maybe,just maybe, he was capable offeelingagain. But that feeling of hopefulness was short lived.

He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out the trinket, the chain he had carried with him all these years. The symbol that had become his cross, a reminder of what he had lost.

It was official. His life was just one bigwhat if.What if he never agreed to run away with Blue, would she still have been in her car at that exact same time on that exact day? What if he never met her in the first place, would he still have managed to get so fucked-up over some other girl eventually? And what if…what if after meeting Blue and then losing her, he met Scarlet under normal circumstances where she wasn’t related to his dead girlfriend, would he have managed to heal from his loss? Would he have been able to love again?

What if…what if everything wasn’t so fucked-up?

Hunter tossed the chain on the bed and felt like he could scream. There was this raging animal inside him, scratching and clawing, wanting fucking out.

A knock on the door had Hunter reaching for his gun in a split second.

“Who is it?”

“Um, my name is Lily. Mr. Baxter asked me to bring you something to eat, clean towels, and some clothing.”

Food, towels, and clothes. What was this? A fucking five-star inn?

Hunter walked to the door, still holding his weapon in his hand. There was no room for taking chances in their current situation.

When he opened the door, the woman who called herself Lily stood behind a trolley. Hunter had to blink when he noticed how young she looked. Seventeen, maybe eighteen. Was she one of the girls Baxter had managed to save?

He stood to the side, allowing her to push the trolley inside while he hid his gun behind the door.

“Thank you,” he said as she walked out again.

She nodded and disappeared down the hall.

This was un-fucking-believable. Never in a million years did Hunter ever think he would find himself in a damn safe house where girls saved from slavery would be rehabilitated. It sounded like something out of a damnTakenmovie.

Closing the door, Hunter noticed the rolled up towels at the bottom of the trolley. He grabbed one and knocked on the bathroom door.

“Scar. Do you have a towel?”

Nothing.

“Scar?”

He turned the doorknob and slowly opened the door. The bathroom was fogged up with steam, and he had to squint to be able to see anything.

“Scar? Are you trying to make a damn sauna in here?”

He walked further in and noticed the shower at the far end corner of the bathroom.

“Scarlet. Are you okay?”

The second he came close enough, he saw a figure inside the shower. Only, she wasn’t standing. She was sitting with her back against the wall, clutching her knees to her chest, rocking back and forth as the water came down hard over her head and back.

“Scarlet.”

Hunter pulled off his shirt and flung open the shower door, crouching down in front of her. When he felt the water on his skin, he flinched.

“Jesus Christ. This water is too hot.” It was scorching. “Come on.”

He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and lifted her up. The moment he looked into her eyes, he sucked in a breath.

She wasn’t crying. She wasn’t sobbing. No. The look on her face was like ice. Cold, hard, completely devoid of any emotion. A solid nothing.

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