Page 36 of Torment

“My sister.”

“You lost her.” It wasn’t a question.

He bit his lower lip before saying, “And that’s why I’m here.” He threw back one large gulp of whiskey down his throat and got up from his chair. “I’m here to find her.”

Chapter 11

It was late afternoon when Hunter was lying on the couch in the bedroom, staring at the ceiling. He tried his best to keep his mind blank—especially of thoughts about Scarlet and Blue. How did this all turn into such a damn cluster?

Never in a million years did he dream that the day he decided to help Scarlet, it would all come tumbling down into one giant heap of shit. Back at Adam’s house, they’d shared so many moments, and she’d trusted him. Scarlet trusted him by giving up the control she had fought so hard to keep. Now there was nothing left of that trust. He broke it. He fucked it all up.

The door creaked open, and by the cherry scent that wafted in, he knew it was her. One would think he was a fucking werewolf—or just too hung up over this woman. Either way, he was sure both sucked in equal measure.

Her light footsteps came closer, and he heard the sound of ice clinking in a glass. When he turned his head, he saw the glass of whiskey she had placed on the table next to him.

He smiled. “Should have known you’d find a stash eventually.”

She sat down on the bed, facing him and holding her own glass. “Did you know they have their own fully stocked bar in this place?”

“Nope.” He sat up and took the glass. “Would have been nice to know that earlier though.”

“That’s what I told Colton.”

Hunter’s gaze shot up to hers and he cocked a brow. “So you and Riggs on a first name basis now?”Why did that bother him so much?

“You jealous?” she challenged before lifting her glass to her lips, drawing his attention to her mouth. Full, luscious, beautiful lips which seemed like they were made specifically for his pleasure only. For a second it was like he could still taste them—sweet, decadent, and downright toxic.

He shifted, trying to ignore the very unwelcome stirring in his pants. “I just don’t trust him, that’s all.”

She loosened her hair and he watched as her long, dark strands with a few red streaks fell around her oval-shaped face. The dark hair made her blue almond-shaped eyes stand out, like she had the power to look straight through to one’s soul. An angel—a supernatural force able to bring a man—him—to his fucking knees.

Scarlet cleared her throat. “I think you should give the man the benefit of the doubt.”

“Oh, like he did when he wanted to rip my head off yesterday?”

Scarlet shrugged. “You pissed him off.”

“I’ve seemed to piss a lot of people off during the last two days.”

They kept their gazes locked on one another. Everything inside him was begging him to go over there and take her in his arms. But he couldn’t be sure if it was the part of him that missed and mourned Blue, or the part of him that longed for and needed the woman sitting right in front of him.

Scarlet looked away first, focusing her gaze on the floor beneath her feet. “She wanted me to meet you.”

Hunter remained quiet.

“Willow. She told me the day before she died that she had agreed to run away with you. And she asked me to take her to you so that I could finally meet you.” She looked up at him. “I was going to meet this mysteriousHmy sister had been seeing for months.”

He took a sip of the whiskey, needing the sting of the alcohol. Talking about Blue with the woman he had fucked more than once who also turned out to be related to his dead girlfriend was not on his most-comfortable-topics-to-talk-about list.

Scarlet sighed and fell back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. “When she told me she was running away with you, I hated you. I hated you for taking my sister away from me. But when she held that chain you gave her in her hands, I could see that look in her eyes. The look you only see on young girls who are in love. I wanted to beg her to stay, but I couldn’t ask her to choose between me and the man she loved. Even though I knew I would never survive it on my own…withhim.”

Hunter heard the pain in her voice, the torment, and it killed him. It felt like his own heart was bleeding inside of his chest—feeling her pain. Taking his glass, he got up, walked over, and sat down on the bed next to her, not saying a word.

“She loved you, Ace. Willow really loved you.”

“Yeah,” he muttered, and fell back on the mattress, both of them staring up at the ceiling.

“I’m sorry,” she said softly. “I’m sorry for losing it yesterday. You didn’t deserve that.”

---