Page 47 of Torment

Colton might act like the good guy, but Hunter didn’t trust him. And come tomorrow, he would be keeping a close eye on the fucker. In fact, Hunter had a little plan of his own. There was no way in hell he was taking any chances—especially when it came to Scarlet.

Chapter 14

“You ready?” Hunter stared at Scarlet worriedly.

“No.” She zipped up her boot, then continued to fidget with the zipper.

“You didn’t sleep at all last night, did you?”

“Nope.”

There was no way in hell she would have been able to. In a few hours she would be facing the devil, the man who started it all, and the man who wanted to finish it all.

Today, Scarlet would come face to face with Brent Wolfe. The last time she stared into those evil hazel-colored eyes was while he defiled her body in the worst possible way.

Now, she would have to act braver than she had ever before in her life. She had to make sure she showed no weakness, no trace of the blackness he had left behind in her. She would not give him that satisfaction.

“Scar.” Hunter sat down next to her on the bed. “I’ll be there with you every step of the way. I will not let you out of my sight for a second.” He gently placed his hand on her chin and turned her to look at him. “I promise you, I will protect you.”

The determination, the resolve she saw in his eyes made her heart swell. It made her feel just the tiniest bit more…secure—which was probably why she did the most unexpected thing. She wrapped her arms around his neck andhuggedhim. And it wasn’t just a normal kind of hug. It was a realI carekind of hug.

She tightened her arms around him and buried her face between his neck and shoulder, finding a little comfort in his familiar wild spice scent and the warmth of his skin. God, she needed him. She needed him more than she would ever care to admit.

She felt him place his arms around her waist, hugging her back. “We got this, kitten. We got this.”

Scarlet wanted to cry. She could feel the tears stinging the back of her eyes, threatening to make a fool out of her yet again. Deep down, the young girl in her was screaming not to let her face him. She wanted to beg Hunter to find another way. But she knew better. She knew Hunter needed just half an excuse to not let her go through with this. He had made no secret of his dislike of thismotherfucking stupidest idea ever—as he put it—from the start. If she broke down now and told him that she didn’t have the courage to go through with this, Hunter would put a stop to it all in a heartbeat. But Scarlet also knew this was the only way. If she wanted a chance at stopping Brent once and for all, a chance at getting her life back—or some semblance of a life—she had to do this.

“Thanks, Ace.”

She pulled away, but Hunter didn’t remove his arms from around her waist. Instead, he kept her close, his gaze darting from her lips to her eyes. And then there was that damn crackle of electricity again, humming all around them, her body and soul very much aware of the feelings he so easily evoked in her. It was always there whenever they had a moment like this. No matter how hard they tried to fight it, it was like her body always became acutely aware of his, how good it felt to have it against her. The warmth, the strength, the pure exhilaration—it was addictive. There was no drug like Hunter Keaton, and she was afraid she would never conquer this addiction she had. In fact, she didn’t know if she wanted to.

He lowered his face toward her, not taking his gaze off her lips. He moved so damn slow, it was like he was waiting for her to stop him.

But she didn’t.

She couldn’t.

She didn’t want to.

Warm lips kissed the corner of her mouth. It was so soft, delicate, yet powerful enough to cause her body to tremble in his arms. The sensation was amazing, and it swept through her like a hurricane.

She closed her eyes and relished the tender touch of his lips, wishing he would kiss her more, that he would claim her mouth like he did all the times before. But then his lips were gone, leaving her aching for more.

When she opened her eyes, she saw him staring at her with a kind of longing that mirrored her own. A longing to be together, to just benormal.Unfortunately, normal no longer existed for people like them. For Hunter, normal died when they buried Willow. For Scarlet, normal died when Brent buried her soul.

Hunter loosened his hold around her waist and placed his hands on her shoulders, his fingers playing with the collar of her jacket. More shivers swept through her body when his fingertips touched the skin of her neck.

“If anyone can do this, Scar, you can. You’re the strongest person I know.”

Scarlet tried to shoot him something that resembled a reassuring smile, but she was sure she failed miserably.

“Come on.” He took her hand and helped her up. “Let’s get this over with.”

Hunter held her hand the entire way to the foyer. They were both so fucking tense, so highly strung, that it felt like they were walking on death row.

Besides the fact that they were about to embark on a journey to hell in order to meet Satan himself, there was also that question no one wanted to know the answer to, which was why no one had asked.

Would he stop? Would Brent stop once Scarlet took all the money from him? Or would it only give him more reason to hunt her down and punish her some more?

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