Page 66 of Torment

“No!” Colton launched himself forward and grabbed her cheeks between his palms. “You listen to me, you do not give up. Like Hunter said, you keep on fighting. Do not let him win.”

She smiled weakly. “Hunter.” She snorted. “I even get why you killed him. You never liked him. God knows I hated him at first…until I…”

“Fell in love with him,” Colton finished her sentence.

More tears rolled down her cheek and she wiped them away against her arm. “It doesn’t matter now, since you killed him. Nothing matters now that he’s dead.”

He stared at her with dark, sad eyes. “Scarlet, I’m sorry.”

“Fuck you, Colton. Don’t act all remorseful now.”

“That’s not what I’m doing.”

“You threw me under the bus and now you’re trying to pull me out from under it? I don’t think so.”

Colton roughed his hands through his hair. “Just…things aren’t what they seem right now, okay?”

“What? So I’m not as fucked as I think I am? Am I not bound with fucking chains, hanging in a goddamn barn, waiting for my psycho cousin to come rape me again?”

“Please, Scarlet. Just don’t give up. I know you’re here because of me, and it’s killing me. But just don’t give up yet.”

Another tear slipped down her cheek. “It’s too late, Colton. It’s too late for me now.”

Chapter 19

Hunter stormed through the front door of House Haven. When he stopped in front of the stairs, he thought about the last time he walked down those stairs with Scarlet’s hand in his. Things weren’t good between them. In fact, things were real shitty. But deep down, he knew he wanted her—he wanted her for more than just a few sex marathons between the sheets and against walls. At first, she was nothing but a huge fucking pain in his ass, making him wish he never got tangled up in her mess. And then, without him even realizing it, he started to feel more for her than he ever thought possible for a man like him.

For years he spent his life screwing women without any emotional entanglement. And he preferred it that way. Meaningless sex mixed with acts of control was all his life was about. That and the regret he always carried inside him.

But somewhere between saving Scarlet outside Twisted Fable and watching while Brent dragged her away from him, he finally understood what she meant to him…the world. She meant the world to him.

He was completely captivated by her, and got caught up in all the feels and emotions of having someone. He realized that even though he had thoroughly convinced himself through the years that he was meant to be alone, he didn’t want to be. He wanted someone to protect, to love…and that person was Scarlet. Which was why he didn’t give a fuck about Baxter’s idea to wait another twenty-four hours. There was no way in hell Hunter would wait another fucking second before going to her.

Just as Hunter started to rush up the stairs, Baxter came storming in behind him. “Hunter, wait.”

“I’ve waited long enough.” Hunter took two steps at a time, and heard James follow him.

“I know you’re worried, I am too. But can you just stop for two seconds so we can talk about this?”

Hunter stopped abruptly and turned around, James almost walking right into him. “Do you really think Scarlet has twenty-four hours? Do you really think that son of a bitch hasn’t already laid a hand on her?”

James didn’t answer.

“Your daughter is not only in the hands of that psychopath, but this Rex character—who I’m guessing is not the kind of guy a man wants his daughter to be around—is also there in the same house as her. So tell me, Baxter, do you really think she has twenty-four hours?”

James continued to stare at him with a doleful look in his eyes. “You’re right.”

“You can bet you’re fucking ass I’m right. So you either help me get her back, or I do this on my own. But either way, I’m going.”

Hunter spun around and rushed further up the stairs, down the hall to the bedroom he shared with Scarlet. He needed a gun, and then he needed one of those fast cars parked in the big as fuck garage.

As he walked to the closet where he’d stashed another gun, he passed the bathroom. When he glanced inside and saw the cabinet where he had fucked up so badly by calling Scarlet Blue while he was buried balls deep inside her, Hunter felt his stomach twist into a vice. It felt like such a long time ago, even though it had only been a few days. God, he wanted to feel her warm body against his again. He wanted to wrap his arms around her and never let her go.

If only he knew then what he knew now—that he cared for her too damn much—maybe it would have stopped him from making that epic fuck-up. After what happened, he wanted to bolt so badly. He tried to leave so many fucking times, but something just kept dragging him back—pulling him toward her. Hunter didn’t know what the fuck was happening, but whatever it was, it was much stronger than what he had with Blue. He didn’t think it would ever be possible, but it was. The feelings he had for Scarlet were unlike anything he had ever felt before—and it was scaring the living shit out of him. It was like their broken souls connected, as if being together had the power to heal whatever had been broken inside them.

James entered the room. “I think I have an idea.”

Hunter shot him a sideward glance. “If your idea contains the wordwait, forget about it.”

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