Page 98 of Scarlet Wars
“Colt,” I began, but he moved faster. His hand came around, fingers wrapping around my throat, not squeezing, only holding me. The pressure was measured as his gaze locked on mine.
I should’ve been scared. Maybe even angry that he’d dare to handle me like that. But fear never came, only a rush of something familiar. My pulse thundered against his palm, every beat a reminder that he could break me…but never would.
His jacket creaked as he leaned closer, the scent of leather and smoke wrapping around me. He looked carved from the same darkness he carried inside.
“Give. Me. His. Name.”
I opened my mouth, ready to argue, but the look on his face stopped me cold.
His jaw clenched so tight I thought he might crack a tooth. His left hand was balled into a tight fist at his side, knuckles white, chest rising like he was trying to breathe through his emotions.
And for the first time since I told him, I saw it for what it was.
Caden Colt wasn’t just angry.
He wasfurious.
And the only thing more dangerous than an angry Caden Colt?
A determined one.
My shoulders folded inward, shrinking under the torment I saw so clearly. So, I gave him what he so desperately wanted. “Amy called him Dave.”
Caden’s stare didn’t waver. “Last name.”
I swallowed, then shook my head. “She never said. Only that he used to work at her gym. I don’t know anything else.”
“Address.”
“I was drugged when I got there, and it was dark when we left. I only know it was somewhere in New Hampshire.”
He stared at me for a long, taut second, then the tension in his jaw eased, slow and reluctant, as if letting go of his rage required physical effort.
Almost without ceremony, he exhaled and released me. “Thank you,” he said scraped raw, sounding almost relieved.
I barely had time to nod before he caught my wrist. His grip wasn’t rough, but there was a kind of desperation in it, a quiet need for contact. He guided me toward the head of the bed, moving carefully, as if every motion was a question.
When he sat back against the wall, he pulled me into him, wrapping his arms around me until I could feel every line of his body, solid and tense beneath the calm. My cheek rested over his heart, its beat heavy and uneven against my skin.
For a long moment, neither of us breathed. Then his chest rose under me—once, twice—until his rhythm became mine.
The last thing I felt before sleep dragged me under was the slow sweep of his fingers through my hair, the faint press of his lips against the crown of my head, a silent, unbreakable promise.
When I woke, the space beside me was cold.
I didn’t see him again for the next three days.
TWENTY-FOUR
EMMA
“I need to get laid.”
It had been three days since I’d seen Caden.
Three days of silence while he’d vanished off the face of the earth, after mentioning something to Rachel about leaving on somepersonal business. He didn’t tell anyone what that meant, but Iknewhe’d gone after Dave.
And the thought of Caden alone beneath the bubble had twisted me so tight with anxiety I’d practically been marinating myself in alcohol ever since he left.
