Page 100 of The Risk Taker
“Oh my God!” I reach out to steady myself against the wall.
That jaw.
That mouth.
Those eyes. They’re brown tonight, but I’d know them anywhere.
We stare at one another, then his gaze slides to my cheek.
“Did he do that?” he growls.
The sound sends a shiver up my spine, and Callum whimpers in his grasp. My eyes dart to his petrified face.
“You touched her,” Slade snarls, turning his wrath on Callum. “You touchedmy girl.”
I fight against the burst of energy at the way he says, ‘my girl’. This is a man who left without saying goodbye. Who yelled at me to leave. A man I thought I’d never see again. One I’ve cried over and should be mad at for leaving me with so many unanswered questions. But the way my stomach flutters and my core throbs, it’s as if my body doesn’t care what my head’s trying to tell me.
Callum tries to speak, but only a gargle comes out.
“He can’t breathe,” I say.
Slade keeps his eyes pinned on Callum, but I know he heard me. His eyes narrow as he pins Callum with a deadly gaze.
“I should kill you right here for laying a finger on her.”
“I fell. It was an accident,” I say.
He doesn’t ease up… if anything, he pins Callum against the wall harder, until the gargling fades.
“You telling me you wanted to kiss this asshole?” Slade’s jaw tightens, and he whips his eyes to me.
“No! Of course not.”
“So he forced you?” He turns back to Callum, pressing harder.
“Stop!” I run over and pull his arm from Callum’s neck, ignoring the bolt of electricity that races up my arm at our contact.
Callum collapses to the ground, wheezing and clutching his windpipe.
“Stop!” I say again, more forcefully as Slade looks as if he’s about to haul him back up by his neck and finish the job.
“Look away, Jude,” he says calmly.
The hairs on the back of my neck stand up. “This isn’t you, Slade,” I beg. “This isn’t you. Look at me.”
It takes everything in him to take his murderous gaze from Callum and bring his eyes to mine. They soften the second we connect, and I let out a stuttered breath.
“This isn’t you,” I whisper, noting the troubled lines marring his forehead.
I step closer, hovering, unable to reach out and touch him, in case he isn’t real and I’m imagining him.
Callum staggers to his feet, rubbing at his throat. “You dating a murderer now, Jude?” he chokes through a dry cough.
Slade’s eyes darken and he turns to Callum, his fist rearing back. I grab it with both hands and throw myself in front of him before he can deliver a blow that would knock Callum out, if not worse.
Slade’s eyes widen in panic, and he drops his fist immediately.
“Jesus, Jude! I could have hit you!”
