Page 110 of I am Dressed in Sin (Death by Daybreak MC 2)
There are no windows in there; I’m being paranoid.
“My father has never wanted to kill anyone more than he wants to kill you,” Grey tells me with all due seriousness. “He thought he had you pegged, but now he thinks you intentionally crashed into our roadblock with the sole purpose of finding our compound.”
A strange, neurotic sounding sort of laugh escapes me.
Am I really still a high school senior? Really? Getting my GED at a later date is a much more likely option than ever getting my diploma. That is, if I live that long. Might be dead before graduation at this rate.
“That’s … a unique perspective,” I say as Grainger taps the butt of the gun against his muscular shoulder, his lips pursed, eyes half-lidded as he stares Grey down. I certainly wouldn’t want to piss him off right now. That is, if I weren’t his favorite person. Because, as weird as it sounds, I’m pretty sure that’s exactly what I am. Cade Grainger’s favorite human. His … woman. Gag. “Provided I were that legendary, I can see why he went after Reba.”
My jaw clenches tight against the pain. I got her parents killed. Me. Exactly me.
The bathroom door finally opens, and Reba emerges. When I first see Grey look at her, I feel this shock of alarm. Because the way he’s studying her, it feels like he very well could be in love. But then I realize that he’s looking at her the same way he looks at me: like a friend.
When did that happen?
Sometime in the last few weeks apparently.
“Grey treat you okay?” I ask, even though I know he’ll have done the best he could, given the circumstances. And those circumstances? They most certainly were not ideal.
“He’s been a perfect gentleman,” Reba says, lifting her scooped button nose. There’s something else though, a tightening in her throat, a quiver in her mouth, that says maybe she isn’t telling the full truth.
Also, Reba is far too pale to hide the numerous bruises splashed across her arms and legs, her chest and belly, basically every part of her that I saw in the shower as well as all of her currently exposed skin.
“How is she …?” The words die on my lips. How is she … still alive? How is she relatively unharmed? How is she not sold into a sex dungeon?
“My father gave her to me when I asked,” Grey tells me, but then he frowns and reaches up to push his sandy blond hair back. He looks so young, but so resolved, too, like he’s entering this world against his will but with full fervor. Just like me. “Just the act of doing that pissed him the fuck off. He doesn’t trust me, but I really need him to.”
“How exactly are you planning on managing that?” I ask, just as Beast moves over to the window and peels the curtain back to peer out.
“Gaz is on his way up here,” Beast tells me as I give Grey a sharp look.
“What else was I going to give him, Gidget? You just have to make sure you get your asses out of here.”
There it is. Grey is standing here and admitting that he’s just sold me out.
That is, and likely will always be, the future of our relationship. We are still at war. It’s just that he and I play a different sort of game.
“How long do we have?” I ask, stepping between Grey and Cade before things get violent. “We’ll talk about this later, but I need you to trust me, Grainge. Give me that, okay? As good as your lies, I want your trust.”
He curses at me, but he lowers his weapon yet again as Beast slips out the door and closes it behind him.
“About … twenty seconds,” Grey tells me after glancing down at his phone. He looks up as I turn to Grainger, grabbing Reba’s hand in my right one.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” I hear Gaz ask. He’s just outside the door, but we don’t have the time to wait for him to leave. Unfortunately, that means that he’ll see us here, that he’ll have confirmation of what he already suspected.
Shit.
“Fifteen seconds,” Grey continues, giving me an almost apologetic grimace along with the warning.
With yet another colorful curse, Grainger wrenches the door open and the three of us step out. Just before we go, I turn and punch Grey as hard as I can in the face. He stumbles back bleeding, smiling through the red.
I’m not being an ass here, but he needs some explanation as to why Reba is now missing. Why he didn’t deliver me as promised. The only sketchy part of the situation is going to be the fact that he’s still alive. I should rightfully kill him.
Maybe he can spin his story the way I’m trying to spin mine? Grey loves me, even if I don’t love him. That’s why he wants to deal with me and only me.
