“That's his blood,” she said, looking down at my shirt.
“Like I said... I've tried. We need confirmation that he's one of V's.” Her head dipped, looking at the bed, her teeth biting into her lip. “If you can't do it...”
“I'll do it,” she surprised me by saying, her tone hard. Hard. I had never heard her voice like that before.
“Babe...”
“I said I'll do it,” she said, brushing the blanket off and going in search of her clothes.
“Summer...” I said, watching her fumble around, dragging her panties up her legs and struggling into her pants. “I ain't bringing you in there when you're shutting down on me.”
“I'm not shutting down. I'm getting dressed,” she growled back. Growled. And it was so unexpected, I found myself smiling.
“Babe. If your head isn't on right...”
“Oh my god,” she said, ripping a black tee down her body and turning to glare at me. “Stop worrying about my head. My head is fine.”
“The weird look on your face says different.”
“I just got fucked into unconsciousness then woken up from a nightmare to you telling me one of the monsters from that nightmare is here. Sorry if my face is a little off. Are you taking me to see him or what?”
Maybe I was wrong about her. I smiled, shrugging. “Yep. Let's go.”EighteenSummerI wasn't lying when I said he fucked me into unconsciousness. I could barely keep my eyes opened afterward. I hadn't even known he left until he woke me up. Then I woke up from another screaming nightmare to find him sitting there covered in blood.
My heart flew up into my throat.
I had gotten used to seeing my own blood. So much so that it didn't even worry me after a while. But seeing someone else's blood. Seeing Reign's blood. Yeah, that did something to me on the inside that I didn't quite understand.
But it wasn't his blood.
“My guys think they caught one of V's guys.”
I can't describe that feeling. That rolling in the belly, sweat coming from your pores, goosebumps all over your body feeling.
“If you can't do it...”
“I'll do it,” I said, my tone stronger than I thought it would be. One mention of V and his men had my insides turning to acid. But identifying him would mean something. It would mean they could get information. It would mean I was a step closer to being safe. So if all I had to do was waltz in and nod my head, well then... I was going to do my damn part.
I jumped out of the bed, finding my panties and pants and quickly getting into them.
“Babe. If your head isn't on right...”
Jesus Christ.
With the comments about my brain. That was what? The third time? First because I was in a little car crash. Then because I had been through some trauma. And now because I was willingly, happily, going to help him and his men find out where their trespasser came from?
“Oh my god,” I said, dragging a black tee down my body and turning to glare at him. “Stop worrying about my head. My head is fine.”
I took a deep breath as he finally (I mean, seriously, who fights you when you agree to do what they came in and woke you up and asked you to do in the first place?) led me out into the hall. Things were still quiet in the compound, most people sleeping or screwing.
Reign's hand went to my lower back, pressing hard. Reassuring. And at the same time, predatory. My insides went liquid.
Then we were walking out into the yard and I turned my head to look at him, brows together. “Where are we going?”
“The shed,” he said, nodding forward.
The shed. Right. So they had more than one place for torture. That was, sort of, good to know.
We walked up to find Wolf standing outside the door. He nodded his head at me, but there was work going on behind his light eyes. “Woman,” he greeted me, taking the bar off the door and going in.
Reign followed him in, pausing in the doorway, his hands going to my shoulders. “Eyes babe,” he said, his tone soft. “I'm right here,” he said, surprising me. “And Cash and Wolf are in there too. You're safe. He can't touch you. You don't even have to say anything. Just nod your head and walk out if you need to. Okay?”
Something about his gentleness made me feel like steel. I nodded my head at him and watched him turn his back and move in.
I took another deep breath.
I could do it.
I was going to do it.
I wasn't the one chained up this time.
He was.
I had the power.
I went in, slamming the door behind me.
The first thing that hit me was the smell of blood. It was a scent I was intimately acquainted with.
It was almost overpowering.
The second thing that hit me was his eyes. The bright, bright blue. The kind of blue that could be light even in the dark. Like how a cat's yellow eyes pierce the black of night. That was what his eyes were like.
Deke.
They had fucking Deke.
And I was frozen.
I couldn't say why. PTSD or just plain old shock.
But all I could do was stare.
He had been beaten. Badly. And from the look of Reign's shirt, the beating had come from him. I took a sick sense of satisfaction from that. His lip was split open, his eye bloodied, his nose broken. And that was just what I could see. I was sure there were body shots. That if I pulled up his shirt, there would be bruises. Blue and purple. The heinous red of busted ribs. A part of me really wanted to see.
But that thought flew away when his eyes landed on me.
And he smiled.
Smiled.
No fear. No pain.
Pure amusement.
Dare I say... condescension?
That mother fucker.
He was supposed to be scared. Shaking. Begging. He was supposed to feel trapped and terrified.
He was supposed to feel even the slightest bit how he made me feel for months.
He was looking at me like he was still crouching over me in V's basement, getting ready to slam his fist into my face.