I’m upright in a flash, my heart pounding. I didn’t order room service. I draw in a deep breath and try to relax. It’s probably just my mother. Perhaps she got the biopsy results.
I look through the peephole.
“Luke!” I throw the door open.
He stands there, wearing shorts and a tank. His tattoo…is gone. I fall into his arms.
“Baby, baby,” he murmurs against my hair. “My God, Katelyn.”
Sobs choke out of me, and I bury my nose in his shoulder—the right one, where he marked himself with my name.
He strokes my hair as he walks into the room, nudging me backward. Jed pounces around his legs.
Finally, after an eternity, I’m able to let go of him.
“Is that Jed?” he asks, kneeling.
I nod. “I brought him with me. I know it’s silly, but he seemed like a link to you.”
He rises and meets my gaze. “I can’t stay.”
“Why?”
“I… I can’t. I had to know you were all right. That text…”
“Someone sent a bomb to my house, Luke. Why? Why would anyone do that?”
33
LUKE
“A bomb? A fucking bomb?”
“I know. Why?” she asks. “It’s got to be someone from the island. Maybe that guy Pollack.”
God, the rage. I know this rage. I know it like you know an old friend—the kind of friend you don’t wholly trust, but you stay with him because of a shared history, because of some misplaced loyalty. And this time, that old friend has resurfaced with one thought in mind—to betray you for good. The anger glissades over my flesh, poking through every barrier and invading each cell of my body.
The strength of its fury surprises even me, and like that old friend you can’t trust, it threatens to cross me, to take me over…and I’m only a hair away from letting it happen.
I could kill with my bare hands. I could mutilate whoever is responsible for this.
For placing my Katelyn in such danger.
“Luke?”
“It’s not him. It’s not Pollack.”
“How do you know? It could be.”
It’s not, but I can’t tell her that Pollack is under house arrest, by me, in Manhattan. I don’t dare tell her that he’s obsessed with her. I can’t tell her anything. I shouldn’t even be here.
But that text…
She told me where she was, and I raced to the Beverly Hills Hotel.
“It’s not Pollack, Katelyn. Trust me.”
“Of course I trust you. It’s one of the others, then. But why?”
Why? It’s no one from that damned island. It’s King or one of his minions. Someone found out. The tattoo. Someone’s watching me.
Fuck it all! I should never have come back here. I should have known what this would lead to.
I can’t stay. I shouldn’t be here now. I was careful coming here, but I’m obviously being watched like a hawk.
I kiss Katelyn’s lips. “I have to go.”
“No. Please. Stay. I need you.”
She’s shaking. Shivering. Someone tried to kill her. And here I am, telling her I can’t stay.
Damn. I’ve only made things worse for her.
She clings to me once more, as Jed finally settles down in a corner of the room.
“Please,” she says against my neck.
I’m not made of stone—except for my cock at the moment. I’m weak. Fucking weak. I lower my mouth to hers and kiss her hard.
She responds and opens to me, gives herself to me in that kiss. It’s harsh and passionate and full of need all at once.
And it’s the perfect outlet for that untrustworthy rage.
I deepen the kiss, losing myself in Katelyn’s sweetness, in her goodness.
I back her toward the bed…
Clothes. Too many clothes. I rip my mouth from hers and then rip the clothes from her body. When she’s naked before me, her ruby lips parted, I devour her.
My lips are everywhere—on hers, tracing her jawline, her shoulders, her perfectly shaped breasts. They clasp around her hard nipple, licking and sucking.
Downward, downward… I kiss every part of her all the way to her toes.
My cock is as angry as I am, and it wants relief as I do. I crave it, and I find it here, with my Katelyn.
I undress myself at warp speed, and then I’m inside her, one with her, and I take what she freely gives. I fuck her hard and fast, and within seconds I’m releasing and taking her with me.
We cling together as we come in tandem, our bodies one and our souls entwined.
And that rage? That old untrustworthy friend?
It softens.
But as we come down…I hold onto that old friend.
I hold onto him because I still need him.
I need him to avenge Katelyn.
34
KATELYN
I jerk out of a dreamy sleep to a short yip from Jed.
“Luke?” I sit up in bed, look around the room. It’s dark.
How long have I slept? It’s clearly nighttime. And where’s Luke?
Then a knock on the door. Another yip from Jed.
“Just a minute!” I’m still naked, so I scramble into my clothes as quickly as I can, walk to the door, and gaze through the peephole into the lighted hallway.