Page 28 of Carte

“Dynamo,” I croaked.

She didn’t even flinch, didn’t twitch at me calling her.

Slowly, I reached out.

I knew I was crossing every line imaginable by doing this, but in that moment, I just didn’t give a fuck. I needed to touch her, to hold her, to comfort her.

I tried telling myself that it was because I was offering support to my client who was in clear distress because I failed at my job. But with the next breath, I shoved that lie from my mind.

Grasping her forearms, I took a deep breath and tried to steel myself from what holding her would do to me. It didn’t help.

As I gently pulled her to me, she became a blur of motion. Her body hit mine in a blink. She nestled into my lap like she was doing it since the moment she was born. And when she showed her face in my neck, I relaxed.

Not just relaxed. For the first time in my life, I was at peace.

As my arms went around her, and pulled her even more to me, she lifted her tear streaked face, and begged between broken sobs. “Warden, please.”

Fuck, she was killing me. At that moment, I was willing to go to the ends of the Earth to give her what she wanted. But I couldn’t do this.

“I’m sorry, Dynamo.”

“But, I need to do it. I need my life to go on as normal.”

“It’s not forever,” I promised. “Just for a while. Just until we get a lock on what’s going on, and know we can keep you safe.”

Her face crumpled then, a fresh new wave of tears swelled in her eyes.

“I’m sorry,” I cupped her head, and pulled her face into my neck.

With that single movement I sealed my fate.

She needed a safe space to be herself. In that moment, I knew I would be that for her. I would be anything she needed me to be.

Always.

Even if she never knew it.

Each tear that landed on my skin burned me. Each broken breath she took, stabbed me. But each of her exhales that caressed my skin, claimed me.

Fucking hell, this was more than just a pull I couldn’t let myself feel.

In that moment I knew, there was no walking away from her.

But I had to do it.

Once she was safe and free, I couldn’t stay. I just had to figure out how I was supposed to live without a part of my soul staying behind.

Chapter Seven

Harley

“We’re here,” Carter said from the front passenger seat.

The whole eight hour drive up here, I was giving him a silent treatment. Well, either I was giving him a silent treatment or I was sleeping. Not that he minded. He hadn’t said even one word to me since we left that hotel.

After I had my melt down, he gently pushed me away from his body, made me stand and positioned me back on the couch, then got up and started barking orders left and right while a whirlwind of activity started spreading out through the suite. The fact that he hadn’t once even glanced my way was grating on my nerves. And the hollow feeling of pain in my heart only brought my fight back. So I started making my own calls and demands. Something he didn’t miss. Once the door opened and Sienna and Tim barged into the room, he stood completely still with a frown on his face and his arms crossed over his chest.

As I said my demands, and he still hadn’t uttered a word, I turned to him and arched a brow, “Nothing to say, Warden.”