Page 8

Colt

“Explain.” She says, leaning back against the worn cushions of this uncomfortable ass couch.

I have to get her out of this camper. She’s in the middle of nowhere. I usually check on her every night, but what if something happens while I’m not here?

As I try to find the right words to explain everything, I falter.

Nova Bradley is the one person in this world that scares the shit out of me.

Without her, I’d be nothing. She could take everything away in a split second, without knowing it’d be my death sentence. It’s been hell, keeping to the shadows all this time but I had to know she was safe. I can’t let any aspect of my life touch her.

I’ve done terrible things. Some of them for her.

Do I regret any of it?

Fuck no.

And if I thought I was obsessed before, it’s nothing compared to what I feel now that I’ve tasted her.

“Colt.” She moves closer, watching me closely.

“I’m a killer.” I might as well rip off the band aid quickly.

Her expression doesn’t change. I should’ve known she wouldn’t be upset after the way she reacted when I killed Emmett.

“How does a boy who doesn’t speak become a chatty killer?” She smirks and I grin.

That’s my girl.

“I was on the streets when I left the foster home. Some guys came fucking with me and I killed them. It was reflex, as if it had been lying dormant all those years until the right moment presented itself. I found out it was a gang initiation and when the boss found me and his guys tried to take me out, I killed them too. Survival of the fittest, little demon.”

She scrunches her nose. “They didn’t come after you again?”

“Yes.”

“And?” She’s leaning forward, her unrelenting curiosity peaking.

“I killed the boss.”

She gasps. “What?”

I can’t help but chuckle. “I’m the boss now. Everyone else is either loyal or too scared to fuck with me.”

She leans back into the cushion, folding her arms across her chest. “So, you’re a fucking gang leader? Like a ‘rob old ladies and rape women kind of gang’?”

My grin disappears. “No. I stopped all street gang activities. We deal in guns only. We’re a crime organization now.”

She exhales deeply, relief evident on her face. “That’s it?”

“That’s it.” I agree.

“How many people have you killed?”

“Too many to count, Nova.”

“Oh.” She studies me for a moment. “It was you at the foster home that night, right?”

“Yeah, baby. That motherfucker wasn’t going to touch you again.” I growl.

As soon as the sound leaves my throat, she crawls across the couch, climbing onto my lap. She grips the hair at the nape of my neck, leaning in to kiss me.

Fuck.

I’m trying to take things slow, but she’s making it fucking impossible. She pulls away slowly, her haunted eyes meeting mine.

I know she was sexually assaulted multiple times when she was younger. I have my suspicions she burned her mother’s house down with her inside, and her lover. I picked up on things she said when we were in the foster home together. But still, I need confirmation.

“It’s time for you to answer my questions now, little demon.”

Her brows furrow. “What questions?”

Wrapping my hands around her waist so she can’t run, I lean into her ear. “You burned your mother’s house down.”

She jerks back as if I slapped her, staring into my eyes. I quirk an eyebrow, and she nods.

I trail my thumb across her bottom lip. “Men have mistreated you.”

Where I expected tears, all I see is rage and it fuels me to share more of my life with her. She nods again, confirming what I suspected.

“I killed Lancaster for mistreating you. I killed Emmett for touching you. I killed that guy who grabbed your ass in the bar a few months back.”

She gasps. “I thought he stopped coming in because I went off on him.”

I shake my head, and she crashes her lips to mine. She’s pouring her soul into me and I’m greedily soaking it in. I finally have my girl back for good and nothing will tear us apart again.

She pulls away, her chocolate eyes boring into mine. “Why didn’t you talk to me? I mean, you never spoke until the night you left.”

Gripping the back of her neck, I pull her close, our foreheads touching. “I stopped speaking when I was sent to the foster home. My parents beat the fuck out of me on a daily basis. They starved me. Locked me in my room. I was glad to be away from them, but I was terrified to be in a strange place with people I didn’t know. I shut down.”

She cups my cheeks with her palms, rubbing her nose against mine. “Keep going.”

“When you came to the home, everything changed. I hadn’t spoken in a few years and all the sudden, I had this beautiful girl I wanted to talk to, but I couldn’t. I went so long without speaking, I thought I’d lost the ability until the night I left. I needed you to know you mattered to me.” Tears form in her eyes, and it splits me open. “You’re the only one who ever mattered.”

“I always wanted to hear your voice and when I finally got my wish, you left.” She sniffles and I kiss the tip of her nose.

“I never left you, Nova. I’ve always been here. Besides, it’s hard to get a word in around you.”

She levels me with a death glare. “Asshole.”

My cock twitches beneath her and her breath hitches. She wiggles her hips, and I grip them tightly to hold her in place. “I want nothing more than to sink my cock inside you, but not now.”

Her jaw drops. “Why?”

“I want to take my time with you, but I have some business to attend to tonight.”

“Oh.” She whispers, casting her eyes down.

I grip her chin, pulling her gaze back to me. “Don’t touch this pussy after I leave. It belongs to me.”