Page 19 of Only Everything

I was doomed.

Fucking trapped and drowning.

There was no time left. I had to go.

I had to run.

CHAPTER 7

REID

Tauren was engaged…toEmmett.

Engaged.

Had that been why she was crying? Because she wasn’t sure how to tell me? Because shepitiedme? I should have never called her. I should have?—

What?

I should have what?

Ignoring this need wasn’t making it go away. Staying quiet wasn’t helping with the combustion that threatened to explode inside my chest.

What I should have done was make up the special space in my empty room earlier. Fuck being the considerate guy. Fuck trying to let her adjust to me being home. What had that accomplished—her being engaged to that son of a bitch cop.

Or maybe…no.

This couldn’t be right. If Tauren had wantedto be engaged, she would have been happy about it. She would have told me. She wouldn’t have sounded afraid.

Or had I read our entire conversation wrong? That wasn’t like me. I didn’t make mistakes. I was good at my job. Damn fucking good. It’s why I moved up in rank so quickly. I was an asset. They didn’t want me to get out.

“Fuck.”

I stared down at my phone and keys. I held both as I sat on the edge of the spare bed, battling my own decisions. Battling hers. Tauren was with Emmett. For reasons I didn’t understand, she’d chosen him.

Him.

Engaged.

Cuffs and calibers.

Blades and bondage.

Sex and secrets.

No way. No fucking way was I wrong about what I detected. The top half of my body fell back on the bed, and I dropped the keys to reach over and slide my finger along the rough metal cuff attached to the headboard. Her name was carved into the wooden ceiling above.

Tauren

Taur

Tauren

Taurrrrrr.

Even imprinted in the wood I could hear my screamsfor her.

Think.