Page 23

CHAPTER 22

Hunter

I’m in the gym, under the shower, standing beneath the water, hoping it will cleanse these violent thoughts I’ve been having.

I’ve plotted about seventy different ways to kill Tristin.

Quiet ones. Loud ones.

Ones that looked like accidents and ones that didn’t.

The jealousy simmers under my skin like oil ready to ignite.

I’m fighting back every base instinct that’s telling me to follow through and murder the man in Alana’s bed.

Tonight was a wake-up call.

I have to stop. I have to get distance.

I’ve already contacted Callum.

Decided a reassignment is what’s needed.

I need distance. Told him to send Jaxton in to relieve me.

He’ll be here in the morning.

I’ll protect her from a distance.

I’ve been falling for her, though I can’t pinpoint when it began.

Maybe it was the first time she fell asleep in the car, unknowingly trusting me.

Maybe it was when she disobeyed my first order, challenging me in a way no one else ever had.

Maybe it was when she called herself my wife.

There are too many moments to count.

Too many moments that bled into the next.

But one thing is certain: I’ve fallen.

She’s unexpected. Wild.

Vulnerable and sharp all at once.

She’s a fucking gravitational pull and I’m orbiting whether I want to or not.

I hear a noise that snaps me out of my thoughts.

I turn off the shower, grab my towel and step out.

Alana is standing there, frozen in the doorway

“Eyes on me, Little Diamond,” I say.

She turns around. Slowly.

I want to claim every last part of her.

I look at her lips, swollen from kissing Tristin.

But then… she kisses me and everything shatters in an instant.

I lose it. I lose myself.

I burn, from the inside out.

It’s like a fire ignites in my chest, crawling up my throat, burning through every thought, every wall I’ve built.

No control. No restraint.

Just her. And the fire.

Her lips on mine are a lightning strike.

For a moment, time stops.

I forget who I am. The world narrows to just her, the warmth of her touch, the taste of her breath.

Every nerve hums with something electric.

Something dangerous.

But it all comes crashing back.

Jealousy. Then rage.

Then guilt. The weight of who I am.

A fucking monster. I can’t do this.

Not to her. She deserves more than the chaos I bring, more than the darkness I live in.

I can’t drag her down into my mess.

I dredge up whatever restraint I have left and pull away.

I break the kiss, my breath ragged, my heart pounding.

“Stop,” I say. But it pains me.

I want to bury myself in her.

I want to tattoo her name across my skin.

My chest. My goddamn forehead.

This girl. This fucking girl.

“What are you thinking?” I ask her, the words rougher than I intend.

“I didn’t sleep with him,” she blurts out.

“What?” She’s kissed the sense out of me.

I’m adrift. Untethered.

“Tristin. I didn’t sleep with him. I couldn’t.” She laughs, like it’s some kind of game.

“I tried. It felt… wrong.”

My hand flexes.

Relief floods over me.

Sharp and sudden, like a breath I didn’t know I was holding.

But it’s fleeting. I still need to push her away.

Keep my distance. No matter how much I want to pull her closer.

“It’s none of my business who you sleep with. That’s not in the job description.” The words fire out like bullets, sharp and unforgiving.

But even as they leave my mouth, I can feel the weight of them.

The lie that clings to every syllable.

I want to take them back.

“Oh my God,” she groans.

“I’m so sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking. I had some wine, then some tequila—”

“Yeah, I could taste the tequila,” I interrupt.

“Right.” She nods. “Let’s just pretend this didn’t happen.”

But I don’t want to pretend anymore.

“Alana.”

“Yes?” she says.

My jaw ticks, restraint hanging on by a thread.

“Go to bed. We’ll discuss your punishment in the morning.”

I say that to remind her of the rules.

Remind myself of the rules.

But I’m weak.

I know one thing for sure: the reassignment?

Not happening. I’m staying.

Just a little longer.

Then I’ll walk away.

I have to. But not yet.