Chapter 47 - Jag #2
“The part where you showed up on my island at three in the morning and kissed my woman.” He steps toe to toe with me, the knife spinning fast enough to whistle. “Start with how you got here.”
“I paid a fisherman for a ride across the sound.”
Dove crosses her arms. Wolf gestures with the knife for me to continue.
“I slipped onto the shore before your security team saw me. The fisherman fed them a story about his dog falling overboard and swimming in this direction. So right about now, your men are fanning out along the shoreline and shouting Buddy into the dark.”
Wolf’s lips twitch. Dove actually looks offended on behalf of the nonexistent dog.
“Relax,” I say. “Buddy is apparently very strong, very brave, and very good at the backstroke.”
“What’s your escape plan?” He ends the knife spin by snapping it into a perfect grip, the point angled at the floor.
“You tell me.”
All his sharp, restless energy funnels inward, churning through the gears in his head as he regards me. He’s smart. Smarter than most. It takes him two seconds to figure it out.
“I’m your escape plan.” His eyes flicker. “You counted on me catching you. Knew I would hear you out before I killed you. You assumed I would approve of your plan to disappear and leave Dove with me. If all went well, maybe I’d even take you back to Sitka myself. How am I doing?”
“Good so far.”
“Wolf…” Dove steps to his side. “He’s manipulating you.”
“Copy that, boss.” He drapes an arm around her and returns to me. “Since there’s no dog, the GI Joe squad will be here any minute. Better start talking.”
“There’s nothing left to say.” My head pounds.
“Sure there is. Why are you here?”
“To say goodbye.” I catch Dove’s stare and hold it.
“You chartered a ride across the sound, risked getting shot by our security guards, and climbed the guest house balcony like Romeo.” He looks around. “That’s how you got in here, right?”
“Yes.” My jaw ticks.
“You did all that to say goodbye?”
“Yes.”
“Wrong.” He shifts, putting himself between Dove and me, his hard body pressing into my space, as he rests the blade under my chin. “Try again.”
I counted on him being territorial. I counted on him seeing me as a threat, one he would tolerate long enough to do what’s best for her. But I didn’t count on his infuriating perceptiveness.
“I needed to see her.” My voice scratches, thick in a way I hate. “One last time. Even if she didn’t want to see me.”
“You kissed her.”
“We kissed each other.”
She flinches.
Wolf notices. He notices everything. “I’ll ask you again. Why are you here?”
Goddamn, he’s frustrating.
“What do you want me to say, pup?” I release a heavy breath. “I’m desperate to do the right thing and finding it extremely difficult.”
“Better.” He steps back, lowering the knife. “Vague but honest.”
“What’s the right thing?” Dove seizes my gaze.
The truth hums under my skin, under my ribs, under seventeen years of quiet ruin. It’s a twisted knot of childhood, tragedy, and choices I can’t undo.
I raised her, fed her, carried her, celebrated her birthdays, braided her hair, crawled through her windows, and slept in her doorways because that’s who I wanted to be for her.
I sold my body, killed her monsters, and looked at her the way a father would look at his daughter because that’s who I had to be for her.
Being her anything was a goddamn honor.
Then she offered herself to me that night, and everything changed. I saw her differently. I felt her differently. I imagined her in ways I never had before. And after? I couldn’t erase those ideas from my head.
In the years that followed, I told myself she was too young. When she was in her twenties, I told myself she was my sister. When that no longer worked, I told myself that taking her the way I wanted would poison her life beyond repair.
Because if she were with me, she would never rise above what I am.
She deserves more than the man who raised her. More than the man who whored himself for money. More than the man who still wants her in ways he should never allow himself to imagine.
I shouldn’t have kissed her tonight, but I knew I would never have another chance.
I don’t want to let her go. Cutting ties will be the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Walking away and never seeing her again? It’s unfathomable.
But that is the right thing.
Expression blank, I stare at her, silent, refusing to answer, because if I put the truth into words, it becomes real. Final. And I need more time. Just a few more minutes to look at her, memorize her face, and make sure she’ll be okay without me.
She absently rubs the scars on her shoulder, the ones from that night that I couldn’t mend, because she ran from me. She’s never stopped running.
Until now.
The room shrinks, and the walls press in, suffocating.
Wolf watches us with narrowed eyes, analyzing our combative stares and unspoken emotions.
“Okay,” he finally says. “Let’s break this down.” He looks at me. “You still have feelings for her. True or false?”
My pulse gives a hard thud, but I flatten my lips and keep my face empty.
“Got it.” He turns to Dove. “You still have feelings for him?”
She glares at him, then at me.
“Is it a stepsibling thing?” He rakes a hand through his hair. “Is that what’s happening here?”
When neither of us answers, his gaze swings back to me.
“Tell me something, kitty cat. Are you here because you love her?” He leans in, putting his face in mine. “Or because you finally learned how to let her go?”
“Both,” I whisper.
Loud pounding rattles the front door. Fists, radios, boots on the porch. The security team.
Wolf blows out a breath. “Time’s up.”