Page 47 of Tempting Devil
As I entered my bedroom, I headed straight toward my ensuite bathroom, shedding the clothes Gideon bought for me. Or was it Samuel? I didn’t even know what to call him. Didn’t know who he was, despite what Henry told me.
Even though I’d recently showered, I turned on the water as hot as it would go and stepped under the scalding stream, hoping it would wash everything away.
But I doubted anything was that powerful.
Chapter Eighteen
Gideon
The click of the door opening reached me in the bathroom, and I finished taping up my hands before rushing into the living room.
“How is she?” I demanded the instant I saw Henry.
“What the fuck happened to you?” His eyes zeroed in on my bandaged hands.
“Got into a little accident with the mirror.” I waved him off, downplaying my injuries.
These wounds were nothing compared to some of the shit I’d suffered for years. Once I washed away the blood and shards of glass, it became clear that most of the cuts were superficial. In a few days, they would be nothing but faint scars.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t say the same for the mirror.
Henry slipped past me and into the bedroom, taking in the mess I’d made. “A little accident?”
“I’ll pay for a goddamn replacement. Just tell me how she is,” I repeated, hoping he wouldn’t press me about why I’d obliterated the mirror.
That I couldn’t stand the sight of my face.
That I wasn’t sure if I ever could again.
Not when it was yet another reminder of everything those bastards had taken from me.
“She’s hurt,” he finally answered as he returned to the living room and sank into the couch. “And really fucking confused, man.”
“What did she say?” I sat beside him.
“She just wanted to know how this could be possible. What happened to you— or, Samuel,” he corrected.
“What did you tell her?”
“That it’s not my story to tell.”
“And she was okay with that?”
He barked out a laugh. “I wouldn’t say she was okay with that. She’s not okay with any of this. I’m not sure I am, either.” He leveled me with a glare, his disagreement with the path I’d chosen obvious. “But she understands the truth needs to come from you,” he added before I couldremind him of the promise he made when I’d first shared my plans with him.
I gave him the choice to walk away. Told him he didn’t have to be involved. But after uncovering what those bastards did to Jonah, he wanted revenge as much as I did. Vowed to do whatever was necessary to make sure they could never hurt another person.
“You lived it. Not me.” His analytical gaze swept over my features. “You are going to tell her, aren’t you?”
Shifting my eyes from his, I stood and strode toward the large windows overlooking Buckhead, the bustling streets of Atlanta moving thirty stories below.
“She knows who I am. What more is there?”
“A lot fucking more,” he replied sharply, shooting to his feet. “Like the truth about what happened to you. Where you were for four goddamn years.”
“I just want to keep her safe, Henry. The less she knows?—”
“That argument might have worked before. It doesn’t anymore. She knows who you are. That makes her a liability.”