Page 47 of Hide From Me

He shrugged.

“Thanks, sweetheart, but you and I would never work. You’re too fucking obsessed with a little girl you saw as something you could save, and you did. And then you fucking pushed her away. You did, Caspian. Not us. Not her. Not the crew. Not the life. You.”

I glared. “Thanks for the come to Jesus meeting, but we need to get ready for the fight. It will bring in millions with the three of us. The Vipers and Ravens have entries….”

I sucked in the air through my nose, frustration coursing through me like a damn snake.

“What? Stop trying to fix me. Like any of us would have done differently for a girl like her.”

They shared a look.

“We wouldn’t have. We would have kept her. Raised her like the little sister we saw her as. But you? We saw it from the start. Something about her got under your skin, and years of you denying this shit? You’re a loose cannon with her. What happened?” Zeid prodded one more time.

“Nothing,” I said and stormed away. I would go a few rounds in the ring with anyone around and then I would get ready to murder a Viper that dared to step in a ring with me tonight.

Fight nights brought in millions. The one event police turned their heads at because it got us all off the streets several times a year and usually ended in a few less thugs walking away. To me? This was fucking therapy.

I got to my bag and sat on the bench as I heaved in air. I’d pushed myself, trying to erase the memories of last night. The way she’d fucking felt coming around my cock. The way she tasted. I could practically feel her under my hands now. I’d never had an issue with addiction unless we talked about money and fighting, but suddenly I felt like a fucking junkie. What the hell was I doing?

Zeid was right. I’d fucking sent her away. I’d found the aunt and made her an offer that she couldn’t turn down. It was that, or I wasn’t sure where Rylee would have ended up. I didn’t have any regrets, but months after sending her away and figuring out how to scrape by to ensure the aunt took care of her, I was losing myself in the obsession of her. The only option was to see her. She wasn’t far from me ever. Whenever the boys and I weren’thaving a fucking uprising, I was driving past her home, her school, her part-time job.

I hadn’t meant to start tracking her like I had, but she haunted me no matter what happened in the day. I needed to know where she was at all times and she was so oblivious, so unaware of the dangers. It seemed like it took her years to get over everything, and those days might have been hard to watch, but the years where she shifted from closed in on herself to trying to find the love I knew she craved were the worst, and that’s when everything got out of hand. I couldn’t let anyone have her, even if I couldn’t.

At least by the time she had gotten to that phase of her life, I’d earned enough from fighting that I was becoming a threat to the Spectors, and I was able to afford to have someone in the shadows when I couldn’t be.

I tried to push away the memories of the past and reached into my bag for my phone.

I smirked when I saw her text.

Rylee: You’re a psychopath.

I finished unwrapping my bruised hands before I responded. I guessed she’d found my gift. It hadn’t even been a challenge, that shitty frat boy. Touching her without her permission. My knuckles cracked at the reminder of his hands on her. She was mine.

Me: I take it you liked your gift?

Those three little telling dots appeared and stopped and appeared again.

Rylee: A gift? You can’t control my life.

I didn’t even have to pause to think of how to respond.

Me:I always have. Why would it change now?

Those dots appeared, and I could imagine her fingers hovering over the keys as she processed that.

Rylee: What is that supposed to mean?

Gran had seen her off this morning, and I appreciated that woman making sure my little blossom was safe when I had to do other things. That building was secure, but Gran had a way of making sure that certain things worked the way I wanted them too.

Me: It means we have years of catching up to do.

My phone rang a second later and oddly enough, it was my little blossom herself.

“What a pleasant surprise, you calling me,” I said as I answered. I could hear the engine of her car in the background and checked the location as I put her on speakerphone, waiting for her response.

“You’re fucking crazy. What do you mean you’ve controlled me for years? I haven’t even been here.”

I was pleased to see her heading back to her apartment.