Page 101 of Poisoned Pawn
It’s not until I put her back on her feet that I realise what she’s wearing.
“Fuck me. I think you should keep that outfit,” I say, running a finger down her neck to the collar of her nurses dress, popping open another button and showing me the soft curve of the top of her tits and ample cleavage.
“I have something better than this at my house,” she says with a wink while doing the button I opened back up. “You might want to do something about that before we go inside,” she adds, pointing to the obvious hard-on I’m sporting as she walks away.
Star Kavanagh is the only woman who can make me hard when everything around me is going to fucking shit.
She’s also the only woman I’ve ever loved.
I’m going to send anyone that fucking touches her straight to Hell with a personal message for the devil and written in the blood of his servants; she’s fucking mine!
CHAPTERTHIRTY-ONE
STAR
Istraighten out my outfit and lock down the butterflies that being around Carter induces as I enter the church. It’s clear that no one has missed us yet as the sound of half a dozen voices reach me.
Halfway down the corridor Carter catches up to me. I gave him the minute he needed, and I needed it too because what I need to tell him is going to destroy him.
We step into the room to a raucous symphony of voices all trying to talk at once, but they quiet within seconds.
“Where’s Erica?” Carter asks, stepping into the centre of everyone.
“Rick didn’t have another house suitable for her, so he’s moved her to Seb and Jamie’s. She’ll be safe, Carter,” Roxy tells him.
“Why did you need to move her in the first place? What happened?” He scans the faces of Zak and Roxy, then Frankie, but they all look to me.
He already told me he knows, but I’m guessing he doesn’t know the full story, or he wouldn’t waste time asking.
“Erica mentioned a guy, a therapist, who works at the facility who has been helping her, but it wasn’t until we got to the house and started unpacking her things that I realised he might be connected. She has a chessboard, and when I asked her about it, she told me that Gage had been teaching her.”
“I’m going to fucking kill him!” he yells, slamming a chair against the table.
“Carter…” I say, pausing because I know what I say next is not going to go over well at all. I look to Roxy, who gives me a nod of encouragement, both—no, all of us aware that he needs to know.
“Carter,” I say again, and this time he turns to me. His hands clenched around the back of the chair in front of him, knuckles white from his grip on it, and he cracks his neck from side to side, something I’ve never seen him do before and a clear sign of how angry he is. “I don’t think they are just patient and therapist.” He begins shaking his head at my words. “I got the impression that they are more than that.”
I don’t need to elaborate any further, he knows what I’m saying. My heart physically hurts that what I’m telling him is causing him so much pain, but he needs to know because the way Erica talked about Gage was like she was in love with him.
It’s sick and twisted as fuck that he’s crept into her life, a vulnerable, mentally and physically scarred woman, just to torment Carter and ensure he hurts him to the max.
He’s still shaking his head and closes his eyes. I know he’s praying that I didn’t just tell him his sister is in a relationship with the man who is set on revenge, set on taking everyone Carter loves and destroying them.
I watch as Frankie carefully approaches him. “Hey, man, let’s go out to the garage.” Carter shakes his head again, but Frankie doesn’t quit. “You do not want to do this in here. Move,” he whispers just loud enough for me to hear.
Carter raises his head, pushing up and releasing the back of the chair, and stares Frankie down, and the tension in the room becomes almost electric. One spark and the whole fucking place is going to go up. Maddox and Zak move into position behind Carter, and I know what’s going to happen if he doesn’t go willingly, so I step in front of him and grip his face, pulling his face down, eyes on me.
“Go with Frankie. You need to let it out. Do what you need to. I’ll be here when you’re ready.” I lay a gentle kiss to his lips. There is no softness to them, and he doesn’t kiss me back, but I wasn’t expecting him to. He’s too lost in his rage right now, but I know he heard me. I let go of his face and step aside.
Frankie, Zak and Maddox flank him as he marches down the corridor and out the door, which hits the wall with a bang.
I let out my breath as Roxy comes and stands in front of me.
“You okay?” she asks.
“No,” I manage to say with a wobble as my emotions crash over me. I scrub my hands down my face, swiping the tears away, then shake out my hands.
Parker pulls out a chair, indicating for me to sit, which I do, as a glass of whiskey is placed in front of me. I give a little laugh at the idea a few fingers of whiskey will solve all our problems. Because they won’t. But I drink it down, my body shuddering at the burn as it slides down my throat.