“Damn it, no.” I leapt on him and knocked the phone from his hands, causing it to slide across the floor. “You can’t.”
“What the fuck, Georgie? You expect me to hear about some fucker who tortures you for months then sit back and do nothing? No fuckin’ way in hell.”
He went to get up and I grabbed his arm with both hands. He ignored me and kept walking, and I scrambled after him. Years of lying, deception, doing things I didn’t want to do, all of it was slipping away. All I could think about was Deck being killed because of this. If he started digging …
“Deck. I need to do this.”
He was halfway leaned over to pick up his phone when he froze and straightened while looking at me still holding his arm. “Do what?”
My hands slowly slipped from him and it felt as if I was being suffocated by my own breath. Would he understand? Would he walk away and never see me again? I couldn’t bear to think of it.
I thought of the only thing which came to mind and it was the truth, just an omission of a few things. “I have someone looking for him. Please, Deck. I don’t want you involved.”
His eyes widened with surprise and shock. Why wouldn’t he be? Deck had no idea we’d been searching for Robbie for years. That I was Chaos and did … assignments for him.
“Stay right there.” Deck snatched up his phone and started walking from the room, the phone to his ear. “Tyler,” he snarled.
I was unravelling. Every part of me was being splayed out in front of the one man I’d loved all my life and I felt—gutted. I felt weak and vulnerable and he was taking my power away.
“Damn it, I waited for you to come back,” I shouted. “To see your car pull up to the curb, to be waiting there in the morning when I looked out the window. But you weren’t. You never came.” I took a deep breath and tried to steady my voice for the blow. And it would be a huge blow to Deck, but he was going after Robbie and would soon find out everything. I couldn’t let him go in blind. He’d be killed. I had to tell him. “But Kai did.”
He stopped. The phone lowered and I heard Tyler yelling on the other end. He kicked the bedroom door closed, then slowly turned. For a second, I saw the shock, eyes wide and mouth dropped open, and then it changed completely. His eyes darkened and narrowed—unyielding, and mixed in was a sneer of disgust. There was no sexy anywhere in him because his intimidating stare overrode the sexy.
“Kai?”
I swallowed then nodded, but I really felt like denying it and then running for the door.
“You fucking him, Georgie?” With the way his hands were clenching and unclenching, his jaw tight and his eyes hard … Deck was holding on by a thread.
I shook my head. “No. It’s not like that.”
“So, it’s like something? With Kai? The unstable fucker who was at an auction buying sex slaves? Who doesn’t have a fuckin’ history? Who no one trusts? Who handles a knife like it’s part of his hand. Whose morals border on—” He stopped abruptly, his eyes glaring into me so fiercely I looked away. A deep, resonating growl emerged from his throat. He tossed his phone on the dresser and I jumped when it made a loud clang. “Tell me he didn’t put those cuts on you.”
Shit.
“Tell me,” he shouted. This was Deck out of control. The Deck I never wanted to know. The Deck I didn’t think anyone wanted to encounter—every muscle tense, hands clenched into fists, jaw hard and determined with the heat of fury pulsating off him.
“I can’t,” I whispered.
Deck nodded and it wasn’t the reaction I expected. I actually no longer knew what to expect. This was unpredictable Deck. He walked over to his dresser, opened the drawer and pulled out a knife and then a gun. I heard the clicking and snapping as he checked the gun then slid it in the back of his pants.
“Deck?” He ignored me, grabbed his cell and put it in his pocket then headed for the door. “Deck. What are you doing?”
“What the fuck do you think I’m doing, Georgie? Stay here. You leave my place, you won’t like what happens.” He yanked open the door and strode out.
I ran after him. “Deck, I asked him to. I asked Kai to do it. Please, I know it sounds screwed up and it is, but please, don’t go after him. Please.”
He stopped and turned to face me. “You fuckin’ asked him to? Jesus. Why the fuckin’ hell would you do that? Why, damn it?”
I looked at my feet as I said, “It made the pain go away.”
“No, it fuckin’ didn’t. It kept it alive. He kept it alive and made you relive it.” He strode toward me, grabbing my arms. “Look at me.”
I did because I just wanted Deck to give me something to hold onto because he was right. I was holding onto what happened to me so I’d never forget it. To release all the emotions I had built up in me for that one day.
“I lost you a long fuckin’ time ago.” His fingers tightened and he stared at me for several seconds before saying quietly, “Come back to me, Georgie.”
My breath hitched.
His eyes softened. “Baby, come back to me. Stop pretending. Stop hiding. Trust me.”
I wished I could, but nothing in my life was simple since Connor died. If he went after Kai … “Please, don’t go after Kai.”
He snorted and abruptly shoved me away from him. “Why? Because you love him? You can’t bear to see him hurt? Well, don’t worry; I’m not going to hurt him, Georgie. I’m going to fuckin’ kill him.”