Page 86 of Hunted Innocence
I mean, I don’t even know him. He could be the kindest and gentlest man who ever walked the earth, but he creeps me out, no matter what the case. And I highly doubt that this man is kind or gentle, so there is that.
His hand slowly glides up my spine, and then I feel his fingers wrap around the back of my neck, his grip firm—too firm. He pulls me against him, his eyes searching mine. He leans forward, and my heart slams against my chest.
I don’t recognize him, and I wonder if I should because he scares me shitless. He seems like someone I’ve probably met before, in my old life, the one where Landon had no problem sharing, selling, lending me out to whom the fuck ever. To him—to this man. This scary-as-fuck stranger.
GRAYSON
As soon ashis hand slides up Nadine’s back, this shit is done. I don’t even know everything this fuck has done, but I don’t care either. All I care about is the fact that Nadine is standing too close to him and he’s touching her.
He.
Is.
Touching.
Her.
Fuckthat.
All questions of how she got here, why she’s here, or anything else are not even thoughts inside my head at the moment. I will ask the questions and demand the answers soon enough, but right now, all I can focus on is this woman with that monster.
This woman whom I am head over heels fucking in love with being touched by a whole fucking piece of shit. My vision blurs and I imagine rushing toward them and taking the target out. However, thankfully, my instincts are stronger than my initial reaction.
As much as I want to charge this fucker, I don’t. It would only potentially hurt Nadine if I did that. Closing my eyes, I inhale a deep breath, then let it out slowly before I open them again. Instead of rushing her, I continue to watch the scenario play out.
Sinking my teeth into my bottom lip, I release it as I bring my glass to my lips. I continue to just watch, waiting for them to leave. I can’t even look at the other women. I have no fucking clue what they’re doing right now.
My focus and attention are on Nadine and only Nadine.
And I realize that while she’s talking to him, he’s touching her, he’s flirting with her, but she appears to be totally and completely uncomfortable. Interesting. Taking my phone out of my pocket, I quickly find Theron’s name and touch the call icon.
“Gray,” he states as his greeting.
“Your text about taking time off and shit was because you already knew that Nadine was here. Did you send her?” I demand.
There is a moment of silence, but only a moment before Theron bursts out in laughter. I do not join him, mainly because I don’t think any of this shit is funny. Not even a little bit, and I don’t think that I will ever find it amusing—not in the goddamn slightest.
“Lucille came up with this shit, and Nadine was one hundred percent on board. I’m telling you, I thought it was fucking insane, but they wanted to do it.”
“They wanted to cause me to ruin this whole thing?”
He hums before he speaks. “Ruin? No. It’s why I warned you ahead of time.”
“The plan is stupid,” I grunt.
Theron laughs again, though not gut-bustlingly the way it was a moment ago. “It was brilliant.”
It wasn’t brilliant. “It was stupid,” I repeat the words.
“Are you going to interfere and admit you love her?” he asks.
Pressing my lips together, I curse inwardly.What the fuck? They did all of this just to get me to admit that I love Nadine and to bring her home. I knew the moment I saw her with that sick fuck that this was nothing more than a game, but I wasn’t expecting Theron to be in on it.
“Not your fucking business.”
Ending the call, I shove my phone in my pocket and stand from my seat. Nadine smiles, her lips and body tight. I watch as she points toward the bathroom door. The target jerks his chin, and then not only Nadine but three of the five women walk away from the cove and straight toward the bathrooms.
Unfortunately, I can’t get to those bathrooms, at least not without some preplanning, which I didn’t do. I wasn’t anticipating any of this shit. In fact, I would go as far as to say this is a fucking inconvenience.
