Total pages in book: 331
Estimated words: 315585 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1578(@200wpm)___ 1262(@250wpm)___ 1052(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 315585 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1578(@200wpm)___ 1262(@250wpm)___ 1052(@300wpm)
“Hey, doll face.” He exits the cell and leans down, kissing her.
She pulls away, her eyes now showing concern as they search his. “Come back to bed.”
“I’ll be right there.”
Taking his bloody hand, she gives him a small smile. “I want you to come with me now.” Her eyes go from Hudson to him. “This can wait until later.”
“Charlotte—”
“I want you,” she interrupts him.
After a second, he kisses her forehead. “Head upstairs. I’ll be right behind you.” She goes to argue when he says, “Get undressed and crawl into bed for me.”
With one last look at Hudson, she turns and disappears down the hallway, headed back to the elevator and up to their room.
Haidyn walks into the cell, turns off the music, and tells Hudson, “This isn’t your lucky day. I’ll be back to play with you after I fuck my wife.”
Hudson rolls over, giving us his back, and I follow Haidyn out of the cell as he closes the door and locks the bastard inside. “Want to talk about it?” I ask. Our talk about Eve will have to wait until another day. Adam said I had a few weeks. That gives me plenty of time to come up with a plan and then fill the guys in on it.
Haidyn comes to a stop, runs a bloody hand through his hair, and sighs. “While I was at Dollhouse, I hallucinated.”
I nod, remembering him telling the guys that they might have side effects from the founders’ enhancement.
“Are you still having side effects?” It’s only been a few weeks, but I wonder if that’s something he’ll have forever.
He shakes his head. “No. Yes…” Trailing off, he looks over at the cell and then back at me. “I got a call from Ryat around midnight. He hallucinated and needed someone to talk to.”
I cross my arms over my chest. “Is he okay?”
“As well as a man who sees his wife and children getting tortured and murdered in front of him can be. It feels so real. No matter how much you tell yourself it’s a hallucination.” He widens his stance and goes on. “After his call, I went back to sleep, and well…”
“Had a nightmare?” I guess when he trails off.
He doesn’t respond, and I know that his call with Ryat brought Haidyn’s worst fear to life for him.
“She’s safe, man,” I assure him. I never asked him what he saw happening to Charlotte when he was at Dollhouse. I didn’t need to.
“For now,” he growls. “But that doesn’t change what that motherfucker was going to do to her.”
I slap his bare shoulder. “Go upstairs and fuck your wife. He’ll still be down here when you’re done.” The bastard isn’t going anywhere. He can’t see, for fuck’s sake. Devin made him a special mask for his face that covers the holes where his eyes once were. Haidyn didn’t want him to die from an infection—too easy, he said. No. He wants his death to be slow and dragged out over years. But at this rate, I’m not sure he’ll make it another week.
Haidyn turns to walk away but stops and faces me once more. “Have you spoken to Sin?”
I shake my head.
“Give him a call.”
If it was only that easy. I would just show up at his house again, but I don’t want to upset Ellington. She’s been through enough, and she’s pregnant. I don’t want to put any more stress on her. Especially after how much she cried when I took her to that appointment. “He wants nothing to do with me.”
Haidyn moves again, and I follow him down the hall and into the open room where the pits are. He goes over to the sink in the corner and turns on the faucet before pouring soap into his hands. “Sin seemed pretty upset at Blackout the other day when Tyson called that meeting.” As he begins to wash his bloody arms, the remnants of his rage splash into the sink. “If Ryat’s having hallucinations, I can guarantee Sin is too.” Rinsing off all the suds, he turns off the water and grabs some towels before turning to face me. “And no matter how mad he is at you, I promise…he could use a friend.” With that, he tosses the wadded-up paper towels and walks away, headed to the elevator to go upstairs to shower and fuck his wife.
I have no doubt that afterward, he’ll be right back down here torturing Hudson with that damn song on repeat.
I pull my cell out and go to Sin’s contact. I type out a message but then delete it. It’s four in the morning. My meeting with Adam replays in my mind, and I debate about what to do. I can’t just ask Eve about her past. She’s not the type of woman to open up about her life. Not to someone like me anyway.