Buttons and Grace (Buttons 6)

I almost lost everything because of her.

Because of my stupidity.

But never again.

Never again.

* * *

She must have stayed in her old bedroom because she never joined me in mine.

Good. I didn’t want her there.

The next day, I was just as angry as I had been the night before. In fact, I was even angrier. I couldn’t imagine the look on my brother’s face if I told him Adelina was going home like nothing ever happened. Crow would know he’d risked his family for absolutely nothing.

Nothing.

I did everything I could to save Pearl, but that was because she was my sister-in-law. She was family.

Adelina was just some whore.

A whore who played me.

I put a transmitter inside of her when she first arrived here, but I never used it. She didn’t try to run, and when she went back to Tristan, I already knew where she was. I went downstairs and she was nowhere in sight. I opened my laptop. I opened the program and found the tracker information.

It was still working.

Adelina didn’t show her face for hours, so I went upstairs to make sure she didn’t make a run for it. I opened her bedroom without knocking and found her sitting on the bed, wearing a t-shirt with a somber expression on her face.

“Come here.”

She stared at me defiantly, her soft expression hardening into a glare. “No.”

When she fought me, it both aroused me and irritated me. “Don’t make me ask again, Adelina. You know I enjoy pulling on that beautiful hair of yours.” I’d drag her all the way down the stairs if she made me. She’d blown a fuse in my brain, and now my wiring was destroyed. I wasn’t the same person I was before. I was a whole new man.

She knew our situation was different now. When she first arrived here, she called my bluffs because she identified my true character. But she knew she couldn’t call my bluff this time.

She got out of bed and slowly walked to the doorway.

I didn’t wait for her and took the stairs to the main living room. I turned the laptop toward her and pointed to the map on the screen. “This is you. I can see where you are at all times. Run, and see what happens.” I shut the laptop. “I’ve swept the house for weapons. You won’t find any guns anywhere, and if you manage to get your hands on one, you better get in at least six shots. I’ve been shot before. Didn’t do much.” Even if there were a gun around, I knew she wouldn’t shoot me. She was pissed at me, but I’d risked everything to save her. She wouldn’t cross me like that.

“I know you’re mad right now, but you need to calm down and come to your senses.”

I crossed my arms over my chest and stared down at her. “I’m calm, Adelina. You’ll know when I’m not.”

“The Cane I know wouldn’t do this.”

“The Cane you knew is dead. You played him for a fool, and now he’s gone.”

“I didn’t play him.” Her beautiful brown eyes brightened when she spoke emotionally. She was either being honest or was desperate to be free. “I care about him. Just because I want to go home doesn’t mean I don’t want to be with you. It doesn’t mean I don’t have feelings for you.”

“I don’t care about any of that. You should get comfortable. I’m not changing my mind.”

“What about my parents?”

“What about them?” I countered. “I let you see them one last time.”

She shook her head, giving me a fierce look of disappointment. “You’re better than this.”

“No, I’m not. And I couldn’t care less about your opinion—not anymore.”

She stepped closer to me, straightening her spine so she seemed a little taller. “I never asked you to save me, Cane. I never asked you to accept me as part of a loan. When you dropped me off at Tristan’s, I never expected you to come back for me. You did all those things on your own. You shouldn’t have expected anything.”

“Well, I do expect something. Is being with me that horrible, Adelina?”

Her eyes narrowed before they softened.

“You’d rather be with him? Is that what you’re telling me? You wish you were still lying on that cot with your ankle locked to the wall?” I remembered the night I broke her out of there. I found her helpless and weak. She was treated like a dog much more than a human.

“No. But I want Cane back…my Cane. I want the man who’s better than all those assholes. I want the man who’s always respected me and taken care of me. I want the man who has a huge heart that he’s always trying to hide. I want him back…”

“He’s gone. I already told you that.”

“I’m sorry that you risked everything—”