Cruel Seduction (Underground Kings 2)

“Baby? Hey, come back to me.” Sebastian’s palm against my cheek has me flinching, and it reminds me that I am here, safe with him, and not locked in a room with Kendrick. “Where did you go?”

“Nowhere good,” I admit. When a piece of glass is pulled out of my foot, I kick, slamming the heel of my ankle against Owen’s chin. “I’m so sorry!” I still feel the need to protect myself after going down memory lane.

He grunts and wiggles his jaw back and forth. “It’s fine. Jesus, I think you made me see stars for me a minute.” The tweezers in his hand get closer to my bleeding feet, and he stared at me through his lashes. “This is going to hurt. You’ve really fucked up your feet.”

The shower suddenly turns on and the steam rolls out of the doorway after a few minutes. “Hey, you’re going to want to come sees this, Sebastian,” Heaven says.

Everyone disappears to see what Heaven is talking about which leaves me with Owen.

“You’re going to be okay,” Owen says as a piece of glass falls into the tin. “Sebastian won’t let anything happen to you.”

“Sometimes you can’t always protect the people you love.”

“That’s a load of shit,” Owen says. He concentrates on my feet, making sure to pluck out every piece of glass there is. “You can always protect the people you love, or you can die trying.”

“I don’t want him to die because of me.”

Owen gently places my foot against the floor, giving me a break, before checking the other foot. “You don’t get it, do you? He was dying every day without you. He finally got his reason to live again. If anyone should be afraid, it’s Kendrick. Sebastian will go to the depths of Hell and the top of Heaven if it means saving you.”

“You believe in that?” I ask.

“I don’t know. Gotta have faith in something, though.”

“Think it’s worth it? Faith?”

Owen pulls another long piece of glass out of my foot and plops it in the tin. “You’re asking the wrong guy.”

“But you just said to have faith in something.”

“I didn’t say I did, though,” he corrects me and goes back to fixing up my feet since I am a complete train wreck.

If I think about it, I know exactly where my faith lies.

Sebastian is my faith. If there is one thing I believe in, it is him.

Chapter Twenty-Three

SEBASTIAN

I own you, pet.

Those four words have haunted me since I saw them three days ago in the bathroom after Heaven turned the shower on. I was ashamed of myself. I thought it was all in her head for a minute when I didn’t see the message on the mirror. How fucked up is that? I thought her trauma had finally caught up with the best of her.

And I feel so goddamn guilty for that split second of not believing her.

She isn’t safe anywhere. Officer Howard said the restraining order did go through, so we have that on our sides.

That damn arrest warrant I have is still there. I figure it is only matter of time before I get arrested. I already contacted our lawyer, Ezekiel Hoffman, and let him know what is going on. He is on his way to Trinidad. He isn’t the kind of lawyer who walks the straight and narrow. Jaxon found him making a gambling deal outside of the racetrack in San Diego.

Zeke won three million on that race.

None of it was legal money.

He is the kind of lawyer guys like us need. He doesn’t judge. He doesn’t care. He just wants to get fucking paid.

The end dollar is all that matters. Isn’t that how it is for everyone?

“How are your feet?” I ask Gabriella as she slides into her flip flop.