Cruel Intoxication (Underground Kings 4)

“Fine. You were unexpected is all.”

I know the feeling.

“Sorry. Quinn said you were finally back, and I wanted to see you.” I sit next to him on the red cushions and follow his gaze to the sea. “You didn’t … you didn’t tell me you were leaving. I got worried. I...” I blow out a b

reath, not quite sure how to tackle this situation. “You left.” I decide to leave it at that and let him form his own conclusions.

“I did,” he says without apology. “I should have told you. I’m sorry, but I needed to get away. I needed to think, and I can’t think around you, Jolie.”

“I’m not saying this to make you feel bad, but I was scared, Owen. I didn’t know how to be without you.”

“Which is another reason why I up and left like that,” he says, staring down in his lap, ashamed. “I didn’t want to leave, but it wasn’t good for me to stay. You needed to see what life was like without me. I needed to give you space. I needed…” He lifts a muscular arm and runs his fingers through his hair.

“What did you need? I needed my friend. You were the only person I truly knew here. I didn’t know what to do—”

“You figured it out, which was what you needed.”

“You don’t have any idea what I need. Not like I do.”

“I know that you are used to me. You don’t know this life without me, Jolie. I saved you. I … you need to figure life out.”

There are so many underlying meanings and statement in what he isn’t saying. I need him to say it.

“Are you mad at me? Do you want me to leave? I’ll go,” I say, standing, fighting back the urge to cry.

His fingers wrap around my wrist, and he tugs me down until my ass hits the chair again. He stares at me in disbelief and hurt. “No, no of course not. I want you to stay. You can be here as long as you want. I… Jolie, please,” he begs, but I don’t know what he’s begging for. His hands are still wrapped around my wrist, and the more he touches me, the more I fall for him.

Him.

Not the idea of him or the safety of him.

The confusion is no longer there ever since he left. Yes, I had my doubts and my sadness. I got lost in my fear, but I wasn’t someone who was completely lost.

Just a little estranged.

“Please, what?”

“Trust me?” he asks, rubbing his thumb over the inner skin of my wrist.

“You’re the only one I trust,” I whisper as he turns over my hand and drags his finger across my palm. It’s true. Everyone in this house is great. They have treated me with nothing but respect, but trust? Every ounce I’m willing to give is Owen’s.

“Hey, Officer Howard is here,” Heaven interrupts us by peeking his head outside the sliding glass door and shoving a cookie in his mouth.

I snatch my hand away from Owen and narrow my eyes at him. “You said you weren’t going to call them.”

He stands and reaches out for me, but I turn my body away, betrayed and hurt. Owen drops his hand to his side. “That’s not what I said. I said we would wait a couple days before calling the cops. You’ve got to talk to them. You’ve been missing for too long. Someone has to be looking for you.”

“No one is looking for me!” God, what doesn’t he get? I wasn’t loved before. No one cares about me. I’m nothing, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to try to be something, even if it’s just for myself. I didn’t try to escape to run back to my previous life. I escaped because I realized I wanted more than a dead-end job and a trailer park.

I escaped for me.

No one else.

“You still have to talk to the cops,” Owen says in a way that leaves no room for argument.

“I’m just going … to go … in … here.” Heaven ducks his head inside the house and vanishes, leaving me and Owen to battle this issue out on our own.

“Owen, please,” I beg him. “I don’t want to talk about what happened to me again. I can’t… I can’t say it again. I want to move on with my life. I can’t do that if I’m always going to be thinking about him.” Then an idea strikes me, hard like the back of my captor’s hand, and I take a step away from Owen. “Is this the only reason you’re back? Because of the appointment with a cop that you set up for me? Am I that much of a burden to you? Why don’t you just tell me that? Huh? Be up front with me.”