Page 42 of Shattered Souls

My whole body goes cold.

I know that look.

It’s something deeper than just physical. He’s looking at me like I’ve opened a whole new version of himself after begging for his forgiveness. Like that simple act rewrote the way we met and, in turn, the future of our fucked relationship—if you can even call this a relationship.

“You let her out without restraints?” Seek bites out at his twin.

Hayze’s hands move with expert precision. I can’t catch most of what he says, but I see the words trust and out.

“You’re joking, right?” Seek cuts his head to me with an amused chuckle and I shrink in on my self. “You’re fucking him, aren’t you? That’s why he’s being like this?” I open my mouth and immediately shut it. That shouldn’t matter to him. If I’m sleeping with Hayze or if he’s just being nice to me shouldn’t even be a topic of conversation.

“That—” A sharp gasp rips from my throat as I watch Hayze’s fist slam into his brother's jaw. I take a timid step back, the original fear I felt towards these men resurfacing tenfold.

Seek uses his thumb to swipe away the bead of blood that forms on the split in his lip. A twisted smile curls at the corners of his lips, the air in the room thickening with the single gesture.

“Hmm,” Hayze is standing with his shoulders squared, watching his brother with a strange intent written on his face. “Okay. You’re sitting this one out tonight.”

Once again Hayze’s hands start moving, his face losing that hatred, replaced with something more desperate.

Seek takes the two steps forward and presses his chest to the instigator’s. “You’re a fucking liability right now, Hyde. You need to sit in here and fucking ground yourself before you ruin this whole thing for us.”

My foot slides backwards to make my silent retreat. The universe loves to play sick and twisted tricks on me, and my ankle twists and I stumble slightly, earning two pairs of eyes pinned on me.

Hayze looks me up and down, checking for injury, before turning and storming off to his room. Leaving me alone with a very pissed off Seek.

“You’re going to be with me tonight. No houses and no escaping.”

“I thought the deal was I could try and escape every night.” My voice carries more bite than it should considering what I just witnessed.

“Things fucking change.” He grumbles, swiping a hand down his face.

“Can we make another deal?” His shoulders slump with exhaustion.

“Do we really need to do this, Rayvn?” My whole world freezes.

Butterflies flutter in my stomach before they settle and morph into a heat boiling at my core at the way he growls my name. This is wrong. So fucking wrong. Not only am I already sleeping with one of my captors—but now I’m feeling something forbidden for the other.

“Your lip is split pretty bad,” I have to force the words out before they get caught in my throat like my attraction for this man. “I’ll clean it for you if you get me dinner tonight from the food trucks.”

They have been feeding me, thankfully, but the food is lackluster at best. It's an unseasoned protein and a vegetable. I need carbs—and lots of them. He looks at me with suspicion in his eyes.

“Your favor,” An eyebrow hikes up. “is to ask for food? Not to ask to leave the park, or a phone call, or a computer?” My heart rate picks up with the possibilities he lays out in front of me.

“Wait!”

“Food truck it is, little scarecrow.” He leans back and allows me access to his split lip.

“I want a book.” I busy my hands, suddenly embarrassed.

“A book?” He opens one eye. “Very descriptive.”

“I want a sign language book.” I avoid his lone eye. “I’ve been looking at the one you have here, but it’s just the basics. I want to be able to talk to Hayze the way I can talk to you.” The air thickens suddenly with a shift in his demeanor that makes the room nervous.

“Fine.” Something flashes across his face and if I didn’t know better, I’d say it was jealousy.

I cleaned Seek’s lip and put some healing ointment on the split. My mind was stuck on the image of Hayze’s fist slamming into the closest person to him. A newfound fear blooms in my chest at his aggression.

Would he do that to me?