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I love you.
She places her hand on the glass, and I cover it with mine.Then I walk back through the room, open the door, and close it securely behind me. I feel like a weight has been lifted. Like the light shining through the clouds finally falls on us, and promises the sun’s return. I know it’s not over, and we still have a lot to discuss, but we have time. She’s going to stay.
Chapter 26
Zaden
My feet are light, barely touching the ground as I walk to the houseboat and leap onto the deck. I circle the exterior, checking for any signs of damage from the storm. The pilings held, and the bumpers stayed in place. Seaweed has collected on the dive platform that will need to be raked off. Other than that, it’s solid. She survived another hurricane, still floating.
I stride into the cabin and drop my clothes into the washer, then pause with my hand held above the start button. Skye will need to wash clothes too. It’s not just me anymore. I leave the lid open for her, and walk back into the bedroom to change. I pick up any messes that may have accumulated, throw some fresh sheets on the bed, light a candle, and pull some sausage out of the freezer to thaw. My gaze falls on the kitchen clock, and it’s been nearly an hour. She’s probably close to ready by now.
I step off the boat and back onto the dock, following the wooden path beside the jetty. I smile. I can’t stop it. Thatbeautiful woman loves me back. All I need to do now is not fuck it up. I glance up at her room, watching the window that has haunted my thoughts ever since she arrived.
Suddenly, I stop, and my breath catches in my throat. The curtains move inside the room, and it’s not the wind. They rip from side to side, then I see Skye’s back pressed against the glass, a hand wrapped around her throat.
What the fuck?
I take off running, faster than I’ve ever run before. I hurdle the pool gate and sprint across the deck, bounding up the stairs. When I reach her room, the door is caught on the chain lock. I step back and slam all my weight into it, breaking the chain and flinging it open so hard it sticks in the drywall behind it.
My heart pounding, chest heaving, my gaze falls on a broad-shouldered man with dark hair, his hands wrapped around Skye as she fights to free herself. His attention jerks to me. My fists tighten at my sides until my knuckles pop. Rage flows through me, taking over until all I see is red.
“I don’t know who you are, or what you think you’re doing in here, but you just fucked with the wrong woman,” I growl. Then I run at him. I land a solid punch in the center of his face, breaking his nose as he releases Skye. She screams and scrambles away. The man stands and crosses the room toward me, swinging with arms twice as thick as mine. I dodge, light on my feet, and land another punch to the face. He’s unfazed, and heaves his body into me, wrestling me into the dresser. A lamp slides off and breaks, followed by the flatscreen TV. I reach back, my hand wrapping around the cable box, and I swing the black metal box around and connect with his head.
The man staggers back, and I tackle him to the ground,landing hit after hit on his face. His hands claw at the patterned purple carpet, and I catch the flash of something in his hand. A large shard of broken mirror. He jabs it at me, and I leap back. He pulls himself back to his feet, his face bleeding, a look of murderous determination on his face.
“Look, my fight isn’t with you. It’s with her,” he roars.
“She’s mine,” I clarify. “That makes it my fight.”
“Suit yourself,” he says, holding the mirror shard in a fighting stance, watching every move I make. Then he runs for me. I dodge, and he reaches out with the shard and catches me in the bicep. I feel it slice through my skin, but I keep on going. He swings again, and I grab his arm, shoving it away as I land another punch in his face. He stumbles back as I hold onto his shirt, tugging him into another punch. He slams into the bathroom sink, his shirt ripped open as he turns back to me. This guy just won’t quit.
I still, my gaze falling on his bare arm. My eyes narrow, examining the tattoo of three stacked skulls with a sword passing through all three, extending to his knuckles. My gaze meets his, and I’m transported back to that moment when I was a kid. The man who assaulted my stepfather. Who blinded my sister and beat the shit out of ten-year-old me. The man who changed my whole life and lurks in the shadows of every nightmare I’ve ever had.
“It’s you,” I say incredulously. “Fourteen years ago, you beat up a junkie who owed you money, then turned your anger on his kids. My sister and me.”
“You think that narrows it down?” He angrily states, spitting blood on the carpet. “This is just a job. Do you remember every burgeryou flip?”
“Fuck you,” I growl, lunging for him and dodging his advance, knocking the shard from his hand. I twist his hand behind him and plant my boot in his back, shoving him headfirst into the bathroom mirror. Cracks spread out across the mirror, and he stumbles back, turning and tackling me onto the bed. His hands wrap around my throat, his blood dripping down onto my shirt. I struggle beneath him, but he has easily a hundred pounds on me. I swing, I shove, but he has me blocked.
Suddenly, he releases me as Skye leaps onto his back, a length of coax cable looped around his neck. She tightens the cord, planting her boots on his back to steady herself as he bucks. I start swinging, landing several body blows, and one to the face before he can sling her off. She slams into the broken bathroom mirror with a sickening thud and a yelp.
“Skye?!” I shout in paralyzing terror. She doesn’t answer, but I see her moving. My anger boils over, and I’m done with this.
I slam my body into him as he continues to fight with the cable around his neck, shoving him over the small entrance table and straight through the front window. Glass rains down on us as I maintain the momentum, and we tumble over the second-story railing.
“Zaden!” Skye cries as we fall. The cable around his throat catches him as he dangles above the pool deck, and I plunge into the pool, barely missing the cement wall. Cool water rushes over me, and I push up from the bottom. My head breaks the surface, my eyes trained on him. He struggles against the cable, his feet kicking the air helplessly. I drag myself out of the pool as his motions slow, then stop.
Metal groans from the motel room above, then snaps.
“Look out!” Skye screams down to me as I leap across the pool deck. The cable pulls out of the wall, and the man falls the remaining six feet onto the cement deck, followed by a length of cable, a broken strip of metal, and the cable box. He lands with a thud as the box smashes into pieces beside him. I scramble backward, waiting for more things to fall, but they don’t.
I curse, panting. Movement across the pool deck catches my eye, and I see Raven emerge from the office.
“Call 911,” I shout at her, and she runs back inside.
The man lies motionless on the concrete, blood pooling around his head. I glance back up at the room above me, and my gaze collides with Skye, leaning out over the balcony. I pull my feet under me and stagger around the corner to the stairs. As soon as I reach the first step, Skye runs down and throws herself at me. I wrap my arms around her trembling frame, her tears wet against my neck. I pull her back, placing my hands on either side of her face to examine her. She has a split in her lip, and a bruise developing on her cheek.
“Are you hurt?” I ask, my eyes searching her face.
