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“Then, let’s go,” Thatcher replied.“Boss is waiting.”
Wilder opened the door and climbed out, and then his eyes finally met mine.He held out his hand for me, and I quickly took it, thankful for any connection with him.I slid over and got down.Wilder’s hand squeezed mine before letting it go.
I wanted to go back to last night, but we couldn’t do that.We had to keep going, not reliving the same moment over and over.But if we could …
“This way,” Thatcher told me, and I fell into step behind him.
We walked to a door that looked like it led into a building.Once inside, the blond man walked over and pressed something, and the wall began to open.
“You first,” he said with a smirk.
Thatcher went inside, and I followed.There were stairs leading down.Wilder was close behind me.Having him there made this entrance into hell less terrifying.When they’d said underground, I hadn’t actually pictured walking into tunnels under the ground of a wealthy ranch.
A man stood at the bottom of the stairs.He was tall with wide shoulders, dark hair cut very short, tattoos, and a scowl on his face that made me pause.He was huge, and I wasn’t sure he wanted us down here.
“Huck,” Thatcher said as we reached the bottom.
“Levi’s in there with him,” the man he called Huck said.“Boss is handling an issue we are dealing with here at the moment.We are to start without him.”
He turned his attention to me and gave me an unimpressed glance before looking back at Wilder.
“She’s yours then,” Huck said.“Might make it easier with Gage in the future.”
Although Wilder didn’t clarify anything, I saw a hint of a smile tug on the corner of the giant’s mouth.
“Wilder, you come with me.Thatcher, third room on the left.”
Thatcher led the way, and I started to follow when Wilder’s hand wrapped around my wrist.I quickly turned to look at him, but he pulled me in and covered my mouth with his in a hard, possessive kiss.When he let me go, I felt lightheaded and blinked several times, trying to focus.
“Jesus,” I heard Thatcher grumble.
Wilder nodded his head at me, and I turned to continue following Thatcher down the tunnel, passing different rooms before we stopped.
He glanced back at me.“Ready?”he whispered.
I simply nodded.This was Hamilton.The sweet, nice underwear model.If I told myself that, then I wouldn’t be terrified.I could do this and get it over with.Thinking of him as something more, as someone who had watched me, controlled me, possibly sought me out to hire me in order to use me against Wilder—I couldn’t go there in my head.
Thatcher opened the door, and I followed him inside.However, my hand flew to my mouth, and I let out a shocked gasp at the sight of Hamilton—I mean, Maxon—tied up by his wrists, his toes barely grazing the ground beneath him.
His eyes swung to me, and a slow smile slid across his face.
“Oakley,” he said, as if seeing me had brightened his day.
“Hamilton,” I replied.Thatcher had told me not to call him Maxon.To let him tell me who he really was.“What is going on?”I asked, careful to say exactly what I’d been coached to say.
His gaze shifted to Thatcher, then to another person in the room.I turned my head to see who it was.An attractive man with a black cowboy hat on his head and dark brown hair, pulled back in a man bun, peeking out from underneath it.He smiled at Thatcher but ignored me.
“You know what’s going on.They didn’t bring you down here without filling you in,” Maxon said, bringing my attention back to him.
“Yes, but I still don’t understand this.I thought … I thought you liked me.”
His expression softened briefly, but he covered it up almost immediately.“I do like you.Our relationship has nothing to do with the issue.”
I swallowed hard.“But you put a bomb in my car, Hamilton.You were going to kill me.”I managed to put the emotion in it that Thatcher had requested.I even bit my lip, like it was hard for me to think about.
He shook his head, his brows drawing together.“No.I didn’t put a bomb in your car.I was protecting you.I asked you not to leave the house, remember?I told you I would come get you.Take you to get groceries.I was on my way to you, but I was three hours out.”
I wanted to glance at Thatcher to check on how I was doing, but he had made it clear that I wasn’t to look at them.It would give me away.Make it seem as if I trusted them.
