There are crossroads in your life that aren’t very significant.
You make a choice and you don’t think about the consequences. Then, there are moments like this one. Moments where you are looking directly at the two paths ahead of you and trying to decide which has less consequences. Honestly, I have no fucking idea what we’re doing right now. It’s hard to think rationally with pain lancing through my chest and panic building up.
The room we’re in has pale white walls and a stereotypical metal table and chairs that I assume they keep in most interrogation rooms. A cold chill rolls over my skin and I find myself trying to remember my fury from a few hours ago because frankly, it’s all that’s keeping me from having a panic attack. Well, that, and three of my guys.
Blaine Barrington sits next to me, his body impossibly still as he locks his foot around mine because our hands are still handcuffed in front of us and chained to holes in the metal table. Probably because these boys look like they could overpower pretty much anyone they want. I look at the lean, lethal man next to me, his eyes like silver nickels surrounded by thick lashes as they examine my face. His tan complexion and dark wave of black hair has me getting turned on despite being in an interrogation room. Or maybe because of it. I mean would it be all that surprising to have a kink for interrogation rooms, since I’m so into my kidnappers? Probably not.
I can tell he’s worried about me and I want to reassure him that I’m fine, but I can’t find the words to say that. I can’t get out an “I’m okay” or anything like that. Mostly because I'm really not okay. My heart feels like it has been hit with a hammer, then stomped on, before my stomach bottomed out into a pool of disappointment and anger. And not just because of Kaden’s betrayal, although that is the main cause of it.
I’m also worried about River. My handsome, insane, and oddly vulnerable, once you get to know him, River Rhodes. While Blaine is slightly taller and bigger at 6′3″, River is 6′1″ and absolutely deadly looking. His dark blond hair is now cut short and somehow, despite him literally just slicing off his hair with a blade, it ended up looking fantastic and highlights his sculpted lips and rich hazel eyes.
His head is resting against my shoulder as he leans into me, pain written all over his expression. I know they tried to patch him up from Pierce’s treatment of him but the guy should be in the hospital or at least relaxing, not in a goddamn interrogation room. We almost died in that boathouse, for fuck’s sake! If anything, that’s another thing I hold against Kaden.
But when River opens his eyes and looks up at me, I am distracted from my furious thoughts because I want to touch him so bad or at least smooth my fingers through his hair. Unfortunately my fingers are tightly clasped together, while my body is almost folded in two as I’m trying to work off the chill of the air-conditioned room.
“Princess.” Royce Barrington gains my attention and my head snaps up to him, to his dark green eyes, shaded with concern. The man is massive, at least 6′5″, and his body is much too built for the shitty small chair underneath him. I’m so busy looking at his stunning, slightly haunted and brooding expression, that I don’t even realize that the dark haired man is offering me a jacket that he had with him and took off once we got here. I lean over, trying to not disrupt River’s steady, relaxed breathing and once I grasp it, Blaine helps me wrap it around my shoulders. Shielding me from the frigid air conditioning.
“Thanks,” I whisper quietly as he nods, his eyes flashing with a million different things he probably wants to say. I understand that far too well.
I didn’t realize how deep my feelings had grown until River’s life was at stake. Until the brothers and I were stuffed into a helicopter and arrested by the FBI.
Until Kaden betrayed us. Betrayed me.
Don’t get me wrong. We all have secrets. But it wasn’t the secret I have a problem with, hell if he had just told us, we could have handled this differently. Instead, he had us arrested. He personally cuffed me. I don’t know if