Page 34 of Wolf It Down, Knot Me Up

WOLF

“We can just hike out and leave,” I say as I collect the burger patties from the fridge. “Pack a bag, take the trail deep into the woods, and be counties away before anyone realizes we’re gone. Fuck all of it.”

Roman sneers. He’s braced against the counter with both hands, head down, the muscle in his jaw clenching.

“I’m serious,” I add, though I’m not, mostly. “You did the right damn thing. You saved Lucy, and here we are, rewarded for it with a visit from Mr. Colby and his little dust cloth.”

“I almost put his face through the window because I was so fucking furious.”

“Lucy won’t press charges, man. Chill.”

“You don’t know that,” he snaps.

I toss the loaf of bread at him, and he catches it without looking. “We barely know her, yet everything about her says she doesn’t have it in her to sink a man who saved her. So breathe.”

He turns the bread over in his hands as though he’s about to compress it between his huge palms. “I’d protect her again right now, same way.”

“I know you would.” I grab the salad bowl. “And fuck me, so would I.”

“It’s what Mr. Colby was really saying.” Roman’s voice drops. “We’re the convicts. So if a man ends up bleeding in these woods, they don’t ask what happened. They come for us with cuffs already open. We’re guilty the second a phone rings.”

“That’s the deal we signed.” I keep my voice flat because one of us has to. “Six more months, and then no man alive gets to put his hands on us again.”

He exhales through his nose. “If they send me back before that, I’m not staying. I’ll break out and live in these trees like an animal before I sit in a cell again knowing she’s out here.”

“Hey.” I cross the kitchen and set my hand on his shoulder. He’s wound tight. “Deep breaths. Nobody’s going anywhere.”

He drags in one, then another, and some of the tension leaves his shoulders.

“But seriously.” I ease off. “After that kiss last night with you? She’s not going anywhere. Besides, she’s our scent match. So instead of me talking about prison breaks, maybe we spend the time showing her who we actually are.”

A grin breaks across his face. “Man.” He scrubs a hand down his mouth. “You have no idea how good she tasted. I’m hard just thinking about it. If they put me back in prison, I’m breaking through the walls and fences to get back to her.”

“Yeah, yeah, stop bragging.” I take the bread back before he pulps it. “Come on, before Grayson gives up and goes hunting for our dinner with his bare hands.”

Roman huffs a laugh, because we both know he’d do exactly that. Grayson’s the kind who’d have a rabbit skinned and on a stick before the rest of us finished arguing.

“Mr. Colby’s a prick, but he was following procedure. Plus, Eve had to report it. Some stranger got knocked out cold in these woods, and if he decides to report being jumped by a criminal, she needs it on paper that she flagged it first. Protect all of us.”

“I fucking know.” He says it to the floor. “Doesn’t make him less of a prick.”

“Nope. It surely doesn’t.”

We head out with our arms full, and the agony of losing Lucy, of being torn apart from her, is gnawing at me too. And if anybody knows what it feels like to get sold out by someone close, it’s me. That day circles back around as though it never really left. Six years, and it still haunts me.

My father storms into the house with two men behind me, yelling, “Grab him!” His henchmen each take an arm before I get a chance to run. I fight it, panicked, scared to hell as I twist and throw an elbow but get nowhere.

“What the fuck is this?” I snarl, being hauled against their grip. “Get off me. Dad, what the fuck!”

My mother’s on the stairs, crying, one hand pressed over her mouth, not saying a word to stop it. Then my father steps in close and grabs my jaw, squeezing until it hurts.

“Tonight, you finally do something to make me proud.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You’ve been skimming from me.” His thumb digs into my cheek. “Months of it.”

“Bullshit, that wasn’t me. It was your own accountant. I told you that weeks ago.” Dread coils in my chest because I’ve seen him like this toward others, those whom he sells drugs to, the enemies, anyone trying to stop his empire.