“Something is wrong with Ash,” she concluded.
My thoughts drifted to the preacher’s wife. There had been no headway on that case, and though Red Snake had no intentions of giving up on her, there wasn’t much to go on.
“Margo?”
Shaking my head, I blinked and came back into the present. Hayes was out of his chair, coming toward me now. My eyesdropped to his abdomen, enjoying the way his muscles worked as he walked.
“You okay?” he asked, taking my chin between his fingers.
“I could ask you the same question,” I returned. “You’ve been distant since you brought me here.”
His hand fell away, the loss of his touch causing an ache in my heart. I crossed my arms and took a step back, looking at my black toenail polish, freshly painted. I wiggled my toes, trying to find the right way to approach this. “You’re not sleeping. You haven’t touched me—”
“I just touched you,” he whispered.
My head snapped up, eyes narrowing. “Fine. Allow me to rephrase, you haven’t fucked me or made love to me since…” I trailed off, a painful lump gathering in my throat. “You’ve been closed off, and I don’t like it.”
“I know I have.”
I opened my mouth to spout something back but stopped.
He brought his hand to the back of his neck, sighing through his nose. “I’ve seen a lot of shit in my life. Shit no human should ever have to see. I’ve seen death. I’ve seen war.” He stopped, dropped his hand, and blew out another breath. “When we got the distress signal from Jake’s truck, all of my deepest fears, all of my nightmares…hell, even the night I lost my entire crew crumbled to dust.” His eyes flicked up to mine, our gazes locked together as his confession filled the air around us. “Losing you is now my greatest fear, baby. If I ever lose you, there’s no going back.”
“Back to what?” I whispered.
“To the lies that comforted me before.” His throat bobbed. “You’re the only truth in my life, and losing that—losing you? I can’t—” He sucked in a ragged breath, his eyes shining. “Margo, there’s nothing left for me in this world if I lose you, and the other night, I almost lost you.”
A tear landed on my cheek, burning my skin as I stared at him, and when a tear landed on his cheek, my knees nearly gave out.
“You’re not going to lose me,” I declared thickly. “When I was down there…with Gordon, he was trying to put me in a new cage. He claimed me as his, and all I could think about was how much of my life I wasted living in his lies.”
Hayes’ face twisted in agony. “Did he put his hands on you?”
“If I give you the truth, are you going to kill him?”
His jaw jumped, those green eyes sharp and calculating now. “Lie to me then.”
I complied. “He didn’t touch me.”
The air was thick, both of us silent, our souls calling out for each other. “Next time I get kidnapped and you save me; I need you to remain close afterward. This distance you’ve put between us is killing me, Superman.”
“You get kidnapped again; I’m taking you away from Astoria. To the mountains…a cabin deep in the woods, maybe.”
I let out an angry sound and stomped up to him, grabbing his face. I rose up on my toes, getting eye level with him. “Put your hands on me,” I snapped.
His hands went to my waist.
I bared my teeth, my chest heaving now. “Do you love me?”
“Yes.”
My fingers stretched into his hair as I forced him toward my mouth. “Get out of your head and say it,” I murmured against his lips, my tongue grazing over his bottom one.
A deep, hungry groan left him, the sound igniting me. “I love you, Temper.”
I grabbed a fistful of his hair. “Now kiss me until I’m breathless so we can start our happy ending.”
He did, and when I was breathless and plastered against the wall with his hand down my leggings, he took control. “Ishouldn’t like the way you boss me around like that,” he grunted, his finger circling my clit.