I pull myself up, tearing my head away from her thigh. She’s staring determinedly at the other wall as I wrap a hand around her arm to…
I’m not sure what.
And I never find out, because the door opens at that very moment.
At once, Piper’s sitting up, all thoughts of pain gone, I guess, as she scurries to the far wall, holding her knees to her chest as iftrying to protect herself.
She doesn’t need to protect herself. I’m here. Doesn’t she know that?
I pull myself up, standing in front of her, ready to kill whoever just entered.
My gun is still lying several feet away, but I don’t need a gun. I’d kill a man with my bare fists to protect her. I’d do anything.
Logan Colt doesn’t look like he’s got murder on his mind, though, as he faces us, looking very clearly annoyed.
“Are you fucking kidding me? You’re still here?”
He looks even more annoyed as he takes in the gaping hole to my right, but he doesn’t comment on it, just glares at me, his arms crossed.
Admittedly, Logan Colt has been the last person on my mind. Even when I broke into his apartment, the last person I was thinking of was him. My thirst for vengeance was entirely focused on her, my mind spiraling with more anger than I’d ever felt before. I didn’t spare a thought for him either when I aimed my gun at her head, knowing even then, as I stared into her fucked-up green-blue eyes, that no matter how much she made me suffer, there was nothing she could do to make me pull the trigger. And I sure as fuck wasn’t thinking of Logan Colt when she stammered out the words that changed everything.
“What the fuck are you still doing here?” hisses Logan.
I shrug, but the glare I give him would be enough to make anyone else shit their pants. He doesn’t look affected, though.
“You really have no sense of self-preservation, do you?” he lashes out. He slams the door shut behind him, and walks toward us. I feel Piper wobbling up to a standing position. Probably with the intention of putting on some stupid show of bravery. The kind of stupid bravery she sometimes makes a show of, like when she breaks into Devil Tower just to push my buttons.
Right now, she’s probably preparing to unleash a flow of words onto the unsuspecting Logan Colt, with the sole purpose of riling me up.
I see right through her. Because at the same time, she’s edging back to the wall, and I can sense that she’s terrified. I also have enough experience with this kind of situation to know that as of right now, Logan Colt has no plan to hurt either of us. For whatever reason.
But Piper doesn’t know that, and her body is tense as she stands behind me, her mouth probably open as she tries and fails to speak. Her hot breath against my neck tells me so.
I take a few steps backward, taking advantage of her fear to press my body against hers, letting out a shuddering sigh as her slim arms wrap themselves around my chest.
Am I going to have to keep this girl terrified from now on just so she’ll let me near her?
I don’t want to, but I will if I have to.
My skin against hers seems to give her enough bravado to tell Logan, “So, when are you going to kill us, asshole?”
I know she’s trying to freak me out, but right now, in spite of everything, I’m finding her chirpy little voice, slightly breaking under the strain of her fear, absolutely adorable.
My little Piper is in there somewhere, under the layers of her pain, and I’m going to find her and draw her out, and make her mine again.
Logan seems to find it just as cute as me, and I start to wonder which of his body parts I should slice off first as I turn a murderous glare at him.
Again, he doesn’t seem the least bit nervous. He merely shrugs then walks over to where the gun is lying on the floor. At once, I feel Piper inhale a sharp breath.
“Please… please don’t,” she stammers as he lifts it up. “Please don’t kill him.”
Don’t kill him.
Even after all the pain I’ve put her through, my cricket isn’t begging for her life, but for mine. It’s all I can do not to turn around and plant a kiss on her. But if I do, she’ll realize she’s not in real danger. Something is definitely seriously wrong with me for keeping her in this prolonged state of fear, just so she’ll leave her arms around me.
Fuck me.
I can’t hate myself anymore than I do right now anyway. My hands reach backward to press her to me, and she lets out a gasp, nearly crushed between my back and the wall.