Red & Wolfe Part 4: An Erotic Fairy Tale by Ella James Read Free Book Online Page B

meet you somewhere in Charleston. Tell her it’s urgent. I can get you there somehow, and then you go—and don’t look back.”
I blink at him, feeling totally confused. In the same breath he says I’m just a fuck, he’s urging me to safety. I’m not sure what to think, but my stomach hurts. I wish I’d never come here.
“I’m not just going to go.” I want to understand things first. I want to feel a sense of closure.
Maybe that’s stupid. It’s not like I’m in love with him. I’ve spent very little time here, but I’ve lain in his arms, and I’ve felt safe. For the first time in years, I felt safe and sheltered here. Taken care of. I feel…something for him.
“I can’t just leave you here. I’d worry, Race.”
“I don’t give a shit.”
I remember, when we first met on the dock, how important it was to him that I give him the island. How important his privacy. I have a terrible hunch that it was me who somehow led the bad guys here—and even if I do leave in a few minutes, I want to understand what’s going on first.
“Cookie’s family is still after you, aren’t they? They think you did it.”
He shakes his head. Pinches his nose. “I’m not going to talk about this with you.”
And—finally—the disdain on his face flips my anger switch. “Oh yeah? You’re not?” I drop the towel and gesture at myself. “You don’t think you kind of owe me?”
He shakes his head. “I don’t owe you anything.”
     
*
     
WOLFE
     
It isn’t true. I do owe her, of course. I owe Red anything she asks of me. But the best I can do for her is get her out of here, and be sure when she leaves, she doesn’t take with her any information that could put her in danger. Already, I’m scared shitless I won’t be able to protect her. It’s unlikely, I think, that Linn and his motley crew would go after her once she gets back to her life, but I don’t know that. I know nothing.
Someone took Bob out. He’s in the hospital, in the ICU, after overdosing on cocaine. Which means someone set him up. Someone found out Bob knew where I was and monitored his phones or something. And if someone got to me through Bob, then nothing is secure.
Maybe today didn’t involve Smythson, but eventually it may. I’m a walking liability, because I know what really happened that night at Paige’s place.
I look at Red, standing nude in front of me. She’s pale and red-eyed. Her hair is matted all around her face. Her lips look chapped and raw. Because of me.
I’ve got to get her out of here.
“I don’t owe you anything,” I say again. I step over to her, clamp my hand down on her shoulder, the way my father liked to do when we were socializing. I know from experience that it doesn’t feel good to be steered around like cattle, and that’s why I’m doing it. I want to make her feel insignificant. To hurt her, so she’ll fucking go.
I steer her toward the door, tightening my fingers on her shoulder as we move. “What will it take, Red? How can I get rid of you?”
She looks up at me, and the confusion in her eyes almost breaks me. Her lips quiver, but she presses them together quickly. “I don’t know,” she whispers.
She’s looking at me in shock. Like I’ve crossed over to the dark side. It’s so preposterous. So amazing that she ever thought me anything but.
Her naiveté makes me fear for her. I curl my lip and aim all the revulsion I feel for myself at her.
 “Do you want to be used? Do you want to be treated like a fuck doll? It was fun and games before, but games are over, Red. If you stay with me, I’ll fuck you hard and mean. I’ll make you regret it.”
She takes a few shallow breaths, and I can see her thinking. Finally becoming afraid of me, or feeling tempted to make another dangerous decision—one like her ill-fated ocean swim?
She looks at the door. At my phone, shattered on the hardwood. And then she looks at me.
*
     
RED
     
I stand there with my arm wrapped around my waist, waiting to feel