Page 167 of Redeemed

“I take it that’s our guy,” Lucas says lowly. He leans in to get a better look.

“So when are we killing him?” Xander asks.

I look up in shock. “What? No, you can’t kill him!”

Lucas frowns. “You don’t want us to?”

“No!”

Colton crosses his arms. “Why the hell not?”

“Because he has a family! I mean, I’m assuming he does, anyway. Parents, and maybe siblings. You know. I don’t want them to have to lose someone they love.”

Colton rolls his eyes, Lucas grumbles something under his breath, and Xander rubs at his face tiredly.

I could tell them the whole truth. I know I probably should. I justcan’t.

Colton has gotten more patient with me over the past week, but I don’t know if I can fully trust it. He’s done that plenty of times in the past—lured me into a false sense of security just to pull the rug out from under my feet.

I won’t let him do that. Not with this. If he learns who Isaiah really is to me, he could use it as blackmail or something. Would Lucas even be able to stop him?

“She always was a bleeding heart,” Xander says to them. “We really shouldn’t be surprised.”

“Please don’t kill him,” I beg. “He’ll give up eventually, I’m sure.”

Letting out a sigh, Colton shrugs. “You realize you’re basically volunteering to stay with us for longer than necessary, right?”

He doesn’t seem too upset about that. If anything, I think he’s happy about it. He just knowsIwon’t be.

I gulp. “I’m aware.”

“For the record, I think you’re being really fucking stupid,” Lucas says, eyes dark. “Killing him is the best way to make sure you’re safe.”

“I can make do with second-best.”

Is Lucas right? Probably. But thinking of Isaiah’s little siblings and nieces and nephews finding out he died rips my heart to shreds. I always hated his father, but his mother was kind, even though she doled out harsh punishments to her children. None of them deserve the pain of losing such a close family member.

“We could always run him out of town,” Xander suggests.

“Then he’ll know who we are, and it’ll just make it easier for him to track Haven down when he comes back,” Colton says, his contemplative gaze fixed on me.

“We could have someone else—”

“No,” Colton cuts in. “She stays.”

Xander smirks. “Thought you might say that.”

It takes me a second to realize he wasn’t making those suggestions in good faith. He wanted to see what Colton would do if he was faced with an opportunity to set me free sooner than he wanted to.

Colton refusing to let me go isn’t surprising. What is surprising, though, is that I want him to keep me. Not forever—god, I’d rather die. But I think I made progress today, even if it was only pinpointing what’s mentally holding me back from sex.

The boys, despite all the hurt they’ve caused, are helping me in more ways than one. In some moments, I’ve actually felt delusionally safe around them.

And, at the end of the night, when Colton puts me in my cage, I realize the tension in my muscles eases. Being in here means one more locked door between me and Isaiah. It doesn’t matter that I’m sleeping less than ten feet away from my bully.

Somehow, that’s where I’m safest.

Lucas

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