Page 58 of The Vigilant

I’d go back to the townhouse and we’d talk about last night. Whatever it took. Whatever it cost. Even if the price was my sanity.

And then I’d finally tell her what I’d gone there last night to tell her: what Creed found out about the night Mara disappeared and what it could mean.

A quick scan through the security footage showed that both Creed and Robyn had left earlier; my motorcycle was the lone vehicle parked in front of the bay.

Striding from the room, I headed for my cabin and a quick change of clothes. My body called for another release. It begged to not return to the fountain of temptation without quenching its thirst for release, but something in my gut made me ignore it.

Maybe it was because I’d left her for longer than I had the last couple of nights. Maybe it was because of the way I’d left her and the selfish way I’d been desperate all night to know she wasokay. Or maybe it was something else entirely. Something else that was darker and more insidious the way it hooked its claws into me and had me speeding back to Carmel Cove like I had the hounds of hell at my heels.

Hell might’ve been at my heels, but the street felt as quiet as a tomb as I approached the townhouse.

My pulse thumped in my ears, much louder than the purr of the engine as I pulled in through the coded garage gate, déjà vu hitting me like a sack of bricks.

I killed the engine just as my phone started to vibrate. Shit. I fished for it quickly, thinking it was Creed, but it was Rob’s name on the screen.

I gritted my teeth, tempted to answer, but then I declined the call, knowing to answer would just be avoiding the fucking hard thing I was about to do: face the one woman I desperately wanted but definitely couldn’t have.

Each step up the staircase felt like I was dragging Jon’s body behind me, the weight of what I’d done—the line I’d crossed—weighted like an albatross on my back.

My best friend. My mentor. And now all my fantasies were consumed with the image of his daughter’s naked body.

My cell buzzed again just as I moved into the hall and closed the door behind me.

Rob again. Two calls in the span of a few minutes; that wasn’t right. I was about to answer when the bedroom door opened and Sutton stepped through it.

Sorry, Rob.I silenced the call again, knowing she could easily call either of her brothers for some kind of emergency, andHarm or Dare were sure to answer. But I was busy dealing with shit right now.

Sutton stepped into the hallway with the presence of a fucking queen. That emerald robe loosely tied over her front, giving a deep V on her chest. I blinked hard, but it was impossible to not flash the image of her naked body in my mind. Her pierced nipples. The delicate constellation tattoos that framed the underside of her breasts. Her slender stomach. Her bare cunt.

My throat cinched closed. The way this woman carried herself…like even when I had her helpless and begging under me last night, my dominance was only at her will.

“Sutton.” I cleared my throat.

Her eyes narrowed, as though my voice confirmed I wasn’t an illusion, and then their depths filled with hatred.

“You owe me an explanation,” she declared, and I flinched.

How the fuck did one start this kind of apology?

I’m sorry for spanking you until you were…until I was so turned on, I had to give you an orgasm.

“And it better be a good one for fucking ruining my only lead on Mara.”

Air whooshed through my lips in a tumble, selfishly relieved that she wasn’t talking about what else happened between us.

Sutton lifted her pert, defiant chin. I pinched my fingers together, my first instinct to capture that little show of bravado and reward it with a kiss.

“You’re insane if you think the best plan was to get naked and court danger on some fucking porn site with the hope to be taken by the same person,” I said, my jaw clenched, as I stepped toward her.

“As opposed to your plan, which was to sit around with my thumb up my ass?”

My cock stiffened at the mention of anything going up her ass. Fuck.

“Just because you were waiting doesn’t mean that other people weren’t working on finding Mara. And if you had fucking waited.” I took another step closer and stood over her, continuing with a growl, “I would’ve told you last night that Creed found evidence that Kang is involved with a man who is a known sex-trafficker, specifically when it comes to curating women for criminal clients with deviant…violent tastes.”

“Like the man I was messaging?” She banded her arms. “Did you find out who he is? Hack his username? Was he messaging Mara?”

My jaw twitched, hating the answer that burned bitter on the tip of my tongue.

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