Page 118 of Bound By Her

Completely spent.

Bryson exhaled, letting the tension drain from his body. He pressed his face into the back of Seth’s damp neck, breathing him in. For the second time in twenty-four hours, sleep claimed him.

And, for the first time in a long fucking while, it didn’t feel like he was alone.

CHAPTER 27

NORTH CAROLINA

Adria glanced down at her phone, realizing it was the third time Jonathan had called. She knew she couldn’t keep avoiding him or she risked him showing up unannounced.

Answering it?—

“You have been a hard person to get a hold of.” Jonathan’s voice was deceptively sweet. “I trust you are not avoiding me.”

“No, Jonathan, just have a lot on my plate these days. A fact you insist on continuing to remind me about,” Adria replied.

Ever since the Triune’s visit, not a day went by that she didn’t hear from Jonathan. It seemed he was taking his newfound freedom into her life very liberally.

“It’s purely work, darling. The Triune expects me to keep tabs on the situation, you understand?”

To that, Adria didn’t respond. Clearly, Jonathan wanted to play house, and she was well past playing games.

After an extended pause, he continued, “On the note of work, there has been a slight alteration in plans.Rather than your home, the Triune wants the preview to be on neutral ground.”

Adria doubted that she and the Triune would agree on the termneutral ground.If the Triune wanted it changed, it benefited them in some way.

“They have taken the liberty of securing Club Shale, two weeks from today.”

The phone dropped out of Adria’s hand, bouncing off her gold-laced Persian rug.

Scrambling, she picked it up.

“That is impossible,” she said, getting the phone to her ear. “The preview isn’t for months.”

The preview took place a few weeks before the auction as a way to generate interest.

“The timeline has been moved up, princess, I trust you will adjust.”

Click.

The line went dead.

Adria threw the phone, and it crashed into the wall with a loudcrackbefore tumbling to the floor.

Club Shale was her place. The one piece of herself that she had apart from the Nine. Now Jonathan would be there. Walking along the leather-lined walls, casting his eyes over all of her hidden places.

Adria screamed.

The sound reverberated from the ground beneath her. Like a heavy weight, suffocating her. It felt as though a torrent of emotions was pouring out of her.

“What the hell is going on in here?”

Eric rushed into the room but stopped at the door. His 9mm already out of the holster, as he moved around the corner.

“Adria, what is it?” he said, checking for monsters.

Except the monster wasn’t here.

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