Page 155 of Bound By Her

Adria had shattered, and she didn’t have a Kaydon or Bryson to put her back together. She had put herself together alone.

A quiet, aching admiration stirred inside him. “How did you get past it?” He tried to hide the pain in his voice.

Tears welled in her green eyes, shimmering like broken glass. Seth didn’t move. Didn’t breathe. Afraid if he did, the moment would shatter.

She looked away, inhaling slowly, steadying herself.

And when she looked back—her eyes were black.

“I found where he kept the trophies.”

She let the words settle between them, the weight of them crushing.

“Every one.”

A pause.

“And once I had them?—”

Her voice was quiet. Final.

“I burned them to the ground.”

Seth woke up. His skin tingled with the phantom sensation of Adria’s arms around him.

Reality contrasted harshly with the delicate touches in his dream.

It had been twenty days since the attack. Adria was still refusing to leave her room.

Seth flopped onto his back, staring at the ceiling. He hadn’t liked Adria at first. She was supposed to be an enemy, except she never acted like one. And now, three weeks without her hands on him. He was surprised to say he missed it.

Sunlight filled the room, making retreating to his dream impossible. Instead, he put on a pair of sweatpants and headed for the dining room.

Kaydon’s voice was easy to hear as Seth came down the stairs.

“The waiting around is torture.”

Seth would have killed for some torture right now. Sexual or otherwise. The needs inside him demanded pain. After seeing Adria, he had thought of nothing else.

“I still don’t understand why we didn’t kill that fucker,” Kaydon said.

Seth agreed, entering the room. His hand twitched, thinking about how close he had come to turning that fucker off.

“We have been over this already,” Eric said, sounding as tired as he looked. “We can’t kill Jonathan unless it’s sanctioned.”

“Now he’s out there somewhere,” Kaydon said, waving his hands around.

Eric said, “When are the three of you going to learn? There are consequences for your actions?”

“And Jonathan’s actions? Don’t they have consequences?” Bryson asked.

Seth grabbed a small scoop of eggs and sat down at the far end of the table.

“He’ll have consequences,” Eric said, eyes darkening. “But that decision isn’t mine.”

All four of them glanced at the ceiling.

Bryson said, “She needs a push. A reason to come out.”

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