Page 69 of Hunted Innocence

“I can’t go back to Nights,” she states.

She says it so matter-of-factly, and I almost laugh because she’s full of shit. Of course she can go back to Nights. It’s her home. It’s always been her home. Even after Landon took her away, it was where she went back to. Home. It’s where her family lives, her brother, and everyone at Securus.

“You can and you will.”

“The way I ran, it’s embarrassing.”

My lips twitch into a smirk. “Nobody thinks that you did a damn thing wrong, Nadine.”

“How?”

My fingers twitch to touch her, so instead of reaching out to her, I run my fingers through my hair, tugging on the ends to keep from touching her. To keep from removing her clothes and taking her one last time.

“Nobody blames you, Nadine. This is all on me. Just me. Nobody blames anyone but me.”

Her mouth opens, no doubt to ask some more questions. I don’t let her, mainly because it doesn’t matter. She’s leaving here, and she needs to know that I won’t be around to bother her. To make her feel any kind of way or to hold her back at all. I want her to have her freedom and to find the life that she deserves with the people around her who love her wholly.

“I’m going to be moving away from Nights. You need to go home, Nadine.”

“Grayson,” she breathes. “It’s your home, too.”

Shaking my head once, I clear my throat. “No, baby. It’s not. You need to be with your people, and I’m the reason you’re not. Go home.”

“But where will you go?” she asks in a whisper.

“Doesn’t matter. Just go home. You’re missed.”

If I stay any longer, I’m not going to leave. So I stand and take a step backward when she calls out my name. I stop, and my gaze connects to hers. She watches me for a long moment in silence. That silence is so thick in the air that I feel like my throat is tightening.

“Please don’t leave.”

“You need to be free, baby, and I won’t be able to grant that to you if I stay there. And Nights is where you need to be. I’m going to be fine, but you need your family.”

And without another word, I turn around and walk away. I walk away from her, away from what I want with her because even if I can’t have it, even if I can’t be that for her, it doesn’t mean that I don’t want it.

I want everything with Nadine.

I want her; I want her heart, her soul, her body, and I want to give her children. But I’m not going to ruin her because I’m a selfish asshole.

And that is why I walk away, even though my entire body begs me to stay.

Chapter Thirty

NADINE

Picking up my phone,I stare at it for a moment, then I toss it back on the charger before I make my way into the bathroom to shower and change into real clothes, the whole time wondering if what happened was real or a dream.

Once I’m dressed and have a small amount of makeup on, I walk back into the room and look around for Grayson. He’s not here, and I can’t sense him. This means he’s not here because I can always sense Grayson when he’s somewhere nearby.

Walking over to the nightstand, I look down at my phone again. There’s a new message notification. Reaching down, I wrap my fingers around it and look at the screen. It unlocks, and then I’m met with my new message.

GRAYSON: Go back to Nights. I won’t be there. But if you ever need anything, it’s yours. Whatever you need from me, baby. You always have it. X-Gray.

Is this real life?

How?

Slowly, I sink down onto the edge of the bed and stare at my phone. I’m not sure what to do. Do I call Brody? Do I call Lucille or Theron? My knee starts bouncing, and I think about telling Grayson to just go back to Nights, that I am not worth any of this. For the millionth time in just a few days, tears prick my eyes, and at the same time, my stomach growls.

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