Page 35 of Skin In the Game (The BlackWater)

He woke hearing a noise. The room was dark but not so dark he couldn’t make out the shape of everything. He quickly scanned around it seeing no one else there, just him and the girl. He heard it again, the whimper. He looked over at her and got up quietly, his socks making no sound as he walked across the lino towards her.

She was still asleep, curled up, but her face was frowning as though she was having a bad dream. She whimpered again and he watched her, wondering if it was the warehouse she was dreaming about, the killing of her team mate, or something else entirely. Who are you Maddie Cooper, he thought, because the girl in the file Homewell had given them didn’t even correlate with the mystery asleep right in front of him and he realised then that he wanted to know everything, who the real Maddie was and what secrets she was hiding, not just because of the case, not just because of the Omega Project but because of something else entirely.

She rolled over onto her back opening her eyes and she blinked focussing on him.

“You were having a nightmare.” He said quietly and she shook her head slightly.

“I don’t have nightmares.” She muttered and he smirked. She was so fucking confident, so fucking sure of herself, even in that moment, when he’d seen the shield she had up slip for a minute.

“Everyone has nightmares Maddie.” He said.

“Even you?”

He smirked. “Even me.” He said before brushing the hair from her face. He didn’t know why he’d done it but he just did. She froze as his fingers lingered against her skin and she looked from his hand back to his face.

“Don’t touch me.” She said quietly.

“I’m not going to hurt you Maddie.” He replied taking his hand away anyway.

“Don’t fucking touch me.” She said through gritted teeth.

He rolled his eyes before walking back over to where the seats were and lying back down.

She lay there, unmoving, her heart thumping wildly again. Why had he done it, she wondered. Why the fuck had he stroked her face like that? She screwed her face up and let out a slow almost silent breath so that he wouldn’t hear.

She could feel the ghost of his fingers, the electricity of it on her cheek and what she hated most was how much in that moment she had wanted him to touch her more, despite what she said, despite how she reacted. Fuck Maddie, she thought, you really are more of an idiot than you realised because Cole Black wasn’t just an arsehole, wasn’t just a complete prick but he wanted to control her, to dominate her and she knew she should be running for the hills not wishing he’d just get on and do it.

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