Page 66 of Redemption

“I’m on my way.”

He slaps their faces a bit, both jumping awake. “What the fuck happened?” Beckett asks, his hand touching the back of his head. “Shit, we got hit.”

“Fuck, that hurts,” Brian says.

“You two good, or do you need me to call and get relief for you?”

“We’re good. Slasher?”

He looks back at the house. “Dead guy in the backyard. Psycho’s on his way to clean it up. Stay awake now.”

Walking inside, Lex lifts her gun and aims at him before quickly lowering it. Her eyes widen in concern as she says, “You’re bleeding.”

“Opted to fight instead of shoot. I didn’t have a good excuse ready for the kids if they woke up from a gunshot,” he says, his voice low.

She turns and closes their doors. “Where are the guys?”

“Knocked out. They’re awake now, and Psycho’s coming to clean up the mess out back. You got a first aid kit?”

“Come on,” she says and pulls him through the master bedroom to the attached bathroom. “Sit.”

Doing as he’s told, he sits on the toilet, and she turns on the light before pulling out the items she needs to tend to his wounds. The lights blind him, but he can’t stop watching her. She really jumps into action. “Do you need to go to the hospital?”

“No, the guy was an amateur. But it doesn’t make any fucking sense.”

“What do you mean?” Her slender fingers tilt the rubbing alcohol onto a cotton swab, and she dabs it gently on his cheek. The sting makes him hiss.

“Because even if I wasn’t here, you’d have easily taken him out. You have a reputation, you know. Why not send someone with more skill if you want damage?”

“He was able to knock out the two guards.”

“But he didn’t kill them. I don’t get that either. Why not kill them?”

“He was a sacrifice?”

Lex leans back and looks into his eyes for one of the first times since she decided to leave him. He almost loses himself in them. “Yeah, but why?”

“A message that they’re coming after us?” Her hands get back to work, and she finishes cleaning up with a surprisingly soft touch.

“You’re being gentle.”

“I thought I was always gentle,” she jokes as she puts everything away. “You should be good now. You’ll have a scar, but I think that adds to the rugged look you have going on. All the girls will swoon even more than they already do.”

He disregards the comment. There’s only one woman he wants swooning over him. “You had a perfect opportunity to inflict pain, and you didn’t. Most women would have.”

Putting her hands on her hips as she stands in front of him, she lets out a slow breath. “I’m not sure why that’s surprising. I don’t want to hurt you. Causing you pain hurts me, and I’m tired of being hurt. You’re the father of my children, and no matter how hard I try not to, part of me will always love you. You’re ingrained in me. It’s what makes this whole situation so hard to accept and move forward.”

Colt grabs her waist and pulls her towards him, burying his face in her stomach. Her hands knot in his hair like they always have, and he wants her. He wants every part of her. “I never deserved you, and I don’t deserve your kindness now.”

Her fingers caress his scalp, and he feels her shiver. “You’ll be alright, Colt.”

“I don’t think I’ll ever be alright.”

His hands move under her tank top, and she says his name so quietly he almost misses it.

Her body doesn’t shift from his grasp, and she doesn’t release him. “If you want me to stop, just say the word.”

Looking up at her, he watches her chest rise and fall as her lids lower. He takes it as a good sign, and his hands slide up to cup her bare chest beneath her shirt, his fingers toying with her nipples.

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