Cherished (Masters and Mercenaries #7.5)(36)

Thank god for Karina talking him into going to Sanctum, and to Kai for listening to him, or he likely would have gone back into the closest, so to speak.

She turned her gorgeous face up to him. He could see the perfection there but suddenly she was so much less appealing than Bridget’s sweet face—even though she was probably mad as shit with him, but she was wrong about that. This was his problem. It was his right to keep her the hell out of it. He didn’t even like the fact that Starr knew Bridget existed. “I’ve had a lot of time to think, William.”

“Yes, I’ve heard jail can do that for a girl,” he drawled.

She sniffled and nodded. “You’re right. You’re always right.” This was the point when Bridget would shove her middle finger his way and tell him to f*ck off and then he would playfully chase her down and spank her. Starr merely stood and lowered herself into a submissive pose. “I’ve had time to really understand what you want from me and what I need. I was scared. I was scared of how much I felt for you. Of how much I loved our life together.”

“I was scared of how close I came to getting syphilis. How many other dudes were you doing?” Damn it. Bridget was rubbing off on him.

She shook her head. “There was only Terry. He forced me to be with him, and now I understand why. I am submissive and he abused my submission. He took it when he didn’t earn it. I can see now that you saw my true nature and tried to rescue me.”

“Are you f*cking kidding me? Let me get this straight. He forced you to sleep with him. He forced you to sleep with me. He forced you to aid and abet in the murders of four women. And he forced you to do everything you could to pin it all on me, including pumping heroin through my veins and stuffing me in the back of my car. My knee still aches from that. Thanks a lot.”

She wouldn’t meet his eyes, preferring to keep her head down. “Yes. That’s what I’m saying. He used my submissive nature to force me to do his will.”

“Are you going to use that in court? My submission made me do it? Let me tell you something. That’s the biggest load of crap I’ve ever heard and it goes to prove that you’ve learned absolutely nothing. A submissive is strong. She’s as strong as her Dom.” Like Bridget was strong. “You made the choices you made and you’ll pay the price. You had every opportunity to tell me what was going on. I would have helped you. I would have made sure that dickhead boyfriend of yours stopped before he killed four women. Four. That’s on you and that will not go away, and it cannot be explained by crying and saying you’re not responsible. I do not love you. I will not help you. I will, in fact, be getting a restraining order against you.”

Her head came up and he saw the minute she dropped the act. “Please. I can’t go back to jail. I can’t. It’s horrible there. I’ll do whatever you want. I’ll be the little doll you seem to need. I did it before and I’ll do it again. Please testify in my favor. You can do anything you want to me, Will.”

His stomach rolled. “Get out of my house. I really am getting that restraining order. If you want to have any hope in a court of law, you better not show your face again.”

She stood and her mouth became a flat, angry line. “I should have known you wouldn’t help me. You f*cking freak. You make me sick.”

He opened the door for her. “The feeling is mutual.”

She strode past him, angry tears in her eyes.

And he was left staring at the door across the hall. He didn’t owe Bridget an explanation. He’d handled the problem and while they were in Hawaii, Mitch would get the restraining order in place.

He thought briefly about moving, but abandoned the idea. He liked being close to Bridget.

He needed to be close to her. Fuck.

He crossed the space between their places and knocked on the door.

Nothing.

He tried his key. Yep. She’d used the deadbolt.

Fuck and double f*ck. If he tried to talk to her tonight, she would likely tell him they were through. He had to figure out what her next move would be.

Probably leaving for the flight without him. He wasn’t sure of which flight it was or which private airport. Bridget had handled all of those details. He only knew when the car was coming to pick them up.

But someone else knew.

Sneaky. He had to be sneaky if he wanted to get her back without having to tell her what an idiot he’d been.

The good news was, he’d perfected the art of battle when it came to Bridget Slaten.

He had to pray he could win the war.





Chapter Eight





It had been too easy. The door to the sedan opened and she slipped out of the car that had come to pick her up. It was late, the sky dark all around her.

God, she missed Will. It had only been a few hours and she felt the loss.

She’d heard him knock the night before and had thought about opening the door to see if he would actually talk to her about what had happened. She’d decided to leave it be. He’d been plain with her. He didn’t love her. Never would. The most she would get out of him was a few more weeks.

Should she have taken them? She looked at the private jet. It had been years since she’d been on one. She was kind of proud of the fact that she could afford first class now on her own, but she definitely couldn’t have this.