As soon as I heard the door close, I lifted my fingers to my mouth which was still tingling.

“I left some breakfast on the nightstand,” I heard Cole say as he moved towards the door. He released me the second his lips left mine and then stood. The contact was brief but it left me reeling. He leaned forward and brushed his lips over mine. And then he did something I hadn’t been expecting. “I need a little more time, Cole,” I managed to say.Ĭole nodded, his hand on my neck tightening just a little bit. He’d been hired to kill me which meant he’d likely done it before. My whole body began to shake as the reality I hadn’t even dealt with hit me. He probably had a lot of chances to hurt you but something held him back.” He was watching you long before he met you, Jonas. “Because he knew on some level that whatever that shit someone told him you did wasn’t true. “Why would he do that?”Ĭole’s fingers began massaging my neck and I had to admit, it felt good. Some wood fell in the studio and he stopped it from hitting me.” I shook my head. I was afraid of him but then he helped me. I remembered the hatred in his eyes when he’d first looked at me and a shiver went through me. I knew he’d meant the words to comfort but they didn’t – they just reminded me of the lie I’d been living in from the moment Mace had walked into my gallery. “I don’t believe one fucking word of it,” Cole said angrily. I opened my eyes even as I tried to hold back the pain that bloomed in my chest. “Look at me,” Cole said, the soft order leaving no room for argument. I tried to pull away but his hand snaked around to grab the back of my neck to hold me still. The bed next to me shifted and I felt Cole’s thigh brush against mine through the blanket. “Do you…do you believe the things he said about me?” I forced myself to ask. “Like it or not, Mace is the only one who might have some answers.” “We need to figure out what’s going on,” Cole said. I didn’t look at Cole as I spoke but heard him settle back down in the chair. “Don’t,” I whispered as I pulled my hand from out of his reach. “Jonas,” Cole said as he reached for my hand. He turned away before I did and I heard his footsteps on the stairs.

I forced my eyes open and glanced over my shoulder to see Mace standing in the doorway, his shuttered eyes watching me. “I don’t want him here.” Even as I said the words, I knew that Cole wasn’t the only one to hear them because I felt a chill go up my spine. “There’s no land line here but we’ll get some burner phones as soon as we can, okay?” Someone could be tracking it,” Cole said gently. I hated that part of me wanted him to try to touch me again. I closed my eyes when I sensed him come around to my side of the bed and sit in the chair Mace had been sitting in last night. “I want my phone,” I said.Ĭole didn’t answer me but I felt his weight shift off the bed. I forced myself to sit up, keeping my back to him.

Absolution sloane kennedy