Regret (Shattered Secrets Book 1)

by Bella J.

  “Hey.”

  He lifted his head and saw Scarlet standing beautifully naked by the end of the counter. The confidence this woman had was fucking amazing. And it totally turned him on.

  He leaned back in his chair. “Hey. You okay?”

  “I’m more than okay.” With her curvy hips, firm tits, and seductive smile, she sashayed over to him, pushed the laptop to the side, and got onto the counter, placing her legs on either side of him.

  His gaze dropped to the smooth, beautiful, glistening piece of heaven he had tasted, felt, and claimed a few times over the last few days. His cock stirred in his pants, and he knew it was only a matter of minutes before he would bury himself in that little piece of heaven she so expertly teased him with.

  “Scarlet Woods,” he started, and gripped her hips, pulling her to the edge of the counter, closer to him. “Why do I get the feeling you’ve become addicted to me?” He winked at her.

  “Oh, no, Ace, don’t flatter yourself. It’s your cock I’ve become addicted to. Not you.” She winked back in challenge, then leaned forward and placed her hand on his cock, stroking and rubbing. “And I need my fix.”

  The ache grew stronger with every stroke of her hand. Even through his pants it felt like she could rub him into coming within minutes.

  He licked his lips before tracing kisses over her collarbone, softly tugging on one of her nipples. “Soon, kitten.”

  Fuck, he wanted to take each nipple in his mouth and suck them until she climaxed from that alone. But before he could ravish her, devour her, and fuck her senseless, he had a few more things he needed to check out. He placed his hand over hers and pulled it away from his crotch. “But first I need to look into something. And then we’ll play.”

  Those gorgeous, enticingly full, heart-shaped lips turned into the sexiest pout Hunter had ever seen. “But kitten wants to play now.”

  “Well, kitten will have to wait. Why don’t you cook us some breakfast—naked?” Oh, now that was a sight Hunter would pay some good money to see.

  Scarlet frowned. “I don’t cook.”

  “Pretend that you do. I won’t be paying much attention to what you’re cooking anyway since my eyes will be glued to your ass and tits the entire time.”

  “Pervert much?”

  “Does it turn you on?”

  “Totally.”

  Hunter snickered and pulled the laptop closer when Scarlet finally removed her fine-looking ass from in front of him.

  While he heard Scarlet opening and closing the fridge and cabinets, Hunter started looking into Brent Wolfe’s background.

  “What are you searching for anyway?”

  Without taking his eyes off the laptop screen, he answered, “Brent Wolfe.”

  The sound of a coffee mug being dropped onto the counter echoed through the kitchen. He looked up and saw her standing with her back to him, frozen to the spot.

  “Why?” she asked softly without looking at him.

  “Scar, the only way to make sure he doesn’t ever find you is if we—if I—find him first.”

  “I don’t want you to go looking for him, Hunter.”

  “I know. But it’s the only way. Trust me.”

  Scarlet turned around and basically dropped a bowl of cereal in front of him. “Why now? Why didn’t you look into his background when you accepted the job in finding his long lost cousin?”

  Hunter leaned back in the chair. “I did. All I found was info on his Marine career. Nothing else. Nothing about his family—your family. It was like this guy didn’t exist apart from being a Marine.”

  “And you didn’t think that was suspicious at all?”

  “No, I didn’t. A lot of high class clients pay a lot of money to keep their lives a secret. It wasn’t my job to dissect this asshole’s past back then, Scar.”

  “Of course it wasn’t. Your job was to find me and take me back to my loving cousin, wasn’t it?” She slanted her head to the side, long dark hair falling over her shoulder, blue eyes burning with anger…fear.

  Hunter moved the laptop aside and leaned over the counter on his elbows. “Yes. That was my job. And you know what? I’m fucking glad I did. I don’t regret finding you for a second.”

  The palpable atmosphere was so intense he could feel it inside his bones. Scarlet didn’t move, her eyes locked on his. There was no predicting what her next move would be—to kiss him or punch him in the face. But it was neither.

  Leaving her bowl of cereal on the counter, she turned her back on him and walked out to the deck.

  He wanted to go after her, but decided to give her some time alone. A lot had happened during the last few days which she obviously needed to deal with—him too.

  A part of him understood why she didn’t want to go looking for Brent, but Hunter knew the only way to get rid of a problem was by facing it head on and dealing with it once and for all. And the fact that he wanted to punish the asshole in the most unimaginable ways had nothing to with it—at all.

  That sixth sense Hunter seemed to have ninety-nine percent of the time was urging—no, begging—him to dig deeper. Somehow, Hunter didn’t believe Brent wanting to protect his inheritance was the only reason the fucker spent years searching for her. And the guy whose face he almost squashed into the pavement that night at the club, Blow Me, his words stuck like glue in Hunter’s head,

  “All I know is that he’s been searching for her for years and not a day goes by that he doesn’t stare at this one picture he has of her. It’s fucking creepy.”

  Why would he be staring at a picture of Scarlet every damn day? Something just didn’t add up. And whenever Hunter wasn’t able to make sense of something, he made it his life’s mission to figure it out. But now that he had a personal interest in this, the need to get to the bottom of it all just skyrocketed. He needed to find this son of a bitch, and he needed to find him now.

  Chapter 29

  “I see you covered up at least before you came outside.”

  Scarlet looked up at Hunter towering over her where she lay in the sun, soaking up some vitamin D while she tried to sort through her thoughts.

  With a smirk she untied the robe and pushed it to the sides. Hunter’s eyes grew wide as he took in her naked body. “Guess not.”

  Scarlet tied the robe again. “So what did you find out?”

  He didn’t answer, and Scarlet pulled her sunglasses a little lower down her nose. The grim look on his face told her that he most definitely found something. “What?”

  When he rubbed the back of his neck, Scarlet felt chills spread through every limb of her body. By now she knew that whenever he rubbed the back of his neck, he was either nervous or annoyed. “Ace? What is it?”

  Hunter sat down on the recliner and she shifted her legs to the side, giving him a little more space.

  “Scar, when was the last time you checked in on your grandmother?” He didn’t look at her. His hands were clenched in front of him and he stared down at the ground between his feet.

  Scarlet scooted up and took off her sunglasses. “In case you forgot, I was on the run trying to get away from that psycho. I never checked in on anyone because I didn’t want to be found. Where the fuck have you been the last few days?” There was no way she could hide the annoyance she felt toward him at that moment. Being annoyed was the only way she could deal with the nerves that suddenly wracked her.

  He held out his hands. “Calm down.”

  “Don’t tell me to calm down when you’re sitting there looking like the fucking grim reaper—only bigger.”

  His back rose and fell as he took a deep breath, and then he finally looked at her. “She’s dead, Scar.”

  The sound of the waves crashing against the rocks was abruptly silenced. There were no birds chirping in the background anymore, or leaves rustling from the breeze. It was eerily quiet around them, except for the sound of her blood flowing through her veins.

  “My grandmother?”

  He nodded.

  Scarlet
looked down trying to process what she just heard. It was impossible.

  “It can’t be.” Her gaze shot up to Hunter. “You’re lying.”

  “I wish I was.”

  Scarlet got up from the recliner and walked closer to the edge of the deck.

  The ache that took hold of her chest was strong, but Scarlet fought it, pushing back the tears. “How?”

  Hunter got up and stood behind her. “Stroke.”

  She snorted. “Seems like it runs in the family. I’m probably next.”

  He placed his hands softly on her waist and he squeezed a little. “I’m sorry, Scar.”

  She closed her eyes and sucked her lower lip in to her mouth. It had been years since she’d seen her grandmother. It had been so long that it felt like she didn’t have the right to grieve, like she didn’t have the right to be heartbroken over the loss.

  And then she thought about him, the bastard who took it all from her. The bastard finally got his filthy hands on her grandmother’s money.

  “So he finally got what he wanted.” She turned around to face Hunter.

  He didn’t move. He didn’t even fucking blink.

  “What is it, Ace?”

  He shifted from one leg to the other. “You’re right, he got everything.”

  She frowned. “But that’s good, then. Isn’t it? He has no need to kill me anymore. He got what he wanted. I’m free?”

  Hunter still didn’t move, his face even more grim and pale than before.

  Scarlet narrowed her eyes. “Why do you look like someone just handed you my death sentence, Ace?”

  He rubbed his hands together and she could hear him take a deep breath.

  “Hunter, if you don’t tell me what the fuck is going on right now, I swear to God I am going—”

  “She’s been dead for six months, Scar.”

  She froze. “What?”

  He pulled both hands through his hair. “Brent already got his inheritance six months ago.”

  “But that doesn’t make sense. Why is he still after me, then?”

  “I don’t know.” He shrugged, but Scarlet could see that his brain was in overdrive.

  She stepped forward. “Hunter. Why the fuck is he still after me?”

  He turned around and started pacing in front of the pool, looking down at his feet. “That night when those guys tried to grab you outside the club, I kind of interrogated one of the fuckers.”

  “Kind of?”

  “Yeah. Kind of.”

  “Would you stop fucking around and tell me what the hell is going on?” She placed her hands on her hips.

  “The guy said something about Brent staring at this picture he has of you almost every day. Creepy was the word he used to describe the way the fucker stared at the photo.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “And?”

  “And according to this guy, Brent is hell-bent on finding you.”

  “Ace!” she yelled. “Stop pacing and just spit out whatever it is you’re thinking.”

  “Fine!” He stopped and turned toward her. “I think he’s looking for you because…I think…I think he’s desperate to find you because he’s obsessed with you. This is no longer about silencing you to protect his inheritance. It’s about getting what he thinks is his.”

  Cold, hard ice filled her spine and she could no longer feel the beating of her own heart. This is not happening. This cannot be happening.

  “No.” She shook her head and gave a step back, clutching her arms around her waist.

  Hunter rushed forward and grabbed her shoulders, forcing her to look at him. “I can’t be sure, okay? I just think that his desperation to find you is much more than what we initially thought.”

  Scarlet looked at Hunter, but it felt like she was staring into space. A rush of memories flooded her mind and she no longer registered what was going on around her.

  All she heard was his words, the words he whispered into her ear from behind while he was busy corrupting her body, her soul, tearing her apart from the inside.

  “You are mine, Little Red…”

  “No one will take you from me…”

  “The day will come that I will make you mine in every way…”

  “Your soul, your body is mine…”

  “You will never be free of me.”

  Like a lightning bolt, everything just came crashing down. All those years ago he had already vowed to never leave her alone. She was so possessed by her pain and the fear of what he was doing to her that she didn’t pay any attention to his words. To her, they were the words of a psychotic, sick, filthy piece of shit whose perversions were only focused on her because she was an easy target. Never in a million years did she think it was an obsession directed solely at her.

  Hunter pulled her closer and pressed her against his chest, bringing her back from the dark memory. “Hey, you listen to me, okay?” He nestled his nose into her hair and spoke close to her ear. “I made you a promise, and I intend to keep it. He will not lay another hand on you, not while I’m alive. I will find him, Scarlet, and I will make him pay. I swear to you. I will not let anything happen to you.”

  A single, silent tear ran down her cheek and she closed her eyes, wanting nothing more than to believe every word he had just spoken. Yet it did nothing to thaw the ice in her veins. She knew Brent was a sick bastard, but she thought the root of his evil was his greed. Now it started to look like the root of his evil was…her.

  ***

  While Hunter held Scarlet tightly against his chest, all he could feel was the pounding force of his anger pulsing through his veins like lava. It was like there was this volcano inside him, ready to erupt and incinerate anything and anyone who came near her. To think that this fucking psycho actually had this sick obsession with his girl—that’s right, his girl—was enough to make Hunter see nothing but red. It was clear what Hunter had to do, and that was to hunt this fucker down and rip his goddamn head off.

  “Come on.” He took her hand. “If there ever was a time to drink before noon, it’s now.”

  He led her inside the house and let her sit down on the couch while he grabbed the whiskey and two glasses.

  Pulling the coffee table closer, he sat down and handed her the glass. “I’m sorry, you know, about your grandmother.”

  She shrugged. “It’s okay. I should have known she might not have still been alive. She was old, and had a good life, considering.”

  “Considering that you left home?”

  Her gaze flitted to his. “That too.”

  His head slanted to the side. “Scar, where is your sister?”

  “I told you.” She took a sip of her whiskey.

  “You told me she was some place far away.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Exactly how far is far away?”

  She got up from the couch and went to stand in front of the fireplace that looked like it had never been used before. Two more big gulps and her glass was empty.

  Her shoulders slumped, and then she whispered, “She’s dead.”

  “Jesus.” He dragged his hand down his face. What else had this woman lost in her life? He could never have imagined the kind of shit she had been through. “I’m sorry, Scar.”

  “Just. Stop.”

  He glanced in her direction and saw that her head was hanging down while she stared at the floor. “Just stop with your pity.”

  “Pity? You think I pity you?” He got up and went to stand behind her, wanting nothing more than to touch her, but he knew now was not the right time. “I don’t pity you, Scar. I envy you.”

  She spun around and her ice cold stare almost knocked the wind right out of him. “Envy me? What part about my life exactly do you envy, Hunter? Huh? The part where I never knew my father? The part where I lost my mother, my sister? Or the part where I got raped in a shed so fucking hard that I could hardly walk for days. And every time I walked past him in our home I had to live with the humiliation of him knowing that I was in pain with every step I took because
he had violated me in the worst possible way. You envy that, Ace?”

  “Scar, stop—”

  “Or do you envy the fact that it didn’t happen just once. Oh no.” She started to move forward, forcing him back. “He raped me multiple times. Bound and gagged me so that I couldn’t fight back. And while he violated me over and over and over again, his vile breath would skid across my neck as he whispered all the disgusting things he would do to my sister if I ever told anyone.”

  “Fuck. Stop, Scarlet. Goddammit.” The image of her being raped by a psychopath was just too fucking much. All he saw was a thousand shades of red…blood…anger.

  But Scarlet continued on, not even fucking blinking. “Or is it the fact that my sister walked in one day and saw him pounding into me from behind, his filthy sweat dripping on my back. And when she tried to run, to call for help, he went after her. And me? I was too afraid to run after them, to go help my sister even though I knew what a sick fuck he was. So what do you think I did, Hunter? Huh?”

  “Scarlet, stop, please.” Hunter couldn’t handle it anymore. It felt like his head and his heart and everything inside him was about to explode with a kind of pain he’d never experienced before. It was her pain pulsing through his veins, crippling him from the inside. “Please just stop.”

  “No, you wanted to know the truth, Ace. Well, here it is.” She paused, tears streaming down her cheeks, her eyes glistening, but it was anger that beamed from them. It wasn’t sadness or pain, it was anger. Blinding fucking rage was plastered all over her face.

  “I ran. I ran, Ace. I ran as fast as I could and I didn’t turn back once. Not once. At that moment, I didn’t care about my sister or anyone else. All I cared about was getting as far away from him as possible, saving myself.”

  That was when the tears of anger turned into tears of sadness and regret. “I should have gone back to help her. I never should have run away, but I was too much of a coward—”

  “No!” Hunter grabbed her shoulders and shook her hard. “You are not a coward. Don’t you dare say shit like that, do you hear me? You are not a fucking coward.”