It had been about an hour since Brent left, leaving Scarlet and Colton behind in the barn. They didn’t do much talking. Scarlet was still sitting on the table, her wrist still chained above her head. Colton was sitting on the ground with his back against the wall, tossing little pebbles at the stack of hay across from him.
He was hiding something, she could feel it. Other than being the douche who sold her out, there was something else he wasn’t telling her. But what?
The silence was killing her. All she could think about was a shit load of what ifs. What if she had just allowed herself to feel for Hunter? What if she had accepted the fact that she might have fallen in love with him? What if she had stopped fighting him at every turn and just enjoyed feeling something for a change?
What if she had trusted Hunter’s gut instinct about Colton?
She glanced his way.
No. Even though Colton did betray her, she knew deep down he wasn’t a bad person. Just a good guy stuck in one fucked-up situation. God knew that if she was in his shoes and Willow was the one who’d been kidnapped, Scarlet would have done the exact same thing.
Scarlet had experienced enough fucked-up-ness to know no one had the right to be judge and jury. Everyone had their own cross to bear, their own demons to fight. Who was she to judge Colton’s actions? He did what he had to do. It was just too bad she had to be the one who got stabbed in the back.
Her nose started to itch, and she tried to rub it against her arm. It helped a little.
She hung her head back and glanced at the chains around her wrists. The blood had dried on her skin, and that too was starting to itch.
“Colton?” She looked down to him.
“Yeah?”
“What are you not telling me?”
Colton rubbed his palm down his face. “I can’t tell you now. Just…whatever you do, don’t give up. Not just yet.”
“I can’t promise that.”
“Just…try.”
For a few breaths longer they kept their eyes locked on each other. The way he looked at her spoke volumes. Earlier he said things weren’t as they seemed. Did he mean with her…or with Hunter?
Scarlet turned her wrists against the chains, trying to get rid of the itch on her wrists.
“Colton?”
“Yeah?”
“My wrists are real itchy. Do you think you could…”
Colton got up and sauntered over to her. He reached up. “Sure.”
Gently he scratched around the dried blood and the relief was fucking amazing.
While he continued to scratch her wrists, she looked up into his eyes as he stared down at her with sad, brown eyes.
“Did you really kill him?” she asked softly.
He lowered his arms, never taking his eyes off hers. “You tell me.”
There was something in the way he looked at her, like he was challenging her to think real fucking hard about that question, and about what the right answer should be.
Deep down there was something telling her that he wasn’t capable of doing that. Even though it seemed like he wanted to kill Hunter that day outside the mansion, he just didn’t seem like the cold-hearted killer type to her. Maybe…just maybe she needed to trust her gut—just one last time.
“Will he be able to help you?” she asked.
He gave a step back. “Brent? No. Rex? Maybe. But now I’m stuck here and they are on the goddamn porch, which doesn’t help me at all.”
And that was when it dawned on her.
“Colton, I have an idea.”
He narrowed his eyes. “I’m not going to like it, am I?”
“Probably not. But right now, I think it’s the best goddamn idea I’ve had in a long time.”
He lowered his hand and gave a step back. “I’m afraid to say this, but…I’m listening.”
“Is there a way you can get me out of these chains?”
“No way, Scarlet. I’m sorry. I really wish it didn’t have to be this way, but I can’t set you free.”
“No. I don’t want you to set me free. Well, I do. But I mean, what if you get me out of these chains, I pretend to escape, and run around the backyard to the porch where Rex and Brent are? You can pretend to chase me, and that will put you right in the fucking middle of their little get-together.”
With a veiled expression, Colton stared back at her, either thinking it was a brilliant idea or that she was certifiably insane.
“Are you telling me that if I unchain you, you won’t try to make a run for it? You’ll help me?” He looked skeptical, and she didn’t blame him. After what he did, she had every right to want to fuck him over.
“Although I have every right to want to stab you in the fucking back and drop you in the shit by bolting, I won’t.” She noticed him glance away for just a second before looking back at her. “Colton, I know why you did what you did. In your case, the ends justify the means. I get that. And I’ve thought about what I would have done if I was in your shoes, and I keep getting the same damn answer.”
Colton placed his hands in his pants pockets, pulling his shoulders up. “Yeah, and what’s that?”
“That I would have done the exact same thing. If it had been my sister who got taken, I would have fucked over the pope if it meant getting even one damn step closer to finding her.”
A moment passed where they just stared at each other. Everything between them felt heavy, laden with a lot of questions and doubts. But he didn’t have another choice. If he wanted in on that conversation going down on the porch, he had to trust her.
Colton rubbed the sides of his face. “Okay, fine.” He huffed and pulled out a set of keys from his back pocket.
Scarlet’s eyes widened. “You had the keys the whole damn time?”
He shrugged. “Who do you think put you in those chains?”
“Oh my God, you are such an asshole.” She tried to kick at him when he came closer, but he reared back.
“Hey, you were drugged. Did you really want Brent to have his hands all over you while he tied you up, doing God knows what to your body while you were unconscious?”
Scarlet almost threw up in her mouth. “Good God, no.”
“That’s what I thought.” Colton stepped closer and reached up with the keys in his hands while staring her in the eye. “I know you hate me, Scarlet. And I’m sorry for that. But I’m trying to let this all work out.”
“What do you mean?” She narrowed her eyes. “Colton, what’s going on?”
“Like I said, everything isn’t as it seems.”
She cocked a brow. “Ace?”
She heard the click of the lock and felt the chains loosen around her wrists. Colton kept on looking at her. “I’m not the monster you think I am.”
“I don’t think you’re a monster,” she whispered, and then groaned as she tried to move her stiff arms.
“Easy.” Colton took her elbows and slowly helped her lower her arms. Her shoulders felt like they had been ripped from their sockets, her arms heavy with pins and needles as blood flowed freely through her veins.
He gently placed her wrists on her knees. “I’ll get some water to clean those,” he said, and gestured to the open wounds around her wrists.
Moving her neck from side to side, she loosened her aching muscles. It hurt in places she didn’t even know she had something that could hurt.
Colton returned with another can of water and helped her get off the table. Only when she tried to stand on her own two feet did she realize how weak she really was.
“I got you.” Colton steadied her, and she clutched at the blue shirt he was wearing. With hands protectively wrapped around her shoulders, holding her up, he stared down at her. For the second time since she met him she noticed how soft and calm his eyes looked. Those two swirls of chocolate brown eyes didn’t carry a trace of the hardened pain he had been carrying around inside him. They also didn’t look like the eyes of a monster.
“You don’t belong in this world, Colton,” she whispered while his warmth seeped through her skin, warming her insides.
He slowly let go of her shoulders and gently urged her to stand on her own. “Hope is lost in this world somewhere, Scarlet, which means I’m right where I need to be.”
For a fleeting moment she felt for him—she felt his pain. He was the kind of man who deserved to live his life with a pretty blonde wife and two children in their warm home while little Yorkshire Terriers barked along the white picket fence outside.
But, unfortunately, just like her, he was dealt a real shitty hand in life.
Scarlet held out her wrists while Colton cleaned the blood off of them with the water.
“God, that stings,” she moaned, pinching closed her eyes.
“I bet you’re probably praying for a bottle of Jack right now,” he teased.
“Two, actually.”
He snorted.
While he continued to clean her wrists and hands, they remained silent. A lot of shit had gone down, and there was probably still going to be a mudslide of shit ahead of them.
Her body felt physically drained, and she didn’t even know if she had the strength to pretend like she was trying to get away. She was struggling just to stand up straight.
Colton peered at her from below his thick black lashes. “Are you sure you’re up for this?”
“Are you kidding me? This is just going to be another day in the life of Blanchette Wolfe.”
Colton smiled. “That’s a terrible name, by the way.”
“I have a grandmother to blame for that.”
Both of them snickered even though there was a heavy cloud of doom hanging over them. This plan of hers might be the stupidest thing ever, and it might just end up getting them both killed. But it was a chance they had to take.
“Scarlet, this Rex guy—you have to be careful,” he warned.
“The king, I know.”
He took her hands in his and fixed his gaze on hers. “I’m serious. This guy is as dark as they come. You need to keep your head in the game. Don’t let him get to you, okay?”
“Colton, I’m already in so fucking deep I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to get out.”
“That’s exactly what I’m afraid of.”
Colton lightly moved his thumb across the palm of her hand. “You have no idea how sorry I am about all of this.”
Even though his touch was warm, Scarlet didn’t like it. For some reason, she couldn’t think about anyone’s touch except Hunter’s. So she gently pulled her hands out of his hold. “Colton?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
Scarlet smiled. “This.” And then she punched him in the face, blood gushing out of his nose.
“What the fuck?” Colton grabbed his nose and dropped a shit load of F-bombs.
Scarlet shrugged. “It has to look like you at least tried to stop me.”
“Jesus. Did you have to break my fucking nose?”
“Probably not,” she replied dryly. “But I really wanted to.”
“Fuck!”
Scarlet shook the spasm caused by punching Colton out of her hand and waited for him to pull himself together.
“I’m really sorry.”
Colton wiped his nose with the bottom of his shirt. “No, you’re not.”
“You’re right. I’m not.”
Colton straightened and Scarlet saw tears welling up in his eyes. Yup, a punch to the nose really was a bitch.
“You ready?” he asked.
“Let’s do this.”
Colton tensed, his jaw ticking slightly as he nodded. “On three. One…two…three!”