Chapter 3

3

Eli

Ifucked up.

I’ve spent my entire life learning to control my emotions, to never let them get the best of me, and I threw it away when I could least afford to. Abel brings us to some kind of warehouse. It’s got a large room with plenty of space for the trucks and then some, and each wall is lined with four doors. Nothing fancy, but then, they can’t have been here long. I have people reporting to me throughout the entire faction, and surely someone would have noticed the Paine brothers returning if they’d been here a while. But then, Abel’s managed to acquire a fucking warehouse without me noticing, so I can take nothing for granted.

I am a fucking fool.

I never saw this coming.

I watch the Paine brothers and their Brides climb out of the truck beds. They gather around Abel, and rage makes my vision bleed red at the sight of him holding Harlow by the arm. She doesn’t look too freaked out, but she’s got one hell of a poker face. She’s got to be terrified.

Abel looks at each of his brothers in turn. “Consummate the handfasting tonight. No exceptions. Get it done.”

Abel hauls Harlow to stand before the bed of the truck and levels a hard look at me. “Get the fuck up.”

My body grumbles in protest as I leverage myself to my feet. My face is one big, throbbing ache. I’m going to have a black eye by the end of the night. At least he didn’t break my ribs or do any lasting damage. I suspect that was on purpose, and I hate that he had the control to hold back when I was in a frenzy. Even when I was lost in rage, Abel was delivering punches with pristine focus. Goddamn it.

My vision goes a little blurry when my feet hit the ground, but I stay standing through sheer stubbornness. “You got what you want. Let her go.”

“Nah, I won Harlow twice over. I’m going to enjoy the fuck out of her.” He leans in, dark eyes mean. “I can’t wait to taste her pussy and have her come all over my cock.”

I shoot forward, but Abel’s ready for me. He grabs my throat and drags me the rest of the way to him until our noses are nearly touching. “I’ll tell you what I told her; play nice, and I won’t fuck her up.”

At our side, Harlow jerks. “That’s not what you told me.”

“Yeah, well, the principle is the same. Play nice, Eli, or I’m going to take my anger out on this pretty little woman of yours.” His grin is just shy of gruesome. “Hell, she’s not nearly as sweet as her reputation says. She might even like it.”

“You piece of shit.”

“Call me karma.” He turns and drags us in the opposite direction that his brothers went. I catch sight of half a dozen trucks and cars before we reach a nondescript gray door. Abel gives Harlow a little shove. “Open it.”

“Stop manhandling me, asshole.” She sounds more angry than scared, but I don’t trust it. I knew when I fell in love with her that having her at my side was the most selfish thing I could do. Being with me puts her in the kind of danger I promised I’d never let touch her again. Still, I rationalized that I could keep her safe from the worst of it.

Joke’s on me.

The door leads to a white hallway and a trio of doors identical to the first. Abel points to the one on the far left. “In there.”

Harlow stalks to the door and pushes it open. Inside is a bedroom. Brushed concrete floor. Plain white walls. King-sized bed. An open door that shows a small bathroom. That’s it.

I stare at the bed. “Abel, you’re not a rapist. Leave her out of this.”

He laughs. The bastard fucking laughs. “I’m going to take a shower. You have five minutes to figure your shit out.” He stalks into the bathroom and shuts the door. A few seconds later, a shower starts.

I stagger to Harlow and take her hands. “You have to run.”

She stares up at me as if she’s never seen me before. We’ve been together five years, but she looks nearly the same as she did the first time I saw her across the street seven years ago. Pale skin, large, dark eyes, a body that just won’t quit. She’s taken to dyeing her hair a light red color that’s darker at the roots, and it just works for her. I’ve seen her laughing, crying, angry enough to commit murder.

I’ve never seen her look at me with disgust.

She yanks her hands out of mine. “You might be an oathbreaker, but I’m not.”

Her words sting. How could they not? “I’ll find a way out of this.”

“Eli, stop.” She drags her hands through her hair. “It’s over. You lost. There is no getting around this or finding some clever loophole or whatever it is that you’re trying to come up with in that impressive brain of yours. We lost. We are handfasted to Abel Paine. It would have been bad enough if it was just me, but you couldn’t leave well enough alone, could you? You had to offer the entire faction up to him on a silver platter.”

I stare. “That’s not what I did.”

“That’s exactly what you did. Or did you not hear the prize for winner over the sound of your own ego rushing in your ears?” She sounds so angry, angrier than I’ve ever heard her. “You fucked up, Eli. You’ve been fucking up. There is no coming back from this. We’re under Paine’s control now, and the only thing to do is make the best of it.”

“I can’t accept that.” There has to be a way. I just need to calm down and think—something nearly impossible with the way pain bellows through my body with each breath. The stiffness hasn’t set in yet, but it will before too long, and then it’ll be a small miracle if I can move at all.

Harlow turns away from me. “You don’t have a choice.”

I don’t know why she’s pissed at me. “All I did was try to protect you.”

“At the expense of the people who really need your protection.” She still doesn’t look at me. “Just…stop. Eli, just stop, okay? Abel isn’t bluffing. If you try to double-cross him, he’ll make you pay.”

By using her.

I slump down into the chair next to the bed. She’s right. I’ve fucked this all up. It doesn’t change the reason for my actions. “I’ve only ever wanted to keep you safe.”

“I know.” She sounds like it makes her sad.

I’ve never wanted to make Harlow sad. I only want the best for her, to keep her as protected as a person can be when they live in Sabine Valley. She’s the most important person in my life, and I’ve failed her. “I’m sorry.”

In the bathroom, the shower shuts off. I stare at the door. If I kill Abel—

“Don’t. Whatever you’re thinking, don’t. Even if you somehow incapacitate him, there are six Paine brothers outside this door. They will kill you, Eli. Even if he doesn’t, they will.” Her breath hitches. “Please stop fighting this. Please just think for a minute. You’re going to make everything worse.”

Just like I did in the amphitheater.

But I couldn’t sit there and watch him take my woman. I barely have any memory of following her down the stairs, of challenging him to another fight. The fight itself? Every single missed opportunity is tattooed across my mind. Even with all my training, I was no match for Abel.

I never was, even when we were kids.

I drag my hand over my face and wince when the move reopens a cut on my cheek. I’m a fucking mess. “I won’t make things worse for you tonight,” I say softly. The knowledge of what comes next clogs my throat and has rage creating an inferno inside me.

The door opens, and Abel appears, a towel wrapped around his waist. He looks… Fuck, he looks good. I hate that he looks good. Now that the blood is cleaned away, I can see the scattering of new scars across his torso, the sign of a life roughly lived.

Where’s he been for the last eight years?

My father’s men chased the Paine brothers for years after their father’s death. I know for a fact that the search continued until my father’s death five years ago. They never found a trace of anything. It was as if Abel and his brothers disappeared into thin air.

Abel never was one to let a blow go unanswered, and my family dealt him several on that bloody night eight years ago.

He looks at me now, and there’s nothing of the man I used to know. Abel always was harder than his brothers, as befitting the heir to the Raider faction, but he was never cold. Now, it feels like the room temperature drops twenty degrees as he walks in.

He looks like his father. More, he feels like his father.

That scares the shit out of me. Bauer Paine was one of the most monstrous people I’ve ever come across, and the one thing Abel never wanted was to become his father. That the events of that night put him on this path…

I can’t afford to feel guilty. I can only deal with the situation at present.

He gives me a long look. “You have two choices, Eli.”

As much as I want to wring his neck, I can’t help drawing on my public persona. It’s a stress response, but it’s served me well throughout my life. People underestimate me constantly. Abel won’t, but that doesn’t matter. Lifelong habits are impossible to break. I laugh. “Let me guess; an easy way and a hard way.”

“You got it.” Abel doesn’t miss a beat, doesn’t blink. “You can be a good boy and go take a shower so you don’t get blood on the sheets, or you can choose the hard way.”

Go take a shower and leave Harlow alone with Abel? Out of the question. “Fuck off.”

Abel arches his dark brows. “Figured you’d say that.” He nods at Harlow. “Bedside table, top drawer.”

For a second, it looks like she’ll argue, but she finally nods and obeys. A few seconds later, she turns around with handcuffs dangling from her finger. “Kinky.”

“You have no idea, sweetheart.” He motions to me. “Cuff him to the chair. Do a good job of it, or I’m going to have to hurt him. Again.”

Harlow thins her lips but doesn’t argue. She moves behind the chair I’m sitting on and slaps the cuff around one wrist. I feel her lacing it through the back of the chair, keeping me in place, and then she cuffs the other wrist. I yank on it. I can’t help myself. The chair is metal. Even if I wasn’t one big ball of pain right now, there’s no way I could break free. “Fuck you, Abel.”

“Don’t put this on me. You chose the hard way.” Abel gives me a vicious grin. “I was trying to be civilized. You’re the one breaking your word and putting everyone you care about in danger. I’m merely the natural consequences in action.” He turns to Harlow. “You good?”

She glares. “Good is not the word I’d choose.”

“Figured as much.” He stalks a slow circle around her, devouring her with his gaze. “You’re a sexy little thing, aren’t you? Bet you can take a beating.”

I tense, and the cuffs rattle against the chair. Harlow looks at me a long moment, and there’s something in her dark eyes that I’ve never seen before. She turns away before I can fully comprehend it, but the image lingers in my mind. Realization washes over me.

Rage.

Not just angry. Not just upset. She’s fucking furious with me.

And Abel knows it.