WinonaWe walked around each other on eggshells for a few days after that. He didn’t try anything again. When he left me a couple of days later, he told me to take an SUV out if I needed to, to be careful about where I went.He was trusting me and giving me space when he shouldn’t have.I tried to steer my mind to the fact that Sebastian was here for me, wanted me, and that he trusted me to take control where I wanted to.Still, my mind veered off course and found its way to the man who didn’t want anything to do with me. HJ hadn’t called, hadn’t texted, hadn’t come to visit Sebastian in an effort to see me. He’d avoided everything we were, and now I wondered if it was because he was as broken as me. He’d lost his father by his own hands. The one person he should have been able to rely on made HJ exercise the monster in him in the most brutal way. He protected the family by taking his dad’s life.When I got to Heathen’s Bar, the host greeted me with a smile and waved me in. Every hea

WinonaIthought seeing HJ with Sebastian would be easier.He stood there in that boutique unscathed by my being there with another man. I was certain he had no true feelings except hate toward me after screaming at me to leave the bar.Not that I cared.Except that I did. Except that I couldn’t stop thinking of him sliding in and out of me, of how his eyes pulled me in, of how my body gravitated toward him and was repelled by anyone else now.He was supposed to care a little too. We were supposed to be bound by our inability to bind to anyone else.So I pushed every one of his red do-not-touch buttons.“Get the fuck back in the dressing room and change,” HJ said in a low voice.“What crawled up your ass?” I put a hand on my hip and waited for an answer.“You’re purposely trying to rub me the wrong way today, Winona.” “Maybe I’m rubbing you just the right way.” I winked at him.One of his massive hands went to the back of his neck, and he pulled on it hard as he sighed up to the ceili

Winona“So, you have to go with Sebastian alone?” Brey asked me again, like I was the worst friend in the world a couple days later on the night of the gala.“It’s best just this one time. We’re running late, anyway.”“It’s been more than just one time now, and Jax and I can wait. We have the babysitter all night.”I winced at the reminder that my high school best friend, the one I’d somehow managed to keep by my side all these years, had a child. She had a family. A good one. A solid one.One I would not put in any type of danger.“We’re probably going to run really late, if you know what I mean.” I paced around the counter in Sebastian’s penthouse with my beaded black dress all zipped up, heels clicking on the tile while Sebastian chuckled softly as he read a newspaper.“No, I don’t know what you mean,” she deadpanned, totally and completely knowing what I meant. She was pissed, but my friend had the manners of an etiquette coach. I knew pushing anyone’s boundaries was hard for her.

WinonaMen, by nature, had to be stupid. I was sure of it.Sebastian had given me numerous lectures about not leaving his side, as if I were a sheep, only accustomed to being herded.I played the role well enough and nodded at his requests. Then I promptly faked having to pee.He didn’t even question me.Women should have been leading the world, not men.It took one coy look Georgie’s way and a lift of an eyebrow for him to excuse himself. He knew better than to draw a crowd. He wanted time alone; he wanted an explanation.He wanted me.I strode out onto the balcony. The wind chilled me, and the night air washed over me like a calm before a storm. The stars from this far out of the city shone brighter, louder, and more vividly.The cool cement railing was just thick enough to allow me to lean on it and really peer up into the night, get lost in the darkness of it all. This was the place I felt most at home, surrounded by nothing but myself in a fine outfit, bathed in ink-black shadows

WinonaI came to, and the first thing that hit me was a migraine from the chloroform hangover.I didn’t move. Waking up as a captive and waking up next to an angry, violent lover were very much the same.I relaxed my body and kept my breathing slow. I listened for any sound—voices, TVs, footsteps, traffic outside; any clue that could tell me where I was.I lay across a cushioned surface that felt much like a leather couch, and some cloth was draped over my body. I felt the tulle of my dress still wrapped around me, but the knife that should have dug into my ribs was gone.My kidnapper had wrapped me in a blanket and laid me on a couch? Left me dressed? It seemed they’d be playing nice once they knew I was awake.With just the sound of cars in the distance, I knew we must still be in the city, but whoever was with me, they weren’t giving much away. No one talked or walked around, and I couldn’t smell anything except . . . a hint of metal mixed with aftershave, like he’d washed away the