WILD (Naked, Book 3) (9 page)

He sighed. “I can’t really tell you, Caelyn. I don’t have time—I have to get dressed. My brother’s coming by to pick me up in a few minutes.”

“Don’t go,” she said. Her voice was strained.

He looked frustrated by her plea. “You don’t even know where I’m going, Caelyn.”

“I know that it isn’t anything good,” she told him.

“You don’t…” but his voice drifted off. He seemed to be reconsidering.

“Whatever it is, you don’t have to do it,” she said. “You’re making a fresh start.

Remember?”

But then his eyes met hers again and she knew it was already over. She’d lost.

“I’ve got to do this. Some things have to be dealt with.” He started getting his clothes together, pulling a t-shirt over his head.

Caelyn stood up and went to where he was, grabbing his wrist to get his attention.

“What things have to be dealt with?”

“Don’t,” he said.

“Don’t what?”

“Don’t make it about us.”

She stared into his eyes. “You know it’s about us. Wherever you’re going, it’s not something I’d be okay with. That’s why you don’t want to tell me.”

“I don’t want to tell you because you wouldn’t understand. This isn’t your world.”

“Try me,” she said.

He sighed, pulling away from her as he continued dressing. “I really don’t have time. It’s happening. I have to go. I’ll be back before you know it.”

Caelyn tried to imagine where he could be going and what it might involve. “Is this some kind of payback thing? Are you going to go hurt somebody?” she said.

His shoulders tightened and she was sure she’d hit close to the mark.

But Elijah didn’t slow down. He was pulling on a dark coat, and then kneeling down and retrieving his gun from under the mattress. “It’s better if you don’t know.”

She couldn’t believe what she was seeing, what he was actually doing. “This is about us, Elijah. You’re risking everything—you might go to jail—and then what happens to us?”

He tucked the gun in the waistband of his pants and pulled the coat over it. He finally made eye contact with her. “I’m not going to jail. Believe me, I’m actually pretty good at this stuff.”

She shook her head. “You sound insane.”

He smiled slightly. “Listen, I’ll be back—“

“Tell me where you’re going or I won’t be here when you come home.”

His smile disappeared. “That’s a threat?”

“It’s the truth. I swear it.”

His eyes hardened. “Fine. Have it your way, Caelyn.” He zipped his jacket halfway. “My brother found out who broke into the apartment and took my money.”

“And you’re going to do what, exactly?”

“Come on,” he said, the smile returning, but it wasn’t a friendly smile. “You’re smarter than that.”

She wanted to cry but refused to do so. “Your brother could be wrong.”

“I don’t think so. It makes sense. Apparently Hayley’s started hanging out with a guy from one of the crews that we have major beef with. Seems like maybe she’s in it for revenge against me, or maybe it’s a coincidence. Either way, word hit the street that these clowns punked me, and we really can’t let that slide.”

“So this is just you being afraid of what people think?” she challenged him.

“You’re worried about your reputation or something? And it’s worth possibly dying or going to jail over that?”

Elijah laughed. “I told you that you wouldn’t get it.” He seemed calmer somehow. “In my world, if people find out that we sat back and did nothing, I’m going to get hit again and again. They’ll keep coming after me if they suspect that I’m weak.”

“Then we’ll move away.”

“I tried that already, remember?” He moved towards the door.

“Elijah,” she cried out. “Don’t. Please, I have a horrible feeling about this.”

He kept walking. “I have to go.”

She followed him into the hallway as he headed to leave. He stopped and turned to her one last time before going. “I do love you,” he said. “Okay? Will you at least believe that?”

She nodded, but just barely. She was so angry at him, and hurt, but most of all she was just scared.

When the door slammed, she looked up and couldn’t quite believe he’d really and truly gone.

Caelyn went to the window and looked out on the street. There was a sleek black car parked at the sidewalk, and seconds later, she saw Elijah get inside the car and then it took off.

How had this gotten so out of control? How had she ended up in this position?

Elijah was going to either kill someone or be killed himself, she just knew it.

As the minutes passed, she tried to talk herself out of it.

Maybe he’s just going to beat someone up or scare them—threaten them a little
bit like he did with J.D.

But she couldn’t quite believe it.

Still, there was some kind of sick hope, some ability to ignore all of the horrible facts and instead move towards fantasy. Maybe Elijah wouldn’t go through with it—

maybe he would say no. Maybe he would force his brother to turn around and drive him back home at the last moment.

But as the time ticked by, her faint hopes were replaced with the certainty that Elijah was going to die.

Caelyn sat at the kitchen table drinking coffee, staring at the door, waiting.

Minutes became hours.

The sun started to rise, coloring the sky beautifully outside the window, but it looked too much like blood to her.

The coffee was bitter in her mouth.

And then she heard footsteps coming up the stairs and her heart rocketed into action, and her hand gripped the cup so tightly it nearly burst.

Keys in the lock of the door and then the door opened, and when she saw him standing in the doorway, she was so relieved that she stood up, shaking.

“Thank God—“ she started.

But then she saw him.

His clothes were spattered with blood, as was his face. He looked as though he’d just spent the last few hours in a slaughterhouse.

“You need to leave and get far away from me,” he told her. “You’re not safe here anymore, Caelyn.”

THE END OF BOOK 3

STAY TUNED FOR BOOK 4 OF NAKED, COMING SOON.

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