Hunter (King’s Men MC #1)

25. Ryleigh

25

RYLEIGH

I jumped about a foot in the air and turned around to an impassive-looking Xavier.

He was standing by the door, his arms crossed over his chest, and I swallowed, trying not to show my fear.

He wouldn’t hurt me.

I had to believe that, otherwise, I wouldn’t be in a relationship with him in the first place. But I had been doing something wrong, and he’d caught me.

“You’re home early,” was all I managed to say.

“Had a couple of the guys take over for me. I wanted to come home to you.”

“Right,” was my response.

“What are you looking for?” he asked, coming closer to me. I tilted my head back to look him in the eye.

I swallowed and licked my parched lips before answering, “Nothing.”

We didn’t say anything for a moment.

I tilted my chin up stubbornly, daring him to call me out on lying so that I could call him out as well .

But his face remained impassive. At this point, even a rock couldn’t crack it.

Then he let out a small sigh and wrapped his arms around my waist, holding me close to him.

“Let’s just go to sleep. I’ve had a long day, yeah?” he asked softly.

A part of me was disappointed he didn’t take me up on my challenge. The other part was just glad.

Perhaps I wasn’t ready to learn all of his secrets… right?

I nodded. “Okay.”

So that was what we did.

We got ready for bed, and Xavier pulled me close in his arms when we finally climbed into bed together.

He kissed me softly on my lips before turning off the light and spooning me from behind.

I stayed wide awake, even when I felt his arms relaxing around me and his breath evening out to indicate he had fallen asleep.

I didn’t know what I was supposed to do, but burying my head in the sand was no longer an option.

I had fallen in love with Xavier.

And I was so fucking scared it might just be the biggest mistake of my life.

I looked off to the side when something flashing caught my attention.

My phone and his phone rested on the bedside table, charging.

My heart thudded harshly against my chest at the thoughts crossing my mind.

Could I do this?

Hesitantly, I reached out my hand for his phone.

Xavier shifted slightly behind me, and I paused, waiting a while and listening to his breathing .

When that didn’t change, I continued until I had the device in my palm.

I unplugged it, cursing silently when it made a small ping, and holding the phone close to my chest.

I took three deep breaths to calm my racing heart and pulled the covers over my head.

I looked at his phone.

It wasn’t locked.

Who doesn’t have a lock on their phone these days?

I didn’t know, but I wasn’t going to look at a gift horse in the mouth.

It took me a moment to gather my courage to pull up the messaging app on his phone.

I read the texts he exchanged with Micah, but they might as well be talking in code because the text messages made no sense.

There were random words all over the place, like tree, house, car, and street, and at one point, it seemed like Micah was telling him a… bedtime story?

What the hell?

I got out of the message thread and looked at the next person on his text list.

Me.

Then…

My heart ran cold.

Dominic?

It couldn’t be that Dominic, right?

But Kai had shown up in front of his apartment.

And there were messages from Kai as well.

One thread caught my attention.

He was talking to Xavier, I was sure of it.

But-But, he wasn’t using the name Xavier.

I read the line over and over again, trying to make sense of what I was really seeing .

“Roman, u need to call Dad.”

Dad, as in Dominic.

And Roman, as in…

Tears stung my eyes as my heart froze in fear.

That…

That wasn’t possible.

I closed the messaging app and pulled up the photo app.

There were very few in there.

Seven pictures by my count.

All of me.

In my bed.

When he hadn’t been there.

There were cameras in my bedroom, put in there by Roman Stone.

The man I sent to prison for two years.

And now he was in my life.

And I had fallen in love with him.

I covered my mouth when a small sob tried to escape, and very slowly, I pushed his arms away from me, my skin crawling where he had touched me.

I looked around the room in the dark, trying to get my eyes to adjust through the tears.

I grabbed my phone.

Who would I call?

The police?

My dad?

Tell him how stupid I had been to fall in love with a man who wanted to destroy me.

Hurt me?

And earlier, I had thought he would never physically harm me.

How fucking wrong was I?

A part of me wished he had just hurt me and moved on.

It would have hurt a lot less than this betrayal. I wiped my tears away with my forearm, and just as I was about to open the door to his room, a shiver ran through me.

The hairs on the back of my neck stood up, and I knew before turning around that I was too late.

Too fucking late.

“Baby,” he said softly. I sucked in a stuttered breath. “Where are you going?”

Something pierced my neck, and I turned around and looked at him with wide eyes.

The moonlight coming through the window provided just enough light for me to see his eyes.

The very same eyes from my nightmare.

And then the drug took effect, and everything went black.