The Promise (Wolfe Creek Duet #2)

4

WESLEY

I roll over. A dull thumping penetrated my dreams, pulling me from sleep. It takes me a few seconds to realize what the sound is and where it’s coming from.

Who the hell is working out this early?

Looking at my phone, I see it’s half past seven. Thea. I should’ve known. She’s been in this routine for the last week—hitting the gym every morning. Although, her music is extra loud today.

Might as well join her. I know what’s coming. Better to face it sooner rather than later.

I jump in the shower to wake myself fully, then brush my teeth before pulling on a pair of joggers. Grabbing a shirt, I start to pull it over my head, but change my mind. It might be a bit chilly now, however, whatever’s about to go down in the gym will heat me up in one way or another.

Sighing, I head out of my room and make my way toward the music.

Pushing open the door a little, I see Thea with gloves on. She’s going to town on the punching bag. Sweat glistens over her exposed skin. This morning, she’s wearing a sports bra and a pair of workout shorts. Fuck, she looks so good.

The sight of her reminds me of the first time I chased her through the woods and tore off those yellow shorts, then fucked her wildly. My cock aches at the thought. I doubt she’ll be interested in that this morning, not after Damian’s news yesterday.

She called us all out for lying to her, yet again. Thea’s not wrong. There have been countless lies since we’ve known her. She’s lied too. We learned the depth of her deception after Cole kidnapped her, but I honestly can’t blame her. She thought she could handle things. Her independence is sacred to her.

Some days, I wonder if she’s still keeping secrets or if we’ll ever know the full extent of the ones she was hiding before Cole took her.

Maybe that’s why Thea’s been in here so much—working off the anger or sadness of everything that happened. That’s what I did all those years ago. I focused on myself. I hope that’s what she’s doing, too.

I look up from where I’ve been staring at her ass and catch her gaze in the mirrored wall. I wasn’t expecting a smile, but damn, the look she’s giving me could quite literally kill a man.

“Morning, beautiful,” I put forth softly, wondering how scathing her reply will be.

Those deep blue eyes narrow as her lips purse. “Is it?”

I push the rest of the way through the gym doors, striding toward her. She might be pissed, but that won’t stop me from showing her I care. Wrapping my arms around her from behind, I feel her body tense. That hurts a little. “I’m sorry, Thea. I really am.”

She pulls away and faces me. “Yeah. I seem to hear that a lot lately. It starts to lose its meaning after a while.”

She’s right. I can’t fault her for being angry with us, especially me, when I had the opportunity to tell her. “I wanted to tell you, I—”

“When? On the hike, when I asked about the tattoo? Conveniently, you have five wolves on your back. That’s not a coincidence, is it?”

I shake my head. “No. It’s not. Five wolves for five brothers. But please understand, I couldn’t tell you when you asked. Damian calls the shots. If I told you that day, there would have been serious consequences.”

Thea rolls her eyes. I know she doesn’t fully understand and I can’t dismiss her feelings. They’re valid, but so are mine. I couldn’t break my brother’s trust. I hardly knew her. I didn’t know if she’d even stick around long enough for Adrian to matter.

Taking a deep breath, I try again.

“I should have talked to Damian the day you asked. I should have encouraged him to tell you about Adrian. I’m sorry I didn’t.” I hope she hears the sincerity in my voice. I mean it—I should have urged Damian to tell her. “Can you forgive me?”

I feel guilty even asking for it, especially as her beautiful eyes soften at my words and I know it’s because she cares for me that she probably will. That’s what you do when someone matters so deeply to you. You forgive them, even if they don’t deserve it. And I don’t deserve it. None of us do.

This isn’t the only thing we’ve kept from Thea. There’s something else from our past that she still doesn’t know. I’m not sure telling her will do any good.

Cole’s history. More specifically, his mental break after Adrian went to prison. We knew he had the potential to be unhinged. But it’d been so long since that happened. He was fine. This shouldn’t have happened again.

Telling Thea when we first met her didn’t seem necessary. Cole dated plenty of women and had no issues, so we didn’t think this time would be any different. We were very wrong.

I don’t know if telling her now makes a difference. Thea knows how crazy our brother can get. It doesn’t seem worth the pain it might cause her or the damage it might do to our already fragile relationship.

Reaching out, I brush a stray lock of dark hair out of her face and I wonder if she knows how beautiful I think she is. Not just in looks, it’s everything about her.

I’m in awe of her very presence. The glow of her perfect skin. The crease of her brow. Her strength and tenacity. The now faint scars on her arm from her fight with Cole. The heave of her chest as she breathes in and out. How her tits push against her bra. Fuck, I need her. Now!

She sees the look on my face. I know she does by the way she leans back subconsciously, like she senses danger. Her prey instincts kicking in. My adrenaline surges.

Thea steps back, putting the punching bag between us. I can’t help the grin that creeps across my mouth . She’s learning my body language and making this game more fun. “What’s wrong?” I taunt coyly.

Her brows drop and I notice the slightest lean to her left, as if she’s about to take off. I lunge for her and miss as she switches to run to her right. Little trickster. I recover and find her quickly. At the other end of the gym, she’s put a push up bench between us. Thea’s trying to make her way to the door, but I’m two steps ahead of her.

“Wes,” she warns. Anyone else might take it as a sign to stop. However, if she wants me to stop, she’ll say it.

“Blue eyes,” I return, making my way toward her. Her eyes flit to the door and I smile, knowing I was right. “Wherever I catch you, I fuck you. Jessie’s working today. Keep that in mind, unless you don’t mind her watching.” Disgust makes her face twist.

I’m within arm’s reach when she bolts for the door. She still hasn’t figured it out—I’m quicker.

My hand shoots out and I get a handful of her hair. Thea lets out a screech as her head jerks backwards, stopping her in her tracks. My other hand wraps around her throat, pulling her closer.

The thud of her racing pulse against my fingertips makes my cock spring to life. I force Thea to sit on the bench and press into her back so that she can feel exactly how much I want her.

Gripping her chin, I make her look up at me. “Thought you could get away, huh?”

“You’re an animal,” she hisses before throwing an elbow back, hitting my hard on. Apparently I haven’t learned my lesson. She has no fear of going for a man’s most sensitive spot. I watch her fly out of the gym and hobble after her.

When I get my hands on her, she’s going to be marked up for weeks and she’s going to love every minute of it.

I catch the sight of her feet on the top steps, but as I’m following after her, Sutton pokes his head over the railing.

“Damian says it’s time to head out.”

God damn it. Thea’s one lucky girl. “Yeah, yeah. Coming,” I groan. Not the kind of coming I was hoping for. She owes me.

I head upstairs, a little annoyed that Sutton’s getting to stay home with her. Damian’s gotten a bit better about letting Thea go to and from work without an escort, but only because she’s agreed to text him when she arrives and leaves. He can also keep an eye on her while she’s at work through the cameras—she knows about those. What she doesn’t know about is the tracker in her satchel that’s transmitting her location.

Sutton and I had reservations about that, considering all the trauma she went through with Cole. But Damian had a good point. If our brother is still alive and his obsession with Thea persists, we need a chance at finding her if he ever decides to take her again.

We had to talk Damian out of implanting a tracker under her skin. He reluctantly agreed that he might be taking it a little far, but insisted on putting one in her truck and sharing her phone location. She doesn’t know about the trackers or her location being on. I don’t want to consider the backlash if she finds out, I just hope she doesn’t.

Since we’re going to be on the road a while, Damian insisted that Sutton stay behind, not just to keep an eye on Thea, but also because sitting in the car that long would likely be uncomfortable for him. He’s healed up nicely since the accident, although he’s probably always going to have some residual pain. Sitting for long periods or changes in the weather might always bother him.

I look around for Thea as I hit the top step, but don’t see her anywhere. I can’t help chuckling. It would have been exhilarating trying to find her. Thoughts of where I might find her float through my mind. I push them away, knowing that I won’t be able to do anything about fucking her for at least a few hours.

Heading into the kitchen, I open a drawer and grab the holster. I slide the clip over the waistband of my joggers. I’m still not accustomed to the weight of the weapon, even after carrying it constantly for the last month. I wonder if I’ll ever get used to it.

As I’m walking out the door, Jessie’s climbing out of her cousin’s car. “Hey.” I walk over to her and help her collect the bucket of cleaning supplies from the trunk. “Let me get that for you.”

She scowls, deepening the wrinkles in her skin. “I’m not feeble.” Jessie snatches the bucket from my hand and I laugh at her ballsy attitude. “Where’s the whore at? Want to avoid her at all costs today.”

I level a serious gaze at her. “She’s not a whore and she has a name, Thea. Get used to using it before Damian fires you and you lose your retirement plan.”

Jessie presses her lips together tightly, telling me my point’s been made, although that doesn’t mean she likes my stance. I watch her walk through the front door, hoping that she won’t cause any problems while we’re gone.

Damian honks the horn of his black Audi, urging me to hurry.

I don’t speed up, instead I stroll a little slower. He doesn’t have room to make demands right now. I’m pissed at my brother for putting us in this position. Thea’s angry with me because we didn’t tell her sooner. That’s his fault. He withheld this news from Sutton and me for a week and he’s renegotiating the terms of the pact to let Thea leave if she wants to.

He’s going to get an earful from me on this drive. I open the door and slide in, slamming the door so he knows we aren’t on good terms right now.

I get an eye roll from him as he speeds down the driveway toward the road. Yeah, I’d much rather be ripping Thea’s clothes to shreds right now. I’m pissed at him for that too, even if that isn’t necessarily his fault.

I’m okay with being irrational right now.

A shrill beep draws my attention to my pocket. I pull out my phone and open the message.

Carmen: She reached out and wants to meet up…

A chill runs through me. This isn’t anything I was expecting. I close the message and slip my phone back into my pocket. My gaze darts to Damian, but he’s not paying attention to me, thankfully.