He hit the button on the speaker and KISS came pounding out in waves of hard-ass metal.
Yep. Sawyer had been in here recently.
Wolfe got to work.
WHERE WAS HE GOING?
Gen lay awake in the dark and listened as someone walked down the stairs. Came from Wolfe’s end of the hallway. She should lie here and try to go back to sleep. He’d been quite vocal in his determination to put her back in the friendship box, even after their incredible night of sex and orgasms and tenderness. He refused to even look at her now, choosing to engage in ridiculous conversation, duck his head, and keep far away from her in case she jumped him.
Which she had wanted to do. Plus beat him. But she kept her dignity and tried to remember Arilyn’s advice. Live in the moment. Don’t analyze or question. Let the day guide the relationship. Don’t pressure.
Arilyn’s advice really sucked.
Screw it. She’d follow him. Gen already knew he suffered from regular nightmares. Sometimes she’d wake to use the bathroom and find a tangle of empty sheets on the couch where he slept. She knew he liked to hit the gym or go running, but when she tried questioning him more about the nightmares, he shut back down again.
She padded on bare feet and tried to follow the trail. It took a few times and checking various rooms in the mansion before she finally found another door that led down a staircase. The knob turned easily in her fingers.
She stepped in.
The bold sounds of heavy-metal music, rough and angry, screamed through the speakers. The room was full of gym equipment, but there was only one focal point as she shut the door behind her.
Wolfe.
He stood in the center of the room. A large punching bag swung from a chain. He wore boxing gloves and the leather wristbands. Sneakers on his feet. Bare chested.
She sucked in her breath.
He was beautiful. Raw. His fists moved in a blur of pounding, attacking the bag over and over, sharp jabs, wicked lefts, feet planted as he beat the crap out of something imaginary, something that had broken him and changed him forever. His hips rotated with each punch, highlighting eight-pack abs. The serpent gleamed with sweat, twisting over his body like a friend and confidant.
Liquid dripped from his hair, brows, sliding down his chest. His eyes were dark slits, concentrated on another time, hate and fury whipping around him in waves. She stood completely still, not daring to breathe, her gaze clinging to the mass of rock-hard muscles, bulging biceps, powerful thighs. His body was like a well-trained beast, smooth and golden and strong, and the wanting slammed through her, causing a moan to vibrate from her chest. Heat spread in her veins and her pussy grew wet and ready.
Gen had no idea how long she watched him or when he finally realized she was in the room. With a vicious kick, the bag swung and surrendered to his brutality, and his head turned.
Their gazes clashed. Locked.
Time stopped.
His breath came out in short bursts. Never breaking the connection, a fierce hunger and rage gleamed in those blue eyes, and for the first time, Gen was afraid.
He was uncivilized. She’d entered a place he blocked others from visiting. Gen glimpsed the dark beast lurking behind the barriers, but Wolfe kept it chained, deep in the dungeon, not fit for human contact. Right now, as she looked at him, she realized she had just entered hell.
“You need to get out.” His jaw clenched, and he practically hissed out the words. The serpent seemed to be whispering the commands in his ear. “Now.”
She almost left. Knew it would be better. But she’d reached a turning point, and had one last shot at getting him to break. Open up to her. Give her a chance to let her love him. In this room, tonight, the demons needed to be sprung.
“No.”
A growl rose from his throat. “Not fucking around, Gen. It’s not safe here.”
“I don’t want to be safe from you.” She glanced pointedly at the bag. “Nightmare?”
The pain carved in his face made her want to weep, wail, leave. But she stayed, swearing to see it out to the ugly end, no matter what the result. They owed each other this much. “Yeah. I get them now and then, so I prefer to work it out of my system. Alone.”
“Maybe that’s the problem. You’ve been alone too long.”
“Not up for this now. Go back to bed and we’ll talk in the morning.”
“What if I don’t want to talk?”
He muttered a vicious curse. She dropped her gaze and watched his iron-hard erection stretching his shorts. “I don’t think you want to talk either.”
“Don’t. I’m not safe right now.”
She took a step closer. “There’s that word again. Safe. Do we need to be safe from each other? Safe from the world? Why don’t you tell me what you really want and cut through all this exhausting bullshit?”