“Right.” Scarlet shook her head. Liar.
Her eyes moved about the darkness of the car and took everything in. The seats were leather and the interior was very clean. The instrument lights on the dashboard cast an eerie glow on Tristan’s profile and Scarlet’s breath caught.
He was bleeding. Badly.
Her eyes trailed down to his body, where dark stains seeped through his shirt and pants.
He had blood all over him.
His beautiful face... his beautiful body...was bloody.
She stared at him another minute before swallowing and filling up with gratitude.
He’d fought for her tonight.
He’d been stabbed and hurt so some weirdo hadn’t hurt her.
Tristan had protected her.
She remembered the memory flash she’d had at the top of the stairs and she softened inside.
There had to be more to Tristan than coldness. It didn’t make sense that he hated her.
Somewhere, a long time ago, he’d held her in his arms and promised her…something. Guys that hate you don’t make promises under the stars.
Scarlet’s heart kicked as she looked him over. A piece of her wanted to climb into his arms and kiss all his boo-boos.
She was pathetic.
“You’re bleeding.” Her eyes ran over the many cuts and bloodstains on his body. “You need to go to a hospital.”
He didn’t answer for a moment, as if lost in thought.
“Tristan,” she said, trying to get his attention.
He blinked and furrowed his brow before glancing at her. “What?”
“You need to see a doctor.” Scarlet reached across the seat to touch the side of his face where a piece of hair was matted to the stream of blood on his forehead, but he abruptly ducked out of her reach.
Like her hand was poison.
Like he was disgusted by the idea of her touch.
The rejection stung as Scarlet quickly pulled her hand back.
He shook his head. “No. No, I’m immortal, remember? I don’t need doctors.”
“But you’re….” Scarlet eyed the blood oozing from the side of his chest. “You’re bleeding pretty bad…and you’re probably in a lot of pain—“
“I’m fine,” he snapped.
Scarlet raised a brow. “Fine. Bleed to death. Whatever.”
You can die for all I care.
The thought stole the breath from her lungs and Scarlet silently scolded herself.
Looking out the windows, she noticed the road they were on was dark and familiar. “Where are we going?”
“The only safe place I know.” Tristan pulled off onto a dirt road.
“Your cabin?”
He nodded.
“Let me get this straight. We’re not calling the cops, and you think your isolated cabin in the middle of nowhere is the safest place to keep me? Brilliant plan.”
“The cabin—and the land around it—are secure. And if we call the police, and explain what happened, they’ll open an investigation. We can’t have random strangers prying into your life, Scarlet. If people start looking too closely at you, they might look closely at Gabriel too. And that kind of attention will only hinder the whole curse thing. So, I’m going to hand you over to Gabriel so he can take care of you like a good little boyfriend and you’re not going to call the cops, got it?”
“You’re a jerk,” Scarlet said, because she was feeling feisty. And a little hurt by Tristan flinching at her hand a moment ago. Her eyes started burning again.
“That’s me. The jerk.” Tristan pulled out his phone—a phone that was not in the middle of the woods—from a pocket of his jeans and sent a text.
As soon as they pulled into the cabin’s driveway, Gabriel rushed out of the front door and followed them into the garage.
He came to Scarlet’s side of the car as she opened her door. “Are you okay?” Gabriel ran his hands across her head and shoulders and back as she stood from the car. “Did anyone hurt you? What the hell happened?” He paused, looking curiously at her eyes. “How do you feel?”
Scarlet shook her head, welcoming Gabriel’s affectionate touch across her body. “I’m fine. Really, I’m fine.”
But she wasn’t.
Sure, she had no scars on her body and she didn’t have dried blood caked to her shirt like Tristan, but her heart was beating out of control.
Someone had come after her tonight.
And here she thought her biggest problem was trying to outlive a curse.
44
In the cabin, Tristan explained what happened to his brother.
Gabriel’s reaction was predictable; “We need to take Scarlet somewhere to keep her safe. Maybe she could stay at one of our other places, where no one can find her—”
“No, Gabe. We’re not taking her anywhere. What we need to do is figure out what the hell this is.” Tristan tossed the black headband onto the coffee table in the living room. “Whoever that guy was tonight, he was going to do something to Scarlet with that. We need to know what it is and what it does, so we can understand exactly what he was after tonight.”
Gabriel picked up the black band and examined it. “I’ve never seen anything like it before.”
“Neither have I. But it doesn’t look like something friendly.” He looked at Scarlet, standing scared and confused in her pajamas.
Gabriel wrapped his arm around her small shoulders and Tristan wanted to growl.
Leaving Scarlet to be protected by Gabriel was the last thing he wanted to do.
But when did he ever get what he wanted?
“Okay.” Tristan pulled his eyes away from Gabriel, and looked down at his bloody shirt. “I need to take a shower.”
“You need to see a doctor.” Scarlet’s voice was steady, which filled Tristan with confidence that she would be all right.
Tonight had been scary, but Scarlet could handle it.
She was tough.
She was brave.
Even if she didn’t remember she had it, her strength was still there, deep inside her. Which made him kinda proud.
Tristan inhaled slowly, trying not to sound like a jackass when he said, “I don’t. Need. A doctor.”
“But all the blood….” Scarlet’s eyes ran down his body, stirring something inside him.
Something forbidden.
He needed her to stop looking at him. He needed her to stop caring.
“You’re bleeding everywhere,” Scarlet said.
She didn’t remember how he healed, so it was only fair for him to remind her. His head gash was still bleeding so, instead, he yanked the collar of his shirt down so Scarlet could see a deep knife wound at the top of his chest, slowly closing up.
“Gabriel and I heal. Knife wounds, bullet wounds…nothing kills us. See?”
Well…almost nothing.
Scarlet took a step forward and looked up at his collarbone where his open flesh was mending itself in slow motion. Her body heat laid upon him as she neared and he gritted his teeth.
Scarlet’s eyes grew in wonder. “That’s…amazing.” Her breath feathered across the wound and nearly drove him to insanity.
In an instant, her eyes turned electric blue, brightening as she looked at his exposed collarbone, and sending alarm through his body.
Her eyes had been pulsing in and out of their supernatural blue color all night, flashing at Tristan and sending terror through his veins.
“Okay.” His released his shirt collar and took a step back. “Show and tell is over. I’m going to take a shower and rinse all this blood off.”
And, hopefully, wash away the fear, helplessness, and desire pouring from his core.
Without looking at Scarlet, he left the room and went downstairs.