Chapter Fifty-Two
Blade’s POV
The sunrise didn't bring warmth; it brought a cold, sharp clarity that felt like a slap. I slipped out of Skyler’s room at 5:00 AM, the air in the hallway tasting of stale dust and old engine oil. I felt hollowed out. My skin still carried the phantom heat of her touch, and my mind was a fractured mess of guilt and dangerous obsession.
I needed to get back to the barracks, to strip off the smell of her and scrub the evidence of the night off my skin before anyone noticed the bruises I’d left on her thighs or the scratches on my back.
I was halfway across the main yard, my boots crunching on the gravel, when the clubhouse door swung open. Stone stepped out, clutching a steaming mug of black coffee, looking as refreshed and predatory as a man who had just wo
