Free Red & Wolfe Part 4: An Erotic Fairy Tale by Ella James

was a motive. He molested her, and when she grew up, he harassed her all the time. Cookie was a dominatrix, Red. She couldn’t handle being fucked without being in charge.”
I frown at him, confused. “But…”
“Yeah, I know. It didn’t work. I can’t sub. Not until today. It brings back…unpleasant memories.”
My eyes widen, as I speculate on what that means.
“No,” he corrects me. “Not like Cookie. I was just…punished.”
“With sex?”
He shakes his head. “No sex. My father was a dom. Is a dom. It made for a convenient punishment—all those whips and canes. He still thinks it was me… with Cookie. Motherfucker still feels guilty, I think, for fucking me up enough to kill the girl next door.”
“Oh, Race.”
He walks toward the kitchen, and when he’s eight or ten feet away from me, he turns slowly around and stares at me. Stares through me.
“I went to her father, told him to leave her alone. He knew she was living the lifestyle, fucking other men. He couldn’t stand it. Fucking jealous bastard. So he would call her. Fuck around with her. It was driving her mad. So I went to D.C.—to where he worked… and I threatened him. The Tuesday before…
“That night she called, I wasn’t close enough to Greenwich. By the time I got there…” He presses his hands against his head, as if he can’t bear to have the memory there.
“He was tied into a sort of web, kind of like you were. She was in a simple noose. And…on the back of her tights…” He bites his lips. “There was so much blood, Red. So much blood. Christ, he really hurt her. When I found her, Red, her eyes were open.” His voice breaks a little, and I walk slowly to him. Wrap my arms around him.
“Oh my God, Race. I’m so sorry.”
“I wanted to kill that bastard. I tried to tell the prosecutors it was him. But I was done already. I showed up at the scene. Cookie had called me. I showed up at the scene and I had been at dom clubs, had a bunch of subs. It was always on me. No one would believe me.”
“But they did. You got off.”
He laughs. “Did I?”
I don’t know what to say, so I just hold him. He doesn’t move or even seem to breathe for a long time. Then his arms come around my back and he tucks my head against his shoulder. It’s such a gentle motion, and when he strokes my cheek, I want to cry.
“I won’t put you in danger, Red. I won’t.”
 “What will you do about yourself?” I whisper.
“Keep them here.” He looks down into my eyes. “I’ll get the truth out of Linn, and then I’ll hold them here to verify. If he is working for Smythson, I’ll make someone come for them. Nice thing about an island,” he murmurs. “It’s defensible.”
“And you really think I’d be safer in Boston than here?” I ask.
“Go to the newspaper. Sleep there if you have to. Stay with a friend or at a hotel. I don’t care what you have to do. I’ll have someone tell you when it’s okay. When you’re safe again. I swear to God, Red, I’ll make sure you’re safe.”
He sounds so vehement. Like he really cares about me. Did he love Cookie? I have to think he must have. Apparently, I ask the question aloud. I know I do, because he flinches.
He takes a deep breath. Looks down at me. “I developed feelings for her. She didn’t want them. It was supposed to be an open marriage. That’s how she got me to say yes. I was a bachelor, she needed to marry to inherit her family’s fortune. Her father favored a much older man, one who later got caught man-handling a housekeeper. But Cookie chose me. It was an unfortunate thing that I fell in love with her.”
My chest aches. Oh, poor Race. “I’m sure she must have cared for you.”
He shakes his head. “She was too scared to get close to anyone. Probably for the best.”
I frown. “Why?”
“I’m not meant for those sorts of relationships.”
“Why aren’t you?”
He releases me from his grasp, as if to prove a physical point. We’re standing in front of each