Free Rogue (Dead Man's Ink #2) by Callie Hart

at least before you head off on some wild goose chase in the early hours of the morning?”
    “If Cade comes in here looking like he just did, it means something important requires my attention. He wouldn’t ask me to come if it wasn’t entirely necessary. So yeah, I have to go.”
    “Couldn’t he just tell you what the hell has happened?”
    “In case you haven’t noticed, Sophia, Cade is not that wordy. He’s more of a show than a tell guy.” He winks, groaning as he carefully gets to his feet. I want to give him more morphine, but I get he still has a huge supply of the drug coursing through his circulatory system. More at this point could kill him. Dad used to tell me about that all the time—people who overdose on painkillers, both unintentionally and intentionally, and slip away without even so much as a by-your-leave. It happens so easily. They’re dangerous things, painkillers. And highly addictive to boot.
    “You feel like passing me a pair of jeans?” Rebel jerks his head toward his closet, brow furrowed in pain. “I think you’ll get there quicker than me.”
    I open up the door to his closet to find the most immaculately organized walk-in I’ve ever seen. T-shirts, shirts, belts, shoes—everything is placed and folded just so. Puts my room back on campus to shame. I like to think of my room as organized chaos, but the truth is it’s actually just chaos. I grab a pair of jeans, boxers and a t-shirt for him, and then I watch as he fights his way into his clothes. I’m about to ask him if he needs me to help him at one point but he holds his hand up as soon as I take a step toward him. The look he shoots me could freeze over hell. Eventually, after a good ten minutes of swearing under his breath, he’s fully dressed. I can tell the effort has cost him a lot, though. His face is pale, his forehead lightly speckled with sweat, and he doesn’t seem that steady on his feet.
    “Are you coming?” Cade calls through the closed door.
    “Jesus wept, man! I have a fucking hole in my side,” Rebel yells back. He starts to cross the room and I quickly snatch up my own jeans, kicking them on in record time.
    Rebel gives me a curious look, arching an eyebrow at me. “Where do you think you’re going?”
    “With you.”
    “No, you’re staying here.”
    “Funny, because I was sure you told me a couple of hours ago I could have free roam of the place if I wanted. Did I imagine that?” It takes me a second to realize my hands are on my hips, my own eyebrows raised in challenge. He’d better not take that back. He promised me I wouldn’t be cooped up in here any longer. If he reneges on our deal, it won’t matter what awful problem Cade and Carnie want to show him right now. He’ll have a much bigger problem on his hands: me .
    Rebel narrows his eyes. “I’m not saying you should stay here for the fun of it, Soph. It’s for your own good.”
    “I’m an adult. How about you let me make my own decisions for once, huh?”
    He stares at me a second longer before rolling his eyes. “Okay, fine. But remember, whatever happens, this was your call.”
    I drop my hands from my hips, trying to hide my surprise. “Great. Thank you.”
    Outside, Cade takes one look at me and shakes his head. “You won’t want her seeing this, man.”
    Rebel casts a look at me over his shoulder, a guarded look in his pale blue eyes. “She’s an adult, Cade. She can make her own decisions, apparently.”

    ******

    A hundred meters from the compound gate, a lone tree stands by the side of the dirt road, silhouetted against the rising sun. From the moment we leave the gate, making slow progress as Rebel hobbles after Cade and Carnie, I can see that something’s not right. It’s not until we’re much, much closer that I catch sight of the reason why Cade seems to be so agitated though.
    A body.
    A body hangs from the tree, upside down, suspended by one foot. The other leg hangs at an awkward angle. The foot which should