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“What the fuck,” Darien panted, his lungs suddenly tight.

He hurried downstairs, his footfall so heavy that the pictures on the walls shook. Just as he reached the entrance hall, the front door swung open, and Ivy stepped in.

Darien froze.

Ivy paused too. The look on her face told him everything he needed to know, and he felt something in his chest split in half. “Darien—”

“You took her away, didn’t you?” It felt like someone had punched him in the stomach, his words coming out as winded as he felt.

Ivy shut the door. Leaned back against it. Crossed her arms. “She just needs time.”

“Is that what she told you? Where did you take her?” That voice…he barely recognized it. It was as helpless and defeated as he felt.

“Back to the academy.”

He started pacing, running his hands through his damp hair repeatedly. “Did she say anything else? What did she tell you? She was scared, wasn’t she? I scared her—”

“Darien, please,” Ivy tried. “You’re looking into it too much.”

“Does this have anything to do with Valary? Is Loren scared of her? Is it because she saw me fucking another woman? Is that it?”

“Darien, she didn’t say anything about Valary, okay?”

Then it was the killing, the blood all over the floor, the fucking dead look in his eyes. Or maybe it was a combination of things. Maybe Valary’s memories did have something to do with it, and Loren wasn’t admitting it. Maybe he’d screwed up in more ways than he’d realized—

“Just give her a few days,” Ivy pleaded gently. “She’ll figure it out.”

“Figure out what?” he said, the question desperate as he threw his hands out at his sides. The hands that snapped necks and drove knives into bodies. “That the man she agreed to date is a monster who kills people while she’s sleeping?” This was bound to happen, wasn’t it? It was only a matter of time before reality set in, and the fairy-tale she’d dreamt up about him became clouded over with the dark truth.

“Darien,” Ivy tried again. “I promise everything will be okay. A few days—heck, even a week, a school week for crying out loud—and she’ll be right back here again, I know it. Time heals everything.”

No, it didn’t. It hadn’t healed him of his mother’s death, hadn’t healed him of his own sick addictions.

The body was remarkable at healing, but there were some scars that stayed longer than others, and some that never really healed at all.

He stalked to the closet and opened the door, shoving his feet into his boots without bothering to take them out of the cramped space first.

“What are you doing?” Ivy asked.

He didn’t bother with a jacket. Grabbing his keys out of the wooden bowl on the table, he walked up to the door, but Ivy was still blocking it.

“Darien.” Her voice was soft. Far softer than he deserved. “I’m not moving until you tell me what you think you’re going to accomplish by leaving this house.”

“I’m going for a drive,” he lied.

Ivy didn’t buy it. “If you go to that school—”

“I won’t.” He wasn’t sure if that was a lie or not, but he would figure it out once he got in his car.

A minute passed before Ivy uncrossed her arms and stepped out of the way. “Be careful—whatever you’re doing.”

He merely walked by her, not able to get out of this place fast enough, not wanting to say anything he might regret. He didn’t trust himself right now. If he wasn’t careful, he might destroy everything around him, including every relationship he’d ever built.

What was he becoming?

As soon as he was in his car, he took out his phone. Despite what his sister had advised him to do, he still found himself dialling Loren’s number. When it went straight to voicemail, her sweet voice drifting through the speaker, he hung up and called Dallas instead.

The phone rang four times before she picked up. “Hey.” Not only did Dallas sound like she was already awake, but she sounded like she’d expected him to call, which didn’t surprise him. Loren had probably told her everything as soon as she’d entered the dorm room.