Page 26 of Seduce & Destroy

He gave me a sceptical look but said nothing and continued to the door of the private kitchen. When the door clicked shut, Neenan was done being quiet. We’d basically lived parallel lives, he recognised a shift in the air before I could even release my next breath.

“Why are you hiding from Kenna?”

“I’m not,” I insisted, looking inside the fridge for something to eat. I saw Red Leicester cheese and grabbed it immediately. As I grabbed the block of cheese, another red food caught my eye and caused them to glaze over.

Red velvet cake. It was still there. I gulped, thickly. I miss you, Til.

He came up behind me and placed a light hand on my shoulder. I tried not to shudder. Unsuccessfully. “It’s okay to be paranoid. With the attacks on your family and the fact that Dylan–”

“It’s not that.” I said. Next, I opened a cupboard in search of crackers. Cheese and crackers were a meal, right? It's basically a sandwich. “She scares me.”

“So, it is about Kenna,” he said, chuffed.

“That’s not what I said.” I kept my gaze on the cupboard, away from Neenan, but I still didn't see the crackers. A whack of a cupboard shutting startled me from my daze as I felt a solid rectangular thing in my hand. Crackers.

“Thanks,” I whispered to him. We sat at the breakfast bar, without plates, peacefully munching on cheese and crackers sandwiches but I sensed the silence was temporary.

“What did she do?”

“Nothing,” I shook my head, but eventually accepted that it was futile to deny. He already knew. The words left me with a sigh. “She lied to me.”

He gave me a sympathetic smile. “About what?” he coaxed.

“It’s not important, she’s not as I remembered.”

“So, it’s her. Really her?”

“Yeah,” I said sadly.

Out of all the people on this estate, Neenan was the only one who truly knew the effect that the bathroom incident meant to me. Well, besides Tilly but…yeah. I’d never been comforted like that before. Physical touch was hard. An aloof father, an absent mother and a life of secrecy on what was basically a military base meant that the only touch I knew was harsh. Not necessarily aggressive or abusive, just cold. Unaffectionate. And very heavily male.

To be touched by a woman. A nice woman. Was everything.

I held that experience close to my heart, daily. Now, I knew I had to let it go.

Yet, amongst all the grief, I can’t take another loss.

“What was the lie?”

When I thought back to the moment, I saw her in the hallway the day she arrived, I was filled with hope that maybe I was deserving of this fantasy. That it could be real. But her denial of knowing me felt like a betrayal. “She told me she was homeschooled. That it couldn’t be her.”

“And you’re sure she doesn’t have a twin?”

“It’s her,” I said with absolute certainty. Her features were not the only similarity; it was her voice—husky and reserved. “I’m sure.”

Pulling me into a side hug, Neenan breathes the words into my hair. “I’m sorry, Laney.”

For a long moment, the only sound that could be heard was the crunch of crackers. Neenan was eating like he had been ravished, but I couldn’t stomach another bite.

“You know,” He started, “It could be innocent. You were at that school for what? Two weeks–”

“Four. It was four weeks.”

“Okay and do you remember all the people you saw there?”

“Well, no, but–”

“Maybe she just didn’t remember what you looked like. If I remember the story as you told me, you guys barely even spoke.”