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"A lot. What do you want to know?" I ask.

"Everything. Always."

I sigh. "I'm thinking about my family. I know they don't need me, and they'll be okay without me…I just hope that it doesn't hurt them too much. And I'm scared…because this is all I've wanted for months, and it seems like it was too easy. It seems too good to be true. For a minute, I even thought that maybeif I fell asleep, I'd open my eyes, and I'd still be at Rancho San Flores, and the real Sebastian—the one who works there—would come in and hand me a cup full of pills and close the door. How terrifying is that?"

"This is real, honey," he says. "But if you still need help with that—if you need medication or someone to talk to—we can figure that all out when we get there; I'll take care of you. And maybe this part was easy, but it was all so hard for you for months, and you deserve a break. You deserve rest now, just like you said."

"I'm thinking about Sebastian, too."

"I figured. So am I."

"Do you like him?" I ask.

Declan laughs, running his fingers through my hair and kissing the top of my head.

"What? Why's that funny?"

"I don't know," he says. "It's just…so very you. Yeah, Teagan, I like him. Because of you, I got the answer to a question that's haunted me my entire life…even if it wasn't a good one. It's still better than nothing."

I refrain from telling him that I know exactly what he means.

"What'd you guys talk about last night?"

"We didn't, really," he says. "I tried, but he was quiet and evasive. I could tell he didn't like it, so I just…sat there."

"Yeah, that sounds right."

He twirls one of my curls around his finger. "When we get to Caracas, we're going to have to cut your pretty hair off, Teagan."

"Will you still think I'm pretty?" I ask.

Declan kisses my lips. "Of course I will, baby."

"Then I'm okay with it." I kiss him again, moaning as my tongue explores his mouth before pulling his lip through my teeth. I pull the knife from my pocket and hand it to him. "Let'sjust do it now. I actually haven't done any more murders with this one, so it should still be nice and sharp."

"All right," he says, kissing me quickly. "Come on."

He takes me to the small bathroom in the back of the plane and closes the door behind us. I face the mirror, and he stands behind me, gathering my curls in his fist and pulling it taut.

"I'm going to cut it right here, okay?" He pulls it a little tighter and holds the knife just at the base of my neck.

"Oh…kay."

It almost comes out as a moan. We make eye contact in the mirror, and he raises an eyebrow. "Is this turning you on, you little slut?"

"Maybe…"

"Hold still," he says, pressing his erection into my backside. "I'd hate for this knife to slip, wouldn't you?"

"It'd be awfully messy," I tell him.

"Mmhmm," he says, pulling my earlobe through his teeth. "Like your sweet little pussy."

He wraps my hair around his fist another time and leans in, smelling my hair before pulling it back harder and sawing through the curls. The blade easily hacks through my long, dark hair.

Declan looks at it clutched in his fist and says, "Well, now I regret not putting you on your knees first. I'm going to miss holding onto that." He drops the hair into the sink in front of me. "How does it feel?"

I run my hands through it, shaking it out a little. More loose pieces fall to the floor. "Weird," I say, turning to face him. I reach down the front of his sweats and wrap my hand around his cock. "I bet there's still enough to get ahold of, though. Do you want to find out?"