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“I thought you would. You deserved it, to kill me as revenge. It was my fault you were in that damned hospital in the first place.”

“I swear to God…” The air between us is charged. Soaked in repressed violence. “There wasn’t a single moment that I resented you for anything. It hurt when I didn’t get any letters from you. But I could tell you missed me. I knew your dad was a controlling fucker. And you were alone, which fucking gutted me just the same. I couldn’t stop thinking about that. How I wouldn’t be there for you. Then I heard you were sent away from him. That was when I could finally sleep at night. Every second I spent in that place was worth it because you were worth it. Still are and always will be.”

“Who told you I moved away?” I trail my fingertip up to his throat, tracing the veins. The blood thrums beneath them. “The person who got you my pictures? The one you mentioned in therapy?”

“Yes.” His hand slips lower, a manacle around the back of my neck. A possessive grip. “Jerome. Short guy. Black hair. Green eyes. He had outside contacts. He saw me for what I was when I told him one day I’d break out. That in exchange for information, I’d kill one person for him.”

“Jesus, Kaleb. You are not going to—” The controlling prick he is, he catches me mid-tantrum, shutting me up by kissing me. I hate that I have to break away from our kiss. “That’s another risk you’re taking. I won’t allow it. That’s it. We’re leaving tomorrow morning. We’ll disappear. No more games, none of that. We’re going.”

“Calm the fuck down.” He tilts my head to the side, biting my earlobe. I squirm and he sinks his teeth deeper. When I whimper, he whispers, “Remember this. We’re sticking to the plan. I won’t get caught tomorrow.”

Tomorrow. When Jerome cashes in on the favor, the one Kaleb said his friend had texted him about during one of my classes. Damn both of them.

“God, I hate you.”

“Liar.” He chuckles, low and dark. “Say you understand. Say we’re going to play for as long as I see fit.”

“I understand.” His gaze is on me again, harsh and demanding. I narrow mine. “If they catch you, I’ll kill you before they put the handcuffs on you. I will. I swear I will. Then I’ll kill myself.”

“Yourself?” That last sentence shakes him. It’s visible, this storm that takes over his expression. “Not fucking happening.”

My lips pinch. Hope flares that he’s had a change of heart. “Watch me.”

“Shiloh.” His hand is on my throat in a second. “Are you asking to be shoved inside my trunk for hours? Days? Hmm? Is that it? I’ll give you bathroom breaks and treat you like my cum hole. You won’t know what time it is. What day it is. Where we’re headed. Your sole purpose in life would be to eat, breathe, and get fucked. Your mouth, ass, cunt. I’ll destroy every hole in your body. That’s what’s going to happen if you ever threaten to hurt yourself ever again.”

I can’t be soaking for this. I’m not.

“Fine, I won’t.” We’re at a standoff, both of us breathing fire. “But you owe me.”

“Owe you what?”

“Information.” His eyes soften at that. “Whose house is this?”

He eases his grip by a fraction and tells me everything. About the couple he killed. Where their bodies lie.

While I’m worried about getting caught, I’m equally appeased. I finally have my answers. I have his honesty.

I’m not in the dark anymore.

I think.

I hope.

Soon, he won’t be in the dark about anything anymore, either.

22

KALEB

She’s gone.

I can tell Shiloh isn’t here before I even open my eyes. Before my consciousness fully returns to my body.

A predator noticeseverything.

The emptiness on her side of the bed. The chill that wasn’t there when I fell asleep. Her weight beside me, it’s nonexistent.

She isn’t here.