Page 20 of Bitten By Desire (Crooked Point #1)

Monday

It had been cloudy when I left Zoey’s house. But I didn’t know it was supposed to rain. I lifted my hand over my head just as Theo pulled his umbrella over both of us.

“That went better than I anticipated,” he said and stared down at me.

“You stormed in there specifically to piss Bennett off.” I wasn’t sure why I was snapping at Theo when I was relieved that he’d shown up.

But the way he’d put his hand out for me to grab?

And how he just demanded I follow him without really asking?

And what the hell was he even doing there to begin with?

“So how on earth did it go better than you anticipated?”

“I figured it would end in a fight. But it didn’t.”

God, this man.

Theo started walking down Main Street. I had no choice but to hurry after him unless I wanted to be drenched.

“So you interrupted my lunch to upset Bennett?”

“No, I did it because we had a deal. And we have pictures to take right now.”

I exhaled slowly. “We don’t have a deal. I turned down your job offer last night.”

“In haste. Now that you know that Bennett’s a liar, I figured you’d reconsider.” He turned off Main Street .

“He’s not a liar.” But I wasn’t so sure if my words were true. Bennett was definitely hiding something. All his friends seemed…off.

“So he showed you the vaults?” Theo turned and opened a white picket fence.

“No.”

“Well…I think I made my point then.” He held the gate open for me to walk through.

I shook my head and walked past him, rushing up the steps so I wouldn’t get too wet.

Theo unlocked the front door.

“You haven’t made your point,” I said as I walked inside. “Bennett would have shown me if I really pressed it.” I think. Maybe…

“I highly doubt that. Now take off your boots.”

I glared at him. Why did he keep trying to get me to take off my clothes?

“I can’t have you leaving a trail all over the hardwoods.”

“Fine.” I unzipped my boots and tossed them on the rug in the entryway. “Happy?”

He handed me Zoey’s jean jacket. “You’re shivering.”

“I’m angry.”

“At me? Or at your boyfriend? Because you looked relieved to see me back there.” He reached out and gently touched the side of my face, making me shiver even more. “Tell me what happened.”

“Nothing happened.” I stared at him. “Bennett says he doesn’t really know you. Do you know him? Because it sure seems like the two of you hate each other.”

“This is all on Bennett, not me.”

“How? ”

“Let’s just say I’m not a fan of him or his friends.”

“What does that mean? You just hate people who work at banks?” I pulled on the jacket, hating that Theo was right. I was cold. But it was his fault.

“No.” He stared at me.

“Did he steal money from you or something?”

“Or something.”

Wait, what? “Bennett stole from you?” I was seriously regretting moving my money around.

“Come on, you need to eat.” He left me standing in the foyer.

I followed him into the kitchen where there were takeout bags waiting. “What did Bennett steal from you?”

“I thought you may not have gotten a chance to eat,” he said, ignoring my question entirely.

Of course I hadn’t gotten a chance to eat. Because he’d stormed into the bank and made a scene. “Are you not going to answer me?”

“Eat and I will.”

I hadn’t actually expected him to say yes. And I was really hungry. “Deal.”

He pulled out my chair for me.

Agreeable and acting like a gentleman? He was up to something. But I sat down anyway and opened up one of the bags. And then another from a different restaurant. And another. “What is all this?”

“You left last night before I had a chance to order food. I never got a chance to ask you what you like.”

Yeah…he was definitely up to no good. “Any of it would have been fine.” But all of it was obsessive. I pulled out a container of lo mein and snapped my chopsticks apart .

He watched me eat.

I swallowed down my bite. “Aren’t you going to join me?”

“I’ve already eaten.” He just kept staring at me.

Okay. “So tell me. What did Bennett steal from you?”

“Something that doesn’t belong to him.”

My chopsticks paused above the container. “That’s kind of what the definition of stealing is. You’re going to have to do better than that.”

“What did Bennett say when you asked to see inside the vaults?”

“That he wasn’t supposed to show me people’s safety deposit boxes.”

“You really think they have seven vaults filled with safety deposit boxes? This town isn’t very big, Emma.”

I knew that. And I was suspicious. But I didn’t know what Theo wanted from me. It seemed like he just wanted me to be miserable.

“He’s lying to you,” Theo said.

“Like you aren’t? You’re wearing brown contacts and pretending we didn’t hook up ten years ago.” I stabbed my chopsticks into the lo mein and pushed the container aside. “You’re hiding something just like Bennett is. You’re so concerned about him telling me the truth. Why don’t you give it a try.”

He didn’t reply to that. He just put his elbows on the table and leaned forward slightly. “You wouldn’t believe the truth if I told you.”

“Probably not. Because you’re the liar.”

The corner of his mouth ticked up. “You were uncomfortable around Bennett and his friend in that office. I could tell. You know that something isn’t quite right there. Did you notice the cut on Bennett’s lip? Or the scar on his friend’s face?”

I swallowed hard.

“What could do that much damage?”

I had no idea.

“Whatever it is…it kind of seems like it would be capable of ripping off a human hand in a hay maze, yes?”

My heart raced faster and faster with every word. “Bennett had nothing to do with that.”

“It doesn’t mean one of his friends didn’t.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Bennett wasn’t a murderer. And he didn’t hang out with murderers. Honestly, that seemed a lot more fitting of Theo Gold. I hadn’t gotten a chance to look up whether there had been any incidents like the hay maze one back at his old campus.

“I think you do.”

I felt like I was going to be sick.

“He’s violent. Unpredictable. Deadly. And so are all of his friends.”

Yeah, I was definitely going to be sick. That cut on Bennett’s lip was deep. And the scar on Titan’s face? Theo was right…whatever had hurt them…it could have done the same damage at the Fall Festival. But it couldn’t have been one of Bennett’s friends. It just couldn’t have.

“And you’re no longer allowed to see him. Do I make myself clear?”

I just stared at him.

“He’ll hurt you next. Even if he doesn’t mean to. Break it off. Now. ”

I absentmindedly touched the side of my neck. The only person that had ever threatened to hurt me was the man sitting across from me. And I remembered the way his lips had felt against my neck, bruising my skin.

His eyes darted to my hand that was pressed to the side of my neck. “I’m sure Bennett wouldn’t hurt you if he had any semblance of control. But he doesn’t. Text him and end it.”

“When I left the bank I told him we were done unless he told me what he was hiding. And honestly there was nothing to end. He wasn’t actually my boyfriend.” I barely knew him. Clearly.

Theo looked genuinely perplexed by my response. “You lied to me?”

Had no one ever told him a white lie before? “Technically Bennett fibbed about us dating first. I just went along with it.”

“Why?”

Because I’m scared of you. “Because he made me feel safe.”

Theo leaned forward even more. “Is that what you crave, Emma? Safety?”

I nodded. I wouldn’t have thought that’s something I needed from a relationship. But yes. I liked the feeling of being protected.

“I can offer you that.”

Was he asking me out?

“But don’t for one second mistake Bennett’s warmth for safety. Once a snake, always a snake, Emma.”

I froze. He’d said those exact words to me before. Ten years ago. About my cheating ex. Once a snake, always a snake .

And it was like he knew he’d slipped up. Because he immediately leaned back and cleared his throat. “I have a meeting. Take some pictures. And I’ll see you tonight.” He stood up and left.

Tonight? Where? When? What the hell just happened?