Page 23 of Bitten By Desire (Crooked Point #1)

Monday

I tried to scream but the hand muffled any noise I was trying to make.

“Help!” I yelled, but it came out unintelligible. I threw one of my elbows backward and hit a hard stomach. “Let me go!” I tried to yell. Tears streamed down my cheeks as he wrapped his arm around my torso, pinning me to him.

“Shh,” a deep voice whispered in my ear.

I tried to throw my elbow back again. But I couldn’t move. So I stepped on his foot instead.

“Ow. Would you stop?”

I tried to scream for Zoey.

“Emma, you need to be quiet. It’s just me. Bennett.” He eased his hand on my mouth so I could turn to look at him.

I was just about to scream again when his words and his face in the darkness finally registered in my head. Bennett?! I threw my arms around him. Thank God. I’d thought it was Theo.

He held me against his chest. “Theo’s home,” he whispered. “And we need to find a way out of here or he’s going to kill both of us.”

I stared at the opening in the floor. Theo was going to find us. And then he was going to suck my blood. Slowly. The way he’d sucked on my neck ten years ago. Maybe he’d handcuff me to his bed as he did it. So I couldn’t run away.

My heart started racing even faster. “Wait, is Zoey okay? I left her down there…”

“She went out the back door right before Theo walked in the front door. She’s going to try to get him to leave so we can sneak out. We just have to wait for her text.”

“But he’s going to see the ladder. We have to pull it up…”

“Zoey will be at the front door to talk to him any second. There’s no way out of here unless we go back down that ladder. We’re three stories up. Why didn’t you answer any of my texts or calls, Emma?”

“Because I was mad at you.”

“You can’t just go off with him by yourself. And breaking into his house? What were you thinking? I told you he was dangerous.”

“Yeah, but you didn’t tell me why he was dangerous. And I was thinking that everyone I know is lying to me and I want answers.” Why wasn’t Zoey giving us the all-clear? What was taking so long? God, what if Theo had hurt her?

“I swear I’ll tell you everything I know about Theo Gold. But first we have to get out of here, okay?”

I knew they knew each other! I felt pretty good about my vampire theory.

But I knew there were flaws. Like the fact that vampires weren’t actually real.

Hopefully Bennett knew the truth. And I didn’t even care that Bennett had been lying to me about Theo.

Because Bennett had shown up when I needed him.

That’s what mattered. He was here helping me out of this mess .

Bennett’s phone buzzed. “They’re outside talking about the lawn.”

Interesting choice, Zoey. That’s not at all the angle I thought she’d take. “Let’s get out of here.” We ran over to the ladder.

I climbed down first and looked both ways, even though I knew Theo was outside. I’d gotten so much evidence… Crap. I’d dropped Theo’s sweatshirt. And I’d grabbed it instead of taking a picture. I needed that proof. I needed Zoey to believe me.

Bennett hopped off the ladder.

“I forgot something,” I said. “I have to go back up.”

“There’s no time.”

“It’ll just take a second.” I started climbing up.

He grabbed me around the waist and pulled me off the ladder.

“Bennett, let me go! I need the evidence!”

“What evidence?” He set me down on my feet, but kept his arm around my waist.

“He had a Wildcats sweatshirt. It was my proof that Theo is Callum Walsh. I need it.”

Bennett dropped his arm. “I believe you. Can we please just get out of here before Theo comes back…”

I ignored him and climbed up the ladder as fast as I could. I was not leaving this house without that sweatshirt.

“Fuck,” Bennett said under his breath. But I heard his footsteps on the ladder following me.

I ran back over to the portrait in the corner. Theo’s sweatshirt was lying on the floor in a heap. I picked it up and pulled it on so that I couldn’t possibly leave it behind .

Bennett’s phone buzzed. “Damn it. He’s coming back inside.”

Why wasn’t Zoey flashing him?

“Come on, Emma, we have to go.” Bennett grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the ladder.

We both climbed down. Bennett pushed the ladder back up and closed the drop door to the attic. He grabbed my hand again and we ran toward the stairs. But just as we turned the corner I saw the top of Theo’s head. He was staring at his phone and walking up the steps.

Bennett pulled me toward the closest room. He tried turning the doorknob, but it didn’t budge.

Zoey and I had already tried to check these rooms. “They’re all locked,” I whispered and pulled him toward Theo’s bedroom.

“This is probably where he’s heading,” Bennett hissed.

“Do you have a better plan?” I threw open Theo’s closet door. It was as organized as the rest of his house. But at least it wasn’t empty. I tugged on Bennett’s hand, closed the closet door behind us, and pulled us behind a row of freshly pressed suits.

Bennett’s phone buzzed.

“Turn that off,” I whispered.

He put it on silent and slid it back in his pocket.

And then we both waited. And waited.

Bennett’s phone started ringing again.

What the hell?!

But I quickly realized it wasn’t Bennett’s phone.

“Theo Gold speaking.”

His voice was close. Way too close for comfort.

I blinked, my eyes slowly adjusting to the darkness.

I peered through some of the suits. I couldn’t see Theo.

But I knew he was in the room. I could feel his presence.

My bottom lip started trembling. I didn’t want to die today.

While wearing the only real evidence I had.

Theo would bury me and the sweatshirt and keep getting away with murdering people.

The closet door started to open. I was pretty sure a whimper escaped my lips.

Bennett put his hand over my mouth so I couldn’t make any more noise.

Theo sighed. “Zoey, I don’t know anything about hydrangeas.”

Seriously, why was Zoey trying to distract Theo with garden stuff instead of butt stuff?

Theo’s hand stayed wrapped around the door. “No,” he said. He sounded annoyed.

I was annoyed too. For all Zoey’s talk of seduction, she was terrible at it!

“Oh, really?” Theo said. “Well, I’m glad to hear that she’s changed her mind about the position. And about staying in town. That’s great news.”

Wait, were they talking about me? I hadn’t changed my mind about anything. I needed to get as far away as possible from him and Crooked Point.

“I’ll be right down to discuss that house she liked.”

And I can’t afford anything here!

Theo’s hand fell from the door.

We heard his retreating footsteps.

Bennett lowered his hand from my mouth. “You okay?” he whispered.

I nodded .

He looked down at his phone. “Now’s our chance. Zoey’s going to chat to Theo about you bidding on a house or something?”

“I can’t afford that house.” What if she made an offer without my permission? There was a good distraction and then there was whatever the hell this was.

“You know, you can always stay with me if. If you want,” he added.

“This doesn’t seem like a great time to be talking about moving in together.”

Bennett laughed. “Fair. Let’s get the hell out of here.” He pushed the closet door open. The coast was clear. We tiptoed through Theo’s bedroom. The door was still ajar and there was no one in the upstairs hall either.

We tried to walk as quietly as possible. I paused at the top of the stairs and immediately stepped back.

Zoey and Theo were talking in the foyer.

Damn it. I thought that they were maybe meeting somewhere to talk. If Bennett and I somehow got out of here, that meant we’d leave Zoey behind with a monster.

Theo’s back was to us, though. This was our chance.

I peered around the banister and waved my hands around to get Zoey’s attention.

She locked eyes with me for a second and then looked back at Theo. “You know,” she said. “I’m really thirsty. And it’s been a long day. Could we maybe have a drink while we discuss business?”

It was one o’clock on a Monday. And she thought I was a bad liar ?

But Theo started to turn. I moved back behind the banister and listened to them walking through the foyer.

“I think we’re good,” I whispered to Bennett.

He nodded. We slowly tiptoed down the stairs. We crept toward the front door. But then we heard more footsteps.

We both ran into the dining room. The sleek table and chairs didn’t really offer much coverage to hide. And it was open to the kitchen. Luckily the kitchen island was empty. The stools untouched. Wait. Oh, God. Where were Zoey and Theo?

I slid toward the archway and peered into the kitchen. They were supposed to be in there. I was glad they weren’t, because they definitely would have seen us. But where the hell was Zoey?

“Where are they?” Bennett whispered.

I was pretty sure he was just as worried as I was. “Do you think he hurt her?”

But then we heard Zoey’s voice: “I really want to get this deal closed today.”

I spun around to see them walking through the foyer. I backed up to try to get out of view and almost knocked over a chair.

“I’m sorry, I…” Theo’s voice trailed off. “I thought I heard something.”

“It was probably just the rain. Come on, let’s go back to the kitchen.”

“Let’s discuss this in the dining room. It’s more comfortable.”

This dining room was comfortable? The seats didn’t even have any cushioning. But this wasn’t a time to complain about Theo’s choice of décor. Bennett grabbed my arm to pull me into the kitchen .

There was a small piece of me that wanted to grab a knife from the knife block and just wave it around until Theo let us all go.

And it was lucky Bennett was with me, pulling me through the kitchen, or I may have actually done it.

He opened up a metal door and we ran into Theo’s garage. I didn’t see any chainsaws, axes, or other torture devices around. But there were several large freezers along one wall. They took up so much room that his black sedan barely fit.

And yes, seven vaults in a bank was a little suspicious. But several huge freezers in a garage? Human sized freezers? Oh, hell no. I walked toward one. My heart was pounding. It was like I could feel my heartbeat in my throat as my hand reached out toward one of the freezer’s handles.

“Emma,” Bennett said as he walked over to the window. “Don’t touch anything. We have to get out of here.”

I remembered what he first said when he snuck up on me in the attic: “We need to find a way out of here or he’s going to kill both of us.” Theo would kill us. And then put us in one of these big freezers.

I took a quick picture and then ran over to Bennett. I was done messing around. I was wearing the only proof I truly needed. And the rest was on my camera.

Bennett pushed open the window.

And alarms started blaring.

“Fuck,” he said.

What the hell? Zoey had snuck in through a window. Why was this one setting off alarms everywhere?

“Hurry, Emma.” Bennett grabbed my hand and helped me through the window. I jumped out into the grass and turned around to help him. But he was shutting the window instead of climbing through.

“What are you doing?!”

“Run, Emma. I’ll hold him off.”

“Bennett!” I yelled. “There’s time. Just…” My voice trailed off when I saw the door to the garage opening behind him.

“Run,” Bennett hissed and slammed the window closed.