Page 129 of Guarded Knight

“How did you get into my Santa Fe house?” I demand.

“When you were in the changing room at the hospital. I snapped a pic of your key. Photokeys dot com.”

You can get a key made from a photo? What the fuck? “But I locked my belongings.”

“Oh, Angel…” He tilts his head. “Your brother’s birthday isn’t a good secret code now, is it? Pretty easy to figure that out from socials and a little deduction.”

How long has he been obsessed? How much does he know?

“I needed to watch you closely, Lara. To keep you safe from that douchebag and all the others who want your body.” He sits on the edge of my bed and puts his hand on my leg like it belongs there.

I recoil in instant disgust.

“You cheated on me, Angel. I’m sorry I had to punish you, but what were you thinking? Cameron didn’t love you. He didn’t care. He just wanted to f?—”

“Shut up,” I snap, voice raw.

Something dark flickers in his eyes. “See, that’s the sickness in you. That fire. I love that fire, but it’s what’s hurting you. Burning you out. The stress, the recklessness. You keep trying to pretend you’re normal. But I can fix that.”

“You’re insane. You followed me across state lines… how did you do it?” Part of me wants to know, part of me needs to keep him talking. Buy Gabriel time. “You got a job in Echo Valley? Got into my apartment…”

He touches my hair, slowly. Reverently. “You didn’t make it easy, did you? I had to offer to work for free as an intern at thepharmacy to get in there quickly. And this place? It’s all I could find in a short time. I needed to act, get you away from him. It’s not as nice as the place I had set up back in New Mexico, but it will do until I can get us back there. I need to get you better first.”

My gaze flicks back to his ancient apothecary. What is he going to do with me? Drug me, then take me back to New Mexico? I need to stay alert. More… more talking.

“How? How did you get into the apartment here at Echo Valley? It wasn’t broken into. You only had minutes to set up that smoke bomb.”

He steps away and grabs a bottle of water. He twists it open and comes back to lift it to my mouth. I refuse and start to splutter, but he holds my head in place.

“Keep your strength up.” He keeps pouring, and the water spills onto my dress. “So stubborn, Angel.”

I splutter more, but it tastes of ordinary water. Pills, medicine, it’s rarely tasteless. I comply, but as soon as he turns to set the bottle back down, I let the water drain out of the side of my mouth.

When he turns, he crosses his arms and considers me like he’s ready to move on to part B of his plan.

I hurry out my last question again. “How did you get into my Echo Valley apartment?”

He joins me on the edge of the bed, and being this close to this monster makes me want to wretch.

“People are trusting in small towns.” He laughs to himself, and the sound skates down my spine. “It was so easy. That little shopkeeper left a ring of keys under the register while stockingbooks. Didn’t know which key was yours so I snapped them all. I have a key to the bookstore and that sex shop behind, too.”

He strokes my cheek and grits his teeth, holding back what looks like lust. “Maybe when you’re better, we can use those keys.”

I spin my head quickly and snap at him, but he pulls his hand off my skin. I want to bite his fucking hand off.

“Don’t make this difficult, Lara. You want to be with men who want your body? Who don’t love you? They just want to fuck you and leave you?” Anger rises in his blue eyes. “Or be with me who will heal you. I have medicines that can make you better. Allow us to have babies.”

Horror overcomes every cell in my body. He’s going to use me, take it all… “You’re fucking sick.”

“No,you’resick. I know what you don’t. We’re meant to be. No more pretending. No more lies. No more playing brave for those men who donate money just because you’re beautiful or for that ex-military creep who parades you around like some kind of broken doll. They don’t love you like I do.”

“Gabriel…” I clench my jaw. “He’s loved me since long before you came around. And he’ll come find me.”

Trent laughs, not even an evil laugh, but one like I said something genuinely funny. “Oh, pretty girl.” He calms down from his laughter with a few last breaths, then his mouth twists. “Men like that only show up for the glory. They don’t understand the maintenance of a woman like you. The caretaking. The work. He might come, but what can he do for you?”

He stands, and it’s a relief to have some distance, but only for a moment, because he heads to the corner, where the evil-lookingcabinet stands. He opens it. Inside are pill bottles, syringes, bandages...

“Is Gabriel prepared with all of this? Did he think ahead like I have? This…” He points to the medicine. “…Is what love really looks like. Not sex. Not you opening your legs for them…”