Page 80 of Hide and Seek

“Well, I don’t usually go around spilling my deepest, darkest secrets and confessing my sins to someone I can’t see.” I pause at that. “Well, that’s not true. I don’t make a habit of confessing my sins to a stalker I can’t see. And something tells me you might have opened up more than usual tonight, too.”

“That I did. I’ve never told anyone about my diagnosis. Only family knows. Family and now you.”

I try not to grin like a dumbass but fail miserably.

“You’re really easy to talk to,” I say again. “Like dangerously easy. I’m not a talker. I don’t tell people about my personal shit, not even my best friends. But I couldn’t seem to stop talking once we started.”

I lean back on my hands and gently kick my feet. “I know this is a messed-up situation and nothing about it is normal, but you don’t feel like a stranger. Like, I have no idea who you are or how you’re connected to the school, but I know all this stuff about you now. And I’m very familiar with your dick and your rope collection.” My cheeks flush warm. “But I’ve never seen your face. It’s weird, but at the same time, it’s not weird at all.” I shake my head. “Don’t mind me. I’m just fifty shades of fucked up right now, and I’m rambling.”

“Does anything you learned about me tonight change things?”

I shake my head. “It probably should, but it doesn’t.” I pause. “Thank you.”

“For what?” he sounds genuinely confused.

“For taking care of the deepfakes. I’ve spent months trying to find them, and I was beginning to think I never would. AndI’ve been terrified that they’d get released and they’d destroy my family. It feels like I can breathe again.”

“You don’t have to thank me for that.”

“Maybe not, but I’m still going to.” I scrub my hand through my hair and let out a deep sigh. “I can’t believe it’s really over. I knew they were dead, but I wasn’t sure if they were working alone or if there was someone in the background I didn’t know and I’ve been waiting for them to pop up out of nowhere and start this nightmare all over again.”

“The threats from them have been neutralized. You don’t need to worry about them anymore,” he says. “But the Kings are a different story.”

“You think I still need to worry about them?”

“Yes. Even if they never find out that you were involved in the charity job, we have to assume at least some of them know you deleted their blackmail files. That’s not something they’ll just let go.”

I groan and drop my head into my hands. “Of course it isn’t. Wait,” I say and lift my head so I’m looking at the camera again. “Do you think that’s why those guys jumped me? They were delivering a message about fucking with their blackmail plan or whatever?”

“That would be my guess. And they’re definitely going to hold me beating those guys up against you.”

“Ugh.” I groan. “I’m going to get my ass kicked so bad when they decide to come after me again.”

“No, you won’t. No one will ever touch you as long as I’m around.”

The deep timbre of his voice and the possessive way he said it make something in my chest tighten and a warm flush move through me.

“Promise?” I ask before I can stop myself.

“I promise.”

I want to thank him again but stop myself before the words tumble out of my mouth.

“I should go,” I say instead, my tone reluctant. “I haven’t really been sleeping all that well, and I’m exhausted after all those truth bombs.”

“Goodnight, Myles.”

“Night.” I start to reach for the statue but drop my arm.

I don’t want to turn it around. It’s stupid, but I’m feeling vulnerable and emotional after our conversation, and I don’t want to be alone. It doesn’t matter if we don’t talk or if he isn’t actually on the other side of the camera. Just knowing that he could be will help me feel less alone.

It's reckless and a stupid idea, but fuck it. I just had a heart-to-heart with my stalker, and right now he’s the only person who makes me feel safe.

Shaking my head at how insane my life is right now, I turn the statue so it’s facing my bed, then walk over to my dresser so I can pull the notebook away from the one in my clock puzzle.

Go big or go home, right?

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