Page 187 of Ominous: Part 1

He can’t possibly know.

“Nic.” He whispers the name, and my eyes fly open, my pulse crashing in my chest, nausea swirling in my gut. “Nic Penn. Tell me I’m wrong.”

I feel as if someone threw ice water over my head, waking me up from a dream.

I glance out the dark driver’s side window, part of me foolishly hoping other cars will be here. Other people.

I try to back up, but my shoulders hit the horn of the car, and it beeps, causing me to jump, my gasp coming out strangled.

Eli smiles, but he doesn’t even look up.

“You didn’t love him, did you?” He asks like he knows, not like he’s insecure about what my answer may be. His teeth catch my skin. I feel his breath along my flesh, but I’m still staring out the back window, at the stretch of forest that seems to go on for eternity. It’s Thursday night. At a day school.

We’re alone here. I was counting on it when I gave him permission to hurt me. Now, I’d be grateful even for Reece or Sebastian’s surly appearance.

“How did you know that?” Anger heats my entire body. Like he waited for this moment to humiliate me. Did he know the first time we fucked? And he just let it go then because he was so ready to take my virginity? “How the fuck did you know that?”

He licks the veins on my wrist, then pulls back, one hand still under my skirt. “I want to know everything about you, Eden.”

I inhale, holding the air in my lungs.

“Look at me.” He says the words softly, but I don’t mistake the command in them.

I shake my head. “No, that’s not… You shouldn’t fucking know that.”

“Eden.” His voice is lower, the warning clear. “I want to see your eyes on mine.”

I give him what he wants. Dark green. A ring of black. I’m not sure what it is he’s feeling. His lips are parted, no smile pulling on them, no amusement in his eyes. If he’s proud of making me nervous, he doesn’t show it.

“How did you know that?”

He rolls his eyes. “It’s beside the point.”

“How, Eli? How the fuck did you know?” I want to back away. I want to get out. I want to move.

“Calm down,” he says, like one might say toturn leftorgood morning.

I try again to pull my wrist from him, but I can’t get free.

“Did he do this to you?” His tone is cold, but his face betrays nothing.

“Eli—”

“I’m not answering your question until you answer some of mine.”

The words seem to explode out of me. “No, he didn’t fucking do it to me! I did it!” I swallow past the dryness in my throat, try to get ahead of my racing heart. “How did you know? I told you something, now tell me, Eli. How the hell did you find that out?”

I think of the texts from Amanda I haven’t yet read. Theoretical plans she’s making for us now that I’ve agreed to see her. I have a wild urge to reach for my phone, in my bag in the backseat, but I’m fidgeting here, in his lap.

“The internet is a valuable resource.”

My breath rattles in my lungs. My records would be sealed, wouldn’t they? He wouldn’t find that on the damn internet.

“Are you scared of me?” It’s an honest question, not meant to taunt me. He runs his thumb over the scars again, each shaky letter.

I feel completely undone, in the worst way, like he’s pulled apart my stitching and now he’s examining all the ways I’m wired wrong.

It pisses me off. He shouldn’t have looked so far. “Scared? I’m not fuckingscared.”I try to think, but being so close to him, it’s hard. I need space.I need air.“Tell me right now,right fucking now,how you know. Don’t lie to me.”