Page 106 of The Ecstasy of Sin

And if he’s evil, what does that make me?

I slip my phone back into my pocket and duck into the crowd, heading north. My heart beats faster with every step, convinced my stalker is following close behind.

My mind’s playing tricks on me. I feel like I see him everywhere. Dark green eyes in the faces of strangers. The feel of his fingers brushing across the back of my neck. My skin prickles with the sensation of eyes watching me from every idling vehicle, and every darkened alley.

By the time I reach the edge of the city, my pace finally slows. My stomach twists with hunger, so I walk into a coffee shop and spend the last of my money on a sandwich.

I don’t think Dominic noticed when I took the stack of cash he left in my backpack and hid it in the back of his closet. Although I couldn’t bring myself to use anymore of his money, part of me wishes I kept a twenty dollar bill, just in case of emergency.

When I’m done eating, the sky is on fire—brilliant streaks of orange and pink painting the clouds as the sun sinks low. I keep looking up at the sky as I walk, so distracted I nearly bump into someone passing by.

Glancing around, I recognize a sign. I’ve made it to my first destination.

I’m standing at the far end of the city, just outside Markham, near Highway 7—a stretch that leads northeast to Cedar Shores. This is the place I picked to start hitchhiking.

My phone rings, startling me. I pull it out of my pocket, and my heart begins to race when I see Dominic’s name.

I lift the phone to my ear, my voice trapped in my throat.

“It’s the end of the road.” His voice is rough and low, threaded with emotions I can’t name. At least not without seeing them dancing in his dark forest eyes.

“Are you going to kill me?” I question, spinning around to try and locate my stalker.

I don’t find him along the street, and I don’t see him along the dirt path that runs parallel to the quiet, backcountry highway.

“I’ll never kill you, Wren. I’d rather die than hurt you. I’m going to spend the rest of my life loving you.”

I scoff. “Serial killers are capable of love?”

The dark, low laugh that spills from the phone raises the hairs on the back of my neck. “I’m not a sociopath, little lamb. I feel everything, and I feel it deeply. When I'm not indulging my darker tendencies, I satisfy the others.”

The way he’s completely unapologetic about who he is never fails to unnerve me.

“And what are your other tendencies?” I ask quietly, eyes sweeping the landscape like I’m searching for a predator I know is hiding in wait.

“The only one that matters right now is my obsession with a certain little lamb that thinks her future doesn’t revolve around being pinned down in my fucking bed.”

I pull my lower lip between my teeth and bite down, hoping the pain will center me, then I turn toward the highway and jog to the graveled shoulder.

“I’m falling in love with you,” I admit. “If you’re a psychopath, what does that make me?”

A moment of silence, then a breathy sound that reminds me of the one I make when I’m fighting the overwhelming lust his words inspire in me.

“It makes you mine,” he growls, the last word so low and full of hunger that it hardly sounds human.

“Run, little lamb. Make me earn it.”

My breath catches, a memory igniting behind my eyes. I remember what it felt like the last time I made him earn it.

The phone goes silent, the call now ended.

We still need to talk, there is so much left unsaid. I need to know I’m really safe; not just with him, but from the bad men that seem to gravitate toward Dominic and his brothers.

And we will talk… but I can’t outrun the inevitable, not even if I tried.

I belong to him.

Dominic killed to protect me, to save my life. A life the world decided was worthless. A life thatIdecided was worthless.