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19

SHILOH

“ N ine-one-one, what’s your emergency?”

“Help! Help! Oh my God!” I scream into my phone, hoping Kaleb hears me from outside. I pray that he thinks it means I’m staying here and won’t be looking over his shoulder in the next few minutes. “Help me!”

“Ma’am, calm down,” the male operator says. His voice is reassuring, but I can sense the tension beneath it.

You learn to pick up on the small things when you need to survive an abusive father. Majoring in psychology helps, too.

“What’s happening?” he adds when I’m quiet. “Are you in any immediate danger?”

“Someone just killed my professor.” My wail is anguished as I tiptoe over Dempsey’s body. “Psychology. I’m in the Department of Psychology. I rattle off the name of my college and the room I’m in. “Help. Help. Oh God. ”

“Someone is already on their way,” the man reassures me some more. “Are you hiding in a safe place? Is the attacker still there?”

“No. Yes. I don’t know.” I stick my head out of the broken window, watching Kaleb’s figure as he walks toward the gates.

From here, he’ll head to his temporary home. The place he’s staying in. I have to know where. The only way I can do it is by stalking him. The only way to get him to stop being reckless is by scaring the stubbornness out of him.

I need to wrap up this call quickly. I have to get out of here before the police arrive.

For that to happen, I need a good excuse to leave the crime scene.

“He’s here somewhere! I know he is!”

“Deep breaths.” Kaleb grows smaller as he gets farther away. He’ll disappear any moment now. “Ma’am, what’s your name?”

“Shiloh. Shiloh Talbot.” I inhale loudly, being obnoxious about it. My sheer terror needs to go on record. My fear has to be heard. Then this. “He was a short man. Stocky.”

They won’t be able to disprove it, ever. No cameras—no evidence.

“Professor Dempsey pushed me out of here and told me to go hide in the nearby office when the—” My sob is a wretched, shuddered one. “When the man started breaking the glass. Joe, my professor, he saved my life. I came back here to get my phone and call for help when it was quiet. I found him—him?—”

“I’m going to talk you through this. First, you have to go somewhere safe. Are you able to leave the office? ”

Why, thank you, operator.

“Yes. But I can’t stay here. Have to get out. He could be anywhere. He could kill me.” My stepbrother becomes a tiny dot. He disappears into the darkness. If I don’t see him, I won’t be able to follow him. Shit . “I’m getting the fuck out of here. I’m leaving.”

“You have to stay there to be interviewed. Go somewhere safe. There has to be a safe place, like that office you hid in?”

“No. No, I refuse to die here. I won’t.”

“We’ll send officers to your apartment, then,” he resigns.

Not good enough.

“I’m going to stay at a friend’s house.” They’d never be able to track me down. Not when I’m leaving my phone in Dempsey’s office. “I’ll come down to the station first thing in the morning.”

“Miss Talbot, this isn’t how it works.” You’re in the middle of a crime scene. We need your testimony.”

“When you’re talking to me, this is exactly how it works.” I raise my voice, still sobbing—gotta keep up the act. I start hightailing it in the direction Kaleb went. Our connection is so strong that it’s like I’m picking up on his scent. “I think I’m going to have a panic attack. So, you’re going to let me have this one night to regroup. My father will be distraught if I cause a scene.”

“It’s standard procedure, ma’am. You have to stay there for an interview.”

“Contact my father’s lawyers. Here.” I offer him the number Dad made me memorize. Anything to avoid a scandal, in case I ever find myself in one. “They’ll handle this. I have to go. I’m getting out of here. I’m leaving my phone, too, so he won’t be able to stalk me. Who knows what he has on us? Any of us?”

I add a few extra sobs for good measure and end the call while the operator pleads that I stay on the line. After sending a quick text to Dad’s lawyer, I run back to leave the phone on Dempsey’s desk. There’s nothing incriminating on there and I’ll have it back tomorrow anyway.

My clothes, pocketknife, and my bag are on me. Time to stalk my stepbrother.

I start jogging, smiling when Kaleb’s frame comes into view. My feet rush toward him. My heart does.

He doesn’t see me, doesn’t glance behind him. Walks ahead like he doesn’t have a care in the world.

This intense, unhinged man. This wonderful one.

After tonight, he’ll understand that he can’t be a loose cannon. Until we’re safe, he has to listen; otherwise, there’ll be consequences. He has to realize that two can play this game.

Adrenaline floods my veins and I hear everything. Sirens blaring in the distance. My feet pounding on the trail. My bag thumping on my side.

Kaleb’s heartbeats. I swear they’re just as audible.

Run, run, run.

The few people who are still here don’t give me a second glance as I bolt out the gate and into the street.

Kaleb has managed to get away. His large frame is nowhere to be seen. So instead of trusting my eyes, I open my heart to feel him.

There he is .

I follow my hunch, crossing the street, heading into a dark alley.

Sure enough, he’s there. He’s got balls, that’s for goddamn sure. Parking two cars behind me.

If I stay here a second longer, he’ll see me.

I’m quick to hide, flattening my back against the wall of the building that faces the street. I peek at him when I think it’s safe.

Damn him. It should be illegal, how he turns a simple movement like opening a car door into something so hot.

Heat rushes down my body, and I curse under my breath. Think. I have to figure out how I’m going to track him down.

He’s staying in my neighborhood. I’m pretty sure of that. But since I need to be absolutely sure, I sneak into a flower shop to my left, waiting for his car to drive past me.

“We’re closing soon,” the blonde lady behind the counter informs me.

“I’ll be out in a sec.” I bow my head as I browse through the plants arranged beautifully in the storefront. My hair covers my face. The low light in the shop does the rest to hide me.

One, two, three, and there, his car drives past me. In the direction of my neighborhood, as I suspected.

He looks every bit of a menace without his mask on.

“Thanks.” The bell hanging over the shop’s door dings as I pull it open and step out into the cool night breeze.

I’m sore between my legs. My thighs. I’m high from chasing him and from killing a man who thought he could assault me .

I head to my SUV, missing Kaleb so damn much. My chest aches with it.

I don’t care about the trail of dead bodies he leaves behind. I don’t give a fuck about how depraved it was to have sex next to one.

He loves me.

Soon, as long as we play it safe, we’ll have an eternity together.

My bag goes to the passenger’s seat in my car. I get in and peel out, merging into traffic. It’s just after nine, so it’s starting to lighten up. Blue and red lights flash in my rearview mirror. A crime scene is being picked apart.

As much as I hate it, I’ll have to go back tomorrow. I’ll have to attend my classes.

Kaleb wants to play a little while longer. Once he promises to do it on my terms, I’ll let him. Just until he’s willing to get out of here. Until we have a sustainable escape plan. One that doesn’t end up with us being dead.

I want to let him, too, though it doesn’t actually matter. I’m not delusional. I know he’s an unstoppable force. He’d make me play with him.

Better to go along with it.

Finally, I arrive to my neighborhood. His car is parked in one of the small streets. I swivel my car in the opposite direction, squeezing it into a parking spot two blocks from my home, and climb out.

My footfalls are muted as I tread across the pavement, searching for him. I sense him here. I hear him.

Something’s dragging. Feet, I hear them .

My heart slams into my throat.

Someone might’ve stalked Kaleb from school. Eddy could be here, surprise-attacking my stepbrother. Making sure he’d never get a chance to strike first.

That can’t happen. I won’t let it.

Fuck. I’ve never walked this fast in my life. I would run or scream, but then a neighbor might look out their window. They’d call nine-one-one.

They’d take Kaleb.

Not happening.

I’m there, close to the dragging feet. Except, no one’s dragging anyone anymore.

I can’t see him, I can’t?—

“Don’t, please, don’t.” It’s a helpless, muted man’s cry. “I was only doing my job.”

From my hiding spot behind a nearby building, I squint my eyes, finally seeing Kaleb. His head, at least, and shoulder. He’s behind the bushes. The ones surrounding my building. They’re the densest in our neighborhood.

They’re hiding the person that Kaleb has dragged back there. The man who’s pleading with him for mercy.

Kaleb is still in plain sight, his mask back in place. Just a man leaning against one of the building’s walls.

An infuriating man.

My man.

I slide closer, lurking in the shadows as I stalk him.

“Ronan Talbot.” The man’s voice is barely audible. He sounds choked. Kaleb is choking him.

It’s absolutely wrong and filthy to be turned on by that .

His violence. The strangled voice that means Kaleb is torturing the man.

The pain from fresh, bleeding wounds on my ass gets me even hotter, now that I have time to focus on that.

I’m horny and morbidly curious at the same time.

Why is this guy saying my father’s name?

“Why are you here?” Kaleb asks the question for me.

Cough. Cough. A desperate breath. “He pays me to be here. Stalk h-h-his daughter. Stop. Stop. I don’t wanna die.”

Holy. Shit.

I was right. My father posted a man out here to stalk me.

A tiny flash of relief, and I breathe easier. Though my dad only hires the best of the best, he fucked up. He hired a complete incompetent.

Had he been even a mildly decent private investigator, he would’ve reported back to Dad about the masked man lurking around my apartment building. Dad would’ve hired people to handle the problem .

No one’s here to kill or lock up either Kaleb or me.

The short, weak investigator hasn’t reported anything of consequence to anyone.

Unfortunately for him.

Kaleb throws him over his shoulder as if he weighs nothing. Heat pools between my soaked thighs as he comes out from behind the bushes and trudges to a nearby building.

He goes inside as if he lives there, which he does, I suppose. In the next minute, he’s gone. Safe from prying eyes.

Not safe from me .

Briefly, I consider chasing him. His hands are full, and I could take advantage of that. I’d come up behind him and press my pocketknife to his thigh, a threat to slice through his femoral artery.

Never.

The neighbors could come to the windows because of the commotion while Kaleb has a dead body over his shoulder.

Before my mind starts going into problem-solving mode, a light goes on on the first floor. A small one, probably from a lamp.

A clue to tell me where Kaleb lives.

Moving stealthily through the shadows, I make my way to the apartment building. No code on the door. Good. I take the stairs two at a time, stopping on the first-floor landing.

Deep breaths help me get a hold of myself. Once I’m ready, I pad to the apartment I think is the right one.

There’s a soft dragging sound coming from the inside.

Then, a whooshing sound, followed by a bump. Bump, bump. Bump.

A body being rolled into a rug. I’m sure this is it.

I’m sure this is Kaleb’s new home. Where he’ll hide the body for the night.

I hope he’ll wait until tomorrow. Back in Professor Dempsey’s office, I asked him to stay put for the night. He wasn’t thrilled about it, but he agreed. He gave me his word.

That has to count for something.

As quietly as humanly possible, I slide down to the floor by his door. The tiles in the hall are harsh and cold against my bruised ass. Against the fresh cuts that have my dress clinging to my body.

That’s okay.

My mission takes precedence over everything else.

In a few minutes or hours, I’ll be inside Kaleb’s home. In his bed.

On top of the hottest and simultaneously coldest man I’ve ever known.

He won’t fight me on this after tonight. He’ll understand what worrying about him has turned me into. That I’m just as dark and depraved as he is.

He’ll listen. He will.

I’m not going anywhere before he does.

Kaleb hasn’t left the apartment since I camped out here. Hasn’t put himself at risk.

He’s been listening to me.

Rationally, I know it should comfort me.

Problem is, he’s also been awake for hours. Meaning I’ve been awake for hours.

Alone. Out here.

I’ve had too much time on my hands. After the jarring evening Kaleb and I shared, thinking for so long has done awful things to my psyche.

Worst of all are the memories I’ve long since locked away.

Memories of our five months together.

The five best months I’ve ever had. When he was my big brother. The one person who truly paid attention to me. The only one who cared .

“Shiloh,” Kaleb said my name in a strange way. An affectionate way, as much as a boy like him could be affectionate.

It was one of those afternoons that we spent in his room instead of mine. I was particularly upset since it was the first anniversary of my mom’s death since a ski accident had taken her life. She’d never been warm to me. Never hugged me or read me bedtime stories.

She had, however, defended me when Dad was in one of his moods. I missed her presence, how she’d get him to watch his favorite show instead of yelling at me. How he’d listen to her.

Those days were gone.

My memories of her were starting to fade.

Dad hadn’t even mentioned that it’d been a year at breakfast or at all.

If I hadn’t marked itin my school journal, I wouldn’t have remembered it, either.

Tears pricked at the corners of my eyes. The Sea World jigsaw puzzle on the floor blurred into blue, orange, yellow, and gray splotches. No fish. No water. Just blurred colors.

My chest was so heavy.

“Shiloh.” A large hand on my shoulder felt warm and comforting.

I twisted my head up to Kaleb. He sat next to me, but I couldn’t see his face past his mask. Past the black holes for eyes that hid the golden embers behind them.

What I could do was to hear his unasked question. The concern in his voice that wrapped me in a comforting metaphorical blanket.

“I’m fine.” My brows scrunched at the lie. I blinked back the tears, swiped at my soaked cheeks, and repeated, “I’m fine.”

“Try again. ”

“No.”

He squeezed my shoulder. It hurt, though not in a bad way. I wasn’t ever scared around Kaleb. “Try. Again.”

When I did, I cried. I wept and pushed my face into his chest. He hung his arm around me and said nothing. It was awkward for him. My emotions. My pain, laid bare.

He listened to me, anyway. He did what he could to be there when no one else would.

Sigh.

I don’t mean to say that I’d grown dependent on him. I loved him. He was the closest thing I had to a family.

Then…

Rage and indignation swirl inside me. My fists are clenched, fingers digging into my palms.

He had to go and murder my attackers.

He left evidence behind. Made it easy for them to take him away.

He’s been equally reckless this week. With Marina. My professor. The private investigator.

Without him, I had nothing. My heart was ripped out of my chest.

I loved him, then fell for the memory of him despite the brainwashing. Despite the fear.

Knowing it was fucked up didn’t change it. Studying couldn’t fix that.

This entire time, I needed him . More than that. I need him to be okay. To be free. To have a life outside of this nightmare he’s been stuck in for eleven years.

Why doesn’t he care about that? Because of me ?

I’m not worth it. I’m not.

The games aren’t worth it, either.

He is.

The vein in my neck throbs. My breaths quicken.

He won’t throw it all away. He won’t waste his opportunity to be free.

I won’t let him.

I get up, fishing out a bobby pin I have lying around in my bag while trying to contain the anger bubbling inside me. I was supposed to be calm thanks to this. At the very least, level-headed.

The lock gives in, despite my rapid heartbeat and hot anger. I learned how to do that when I picked the one to my room when Dad would lock me in there for too long and I had to use the bathroom.

I learned it while I was crying.

I’m not crying tonight.

I’m on a mission, and that mission is?—

It’s—

I just want him to promise me he won’t kill people in public anymore, damn it.

Any shred of rational behavior has left my body. I’m past controlling it.

It’s impossible for me to get a handle on myself as I close the door behind me. My hand shakes with barely contained rage.

I have some sense left in me, though. Enough to lose my bag at the entrance of the small apartment. I walk around the rolled-up rug on the floor. Around the dead body .

Kaleb’s sleeping peacefully. Lying on his back over the covers in nothing but a black pair of briefs, hands crossed over his chest, as if he’s going to be put in a casket.

Not on my watch.

Death won’t separate us. Nothing will.

Unless I kill him.

If I could drag him back from the dead, I’d do just that.

Since I can’t, I go to him. Lose my boots and climb on the bed.

I straddle him, torn fishnets and all, wrapping one hand around his throat. I grip the knife in my pocket, and he stirs beneath me.

Golden eyes snap open, glimmering in the dark.

The world is nothing but a shadow at the edge of my vision.

My resolve is a distant memory.

All that’s left is him.

Kaleb. And he’s up.

“Fancy meeting you here, little sister.”