Total pages in book: 152
Estimated words: 147545 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 738(@200wpm)___ 590(@250wpm)___ 492(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 147545 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 738(@200wpm)___ 590(@250wpm)___ 492(@300wpm)
Inside his real house, I doubt I can stop him by closing a door.
As if on cue, Tor pushes the front door open.
He glances back at me, his instincts sharp enough to sense that he needs to keep an eye on me tonight. “You coming?”
I didn’t realize I had taken a step back.
My breaths are coming in shallow bursts, the panic building inside me.
My brain begs me to just calm down. To listen to reason. The more I make him doubt my loyalty, the more danger I’m likely in.
But I need to know.
He told me last night that he would never kill me, but of course he would say that if he wanted me to trust him. I would only find out that wasn’t true when it was too late to matter.
“Cassie.”
I hear the note of warning in his voice, but all it does is make me more skittish.
“Come inside,” he says calmly, keeping his gaze locked on me.
I swallow. My heart pounds. My chest rises and falls visibly with the labor it takes to breathe.
And then I run.
CHAPTER 18
CASSIE
“Cassie,” Tor says behind me, a sharper note of warning in his tone, but I don’t stop.
I don’t know where to go. I’ve only been here once. I’m not that familiar with the property, and even if I ran to the closest neighbor for help, I don’t know how I would explain it.
“Goddammit,” he says, and then I hear him take off after me.
It’s too late to turn back now.
I’m running toward the dock where their pontoon boat is parked, but even if I got to it, it’s not like I can drive it away. I think I could steer the boat, but I don’t know how to start it. I’m sure there’s a key, but I don’t have it. I wonder if I could be lucky enough to discover they left the key in the ignition, but I doubt that, and even if they did, I don’t think I have enough of a head start to get in the boat without Tor following me.
“Cassie, stop,” Tor calls from behind me, keeping his voice low but loud enough for me to hear. I’m sure he doesn’t want to attract the neighbors’ attention.
Maybe that means I should.
I don’t know, though. I’m afraid to make the wrong move. I may have already made a wrong move by running away from him, but calling for help would be an escalation I wouldn’t be able to walk back.
If running damages his trust, calling out to someone for help would break it. Damaged trust can be repaired, but broken trust is the end of the road for us.
And it’s likely no one would hear me, anyway.
Even more likely is that no one would come to help me even if they did hear.
Since the boat is a dead end, I think about veering left, but it’s so dark out here, and I can’t really see where I’m going. As if to highlight the danger, my work sneaker hits a dip in the ground, and my ankle turns slightly. I cry out sharply, startled more than hurt, but it causes my pace to slow enough for Tor to catch me.
I gasp as he grabs my bicep, locking his other arm around my waist from behind and yanking me back against him.
“What the fuck are you doing?” he demands.
I twist in his grasp. “Let me go.”
“No. Not until you tell me why the hell you’re running away from me.”
My heart pounds so hard, I hear it in my ears.
I can feel myself chickening out. I don’t want to test whether he would hurt me or not, so I tell him a partial truth I know will de-escalate him immediately.
“I can’t go inside. I can’t… go in that house.”
His tone is guarded, not fully trusting my words. “You were just in the house the other night.”
“Exactly.” I exhale sharply. “I can’t breathe thinking about it.”
“The other night or last summer?”
“The other night.”
It’s the right thing to say because he doesn’t let me go, but his grip eases immediately. He holds me close while my breathing returns to normal, both of us silent. Finally, he asks, “What did he say to you that night?”
I shake my head. “I don’t want to remember. I’m not sorry he’s gone, and I’m not sorry it’s because of me, but… I don’t understand how you can take the life of someone who didn’t do anything to you.”
He doesn’t answer right away, but after a moment, he says, “People are capable of all kinds of things, Cassie. There’s more than one motivation for doing something terrible. You killed someone who had already harmed you. I killed someone who was going to harm you. I’m not sorry for the life I took, either. What I did may have been ruthless, but it was the best way to protect you. For once in your life, just let someone keep you safe.”