AIDEN
Icouldn’t believe I had just asked a serial killer if he was going to kill me. Then again, I couldn’t believe my boyfriend was not only a serial killer, but the same one who had kidnapped me when I was a teenager and let me go.
He let me go twice already. I couldn’t be lucky enough to believe he’d let me go a third time.
Sure, I didn’t remember the actual events that happened during the time I’d disappeared when he’d kidnapped me, but I wasn’t stupid. There was the scar and the questions from the cops, not to mention the reporters and their news stories. I knew I had somehow escaped death.
My heart raced as I watched him stand and start to pace. There was nothing I could do but sit there and wait for him to seal my fate.
“You still—” he started, but cut himself off. “Fuck.”
Nate spun away from me and shoved his hands through his hair, tugging on the strands. When he turned back and looked at me, his eyes were full of sorrow, and my heart sank.
He shook his head as he slowly made his way back over tothe bed, but he didn’t kneel or get on it with me. Instead, he looked down at me as though I’d just broken his heart.
“Little bird…” His voice cracked. “I couldneverkill you. Don’t you see?”
He let out a resigned sigh. “Because it might have taken me a long time to figure it out, but I was finally able to put words to how you made me feel. And those words were that I love you. Or, at least, in the only way I can this time. Though, I guess I can’t blame you if you couldn’t believe someone like me.”
A shudder ran through my body, but it wasn’t one of fear or disgust.
The worst part was I did believe him. But we could never be together. I was a cop, and he was a serial killer. We could never work.
“Right.” His mask started to slide back in place, his voice going cold and distant as he took a step away from me.
“Well, I suppose this is the part where you tell me you have no choice but to turn me in and ask me not to do anything stupid.”
Confusion clouded my thoughts. He was right. It should be what I did next. He was in my home, admitted to being a serial killer, and kidnapping me as a teenager. So why hadn’t I thought about it before he mentioned it?
“No,” I said, shaking my head. My heart raced, and there was a lump in my throat that made it damn near impossible to swallow. My limbs felt like rubber as I slid off the bed and my heart gave a triumphant fist pump at Nate’s instinctual reaction to make sure I was able to stand without falling over.
“Stop.” I had no idea what I was saying, but I didn’t want the mask, only the real Nate. “Just stop, Nate.”
My hand reached out to the nightstand at my side to steady myself.
Nate’s shoulders slumped, defeated. He glanced around, but from his expression, he couldn’t find what he was lookingfor. With a sigh, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone.
“Here,” he said, holding out the phone to me. “I don’t know where yours is, but I guess you can use mine to call whoever you need to. And don’t worry, I won’t do anything stupid.”
Shocked, I stood there, not moving. Even when he took a tentative step toward me and placed his phone in my hand before he turned and walked out of the room.
“What the fuck?” There was no one left in the room to answer me, though. I looked down at the phone in my hand and frowned.
He really thought I was going to turn him in.
Fuck, he was an idiot. Or, maybe I was an idiot.
I threw the phone on my bed and walked as quickly as my throbbing body would let me, which wasn’t anywhere as fast as I would have liked. I let out a relieved huff when I found him sitting on the couch, where I had been earlier.
“You’re a real stupid son of a bitch, you know that?” I practically yelled the words, making him jump, his eyes wide as he stared up at me.
“Why didn’t you kill me? You had my unconscious body bleeding out in your arms. Instead, you took care of me, brought me home, and tucked me into bed. Why?” Tears pricked my eyes and blurred my vision as I stood my ground and waited for him to answer me.
Nate cocked his head, confused. “I told you why. I said I couldn’t.”
“Exactly!” I threw my hands up, well, as best I could before I winced and wrapped my arms around myself instead.
“You couldn’t do it. You couldn’t kill me. And you didn’t think, that in the four days I sat here, alone and confused, that I didn’t come to the same fucking conclusion?” I stared at him as though he were missing a few marbles.
