I groan, flopping back onto the bed like a child, despite my protesting shoulder where my arm is wrapped in its sling. “I already said no. I didn’t see the ones who grabbed me, and the other people—the ones in suits—are all dead.”
“So a mysterious man showed up and killed them all,” Dad mumbles to himself. “Nathaniel was working for them, but then let some man kill them? It doesn’t make sense.”
“Maybe he had a change of heart?” Mom offers gently.
I scoff. “Yeah, sure. Or maybe the sex was just that good.”
“Landon!” Dad shouts, sending me a withering glare. Mom fans her face.
“I’m just saying! I don’t really see a guy like Nathaniel having achange of heart.”And I don’t want to imagine it either.
It… it makes my heart hurt.
And no, I don’t feel bad that I pinned all those deaths on that short man who showed up toward the end. Not that I’mprotectingNate or anything. I just… I didn’t want them to know.
“Should we hunt this Nathaniel guy down?” Scarlet asks, leaning against the threshold of my bedroom door as she inspects her long nails.
“Yes,” Dad answers quickly. “We’ll hunt him down then—”
“No,” I interrupt. “No hunting him down. Let’s just… let’s forget about it.”
“Forget about it?” Dad questions, his expression full of shock. “I will notforgetabout the people who kidnapped and tortured my son! Who took his God-given gift!”
“To be fair,hedidn’t kidnap or torture me,” I mumble.
Well, unless you count sexually. Then, the motherfucker definitely did. But I refuse to talk about the loss of my power. I can’t acknowledge it, can’t make it any more real than the hollow feeling inside my chest already does.
“He aided! And for that, I will destroy him,” Dad declares.
“Honey,” Mom interjects gently. “We should think of a more legal solution.”
“Or no solution,” I offer. “I mean, to be honest, guys, I kind of want to forget about all of this. I’m serious. I’ve been assured that I’m safe now, so there’s no reason for panic.”
“And you trust his word?” Dad presses, standing at the end of the bed again as he stares at me. “You trust what this man says, even after he spentmonthslying to you?”
I attempt a painful shrug. About this particular thing, my safety, I do. I saw his face when Joseph held the knife to my throat—he was petrified.
“Andyouwere lying to us,” Dad adds. “You said you were going to see Julian, not some thirty-year-old psycho!”
He has a point. Not only is Nate twelve years older than me, if I remember correctly, but he’s also kind of crazy.
I mean, who locks up someone’s cock? We don’t have to talk about how much I liked it.
“I know,” I say with a sigh. “And I’m sorry that I did. I just… it felt good being with him. I wasn’t so sad when he was around.”
It hurts to admit out loud. It makes me violent with betrayal to know that I will never receive that peace again—that heknewwhat his presence meant to me in the end and traded it away anyway.
I kind of wish Nate were here now, if only so that I could punch him. But it’s been a few days since I left his hotel room, and I’m sure he’s back in Oregon now.
“I’m sure being with him felt great, honey,” Mom croons, coming to sit on the bed next to where I’m lying. “But he’s clearly not a very good man. You understand that, right?”
“Yeah, Mom,” I mutter in defeat. “I definitely understand that now.”
“This is what I warned you about!” Dad continues to rant. “I told you the vultures would circle! Didn’t Uncle Benji also—”
“Uncle Benji!” I shoot up straight, panic coursing through me. “They were asking me about him! Apparently, they can’t find him, and if someone in that organization is still kicking it and wanting him, we need—”
“I’ve already called him,” Dad reassures me.
