“What is it?”
“Hunter wasn’t all bad. Before the murders, before you returned, he was sweet, honest. Kind. He genuinely cared about me.” She glanced to my bruised knuckles. “And I think I really loved him,” she said, her voice fracturing as she covered her face with her hands. “I probably would have said yes if you hadn’t come back. I just wanted happiness.”
“Hey, Max, that’s okay,” I told her. I pulled her to my chest. “I’m not mad at you for caring about someone other than me while I was gone. And I’m glad he was better than what he became when I showed up. But he was still a killer… before you cursed him.”
“I know. I just wanted you to know that I didn’t stay with himonlybecause I cursed him. I stayed because he made part of me feel okay after everything, and I needed a minute to say goodbye to that part of him.”
“That’s okay too.”
As hard as it was for me to see her love a part of a monster that killed thirteen women, I had to push it aside. I had to accept the fact that he filled a void that I created. He had to try to put together the broken pieces, even if it meant calling on Derek and Katie to do the heavy lifting. I had to accept that I had to like that part of him too.
I opened the garage door to grab a shovel, but turned back just to catch a glimpse of her.
To my surprise, she’d clasped his hand in hers, and for a minute I didn’t understand why she was so still. Then I remembered—her visions.Shit!
Maggie
My body ached. I was cold. Tired. My eyes barely opened.
I couldn’t make my mouth work. Every time I tried, a garbled wet cough came out.
Then—
WHOMP!
A log to the stomach.
My vision blurred.
Every breath was wrong.
Graham’s voice was distant, the words he spoke barely registering, muffled by the throbbing in my head. My mouth was coated in a salty, metallic flavor—blood.
I tried to open my eyes again, but my vision blurred, my head wobbled—too heavy to lift.
But I heard footsteps.
I forced air into my lungs. Pried my eyes open and gasped. My own body emerged from between the pines. Furious. And for a moment I thought I’d been saved, but I realized I was Hunter. These were his final moments.
I kept hearing his voice whispering my name. A hopeful warmth rushing over his body. But when I looked back to myself, I’d raised the pistol. Tears streamed down my face, my lips quivered, my hands shook. I let out a breath.
The last thing I heard was the shot cracking through the woods. The last thing I saw? My face, followed by a blind flash of light, then—pure blackness.
I gasped, life shooting back into my soul. My breaths came in gasps as Graham directed me to sit on the bumper of the truck. I leaned forward, hands on both knees, and tried to blink away the vision.
Deep breath, Maggie. Come on, deep breath.
“You okay?” Graham rubbed circles into my back.
“Yeah,” I said, shakily bringing a fist to my mouth, pressing my lips between my thumb and index finger.
“Did you really have to touch him?”
I shot him a dirty look. “Yes. I wanted to know what the last thing through his mind was.”
“And?”
“It was me. He saw me shoot him.” I swallowed, rubbing my eyes.
