Page 17 of Pretty Prey

“I couldn't let you drown, but Scarlett, what you did was reckless and unlike you.”

“Like you know anything about me,” I say into the abyss of darkness he's hiding in.

“You don't know shit.” I pull the blanket off myself to find that I'm in a long-sleeve shirt and a pair of men's boxers.

“You were freezing.”

He doesn't explain further, just states it like it doesn't matter that he took off my wet bathing suit and put me in his clothing.

“I didn't do anything besides save your life and keep you warm, don't twist it. Now explain to me why the fuck you decided to just walk off a cliff like your life was nothing.”

I don't owe this man an explanation for anything. He may have saved my life, but it doesn't mean I have to lay out all my inner workings for him to dissect. I get to my feet, heading for the small door straight ahead of me.

“No.” His hand slams onto the door, preventing me from leaving.

He gazes down at me, still in his disguise, with a hat and bandana covering his face. It takes everything I have not to just rip the fabric away from his face. This way, I can know for once and all who it is, and who I think it is. His body heat radiates off him, making me sweat, wanting him to touch me again like he did the other night.

“You better talk before I make you.”

His command does things to me. Things I didn't know were possible. My pussy weeps for him as he lingers over me, his daggering eyes not leaving an inch of my body unseen. How do I tell him that I only wanted to be reckless so I could feel something? To draw anyone's damn attention to the fact that I'm spiraling out of control and don't know what I want to do with my life. I still haven't submitted my scholarship essay like I need to.

“I don't know.” I lie, because there's no way I'm telling him the real reason.

He lets out an annoyed huff, moving to face me as we stand in the narrow doorway of what I assume is his camper.

“You do know little prey, but once again you're lying, to yourself and to me.”

He's right. Maybe I do know what I want, and it scares the fucking shit out of me.

“You can tell me the truth. I won't judge you, because like I said, you're mine, and I will support you, but only if you can be honest with me.”

His fingers cup my jaw, so my gaze can't avoid his.

“Tell me, little prey, no one gets that fucked up for no reason, and no one walks off a cliff like it's nothing without having reasons.”

I don't know why, but I love it when he calls me that. It's like I'm this delicate little thing he's afraid to break when I'm far from it. But right now, as I'm only an inch away from beingfully pressed flat to his body, I feel like I'm a piece of glass he’s worried he will shatter if he touches the wrong way. It makes me feel oddly comforted and compliant.

“I don't know what I want to do with my life, and I'm out of time to figure it out.”

Her Shadow

CHAPTER 22

The way she looks up at me with those big baby blues as tears stream down her cheeks breaks me. My whole resolve disappears the second she confessed to why she walked off a cliff. I can't tell if it was an actual attempt on her life, or if she was simply trying to feel something, anything that wasn't laced with worry and dread.

“Sit down.”

Like the good girl she is, she backs up until her calves hit the couch she was sleeping on, and plops down. I sit beside her, then pull her into my side, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. She nuzzles into me, lying her head on my chest. I run my fingers along her arm in a soothing motion.

I let her sit here for a couple of minutes before I break the silence.

“Do you not want to go to college?”

She sniffles and lifts her head off my chest.

“I just don't know anymore. At home, there's a place I'm comfortable being in and have been helping at, but it'll all stop when I leave for school. Annie's also going far away forcollege, so that means whatever we have will evaporate. I don't want that to happen, but my heart says I need to stay in my hometown.”

I must think over how to respond to her without giving away the fact that I know where she's talking about. She doesn't want to stop her work at The Rainbow Reading Room or at Hunters Homestead. I understand why, though. She's been working hard every day, practically helping the girls and Hunter with everything they may need. He's been killing it, even with juggling school and all her community service.