Page 16 of Vengeance

"You really know them,” she said. It wasn’t a question.

"I do." She studied him again. Everything about him suddenly felt wrong. Not dangerous, but incomplete, like she was looking at only half the picture.

"You lied to me,” she said. It was a guess, but a good one from the way that he looked at her.

He met her eyes. "I omitted things."

"That's lying."

"Yeah, it is,” he agreed.

"What else haven't you told me?" she asked.

His jaw tightened. "A lot."

She laughed bitterly. "Wonderful."

"I'm trying to?—”

"Trying to what?" she spat, cutting him off.

"I’m trying to tell you the truth without making you hate me."

That caught her off guard. "What makes you think that I’ll hate you?” she asked.

His eyes drifted toward the darkness beyond the bridge. "I don’t think it; I know it. You will end up hating me, Chloe."

She stepped closer to him. "You don't know that."

"I do,” he said.

"No." She shook her head. "I think I'd already hate you if you deserved it."

His lips twitched. "Bowie would disagree."

"My dad threatens everybody,” she said with a laugh. It was true. Her fathers were both overly protective of her.

"He threatened to kill me,” Vengeance reminded.

"He threatened to kill my third-grade math teacher,” she said.

That earned the smallest smile she'd seen from him. "He did?"

“I got detention,” Chloe remembered. Vengeance actually laughed. It was warm and real. The sound surprised both of them.

"So, you can laugh,” she teased.

"What?" he asked.

"I like your laugh,” she said, “it’s like you’re letting me see the real you.”

His smile faded. "You don't want to meet the real me."

"I think I do,” she countered.

"No." He looked almost sad. "You really don't."

Before she could respond, his head snapped toward the road. "Do you hear something?" she asked.