Page 289 of Trick or Stalk

“Yes.”

“Good.”

Silence stretches between us.

Then she asks the question I've been waiting for. “Why didn't you tell me?”

That answer is worse.

“Because I'm selfish.”

Her expression changes.

“I could give you a hundred reasons. None of them change that.” I force myself to keep looking at her. “At first, I didn't know you. I didn't owe you an explanation because I didn't plan on becoming part of your life.”

“But you did.”

“Yes.”

“And then?”

“Then I wanted both.”

Her breathing changes. “Hades and the Masked Man.”

“Yes.”

“The man I trusted and the man I was afraid of.”

“Yes.”

“The man I was falling for and the man I⁠—”

She stops.

I wait.

Her eyes meet mine. “The other man I was starting to want.”

Fuck.

“I knew.”

“Of course you fucking knew.” She crosses her arms and sits back in the chair.

“I asked you.”

“You interrogated me while you were wearing a mask.”

“I know.”

“You made me feel guilty!” Her voice rises.

A few people look toward us. But I don't give a fuck.

She lowers her voice. “You let me think I'd done something sexual with another man while I was falling for you.”

“I did.”