Page 298 of Trick or Stalk

She can walk out now. Leave and never come back.

Regret the day she met me.

Every instinct I have screams at me to stop her before she does.

But I don't.

She doesn’t say anything.

“I told you I'd give you everything.” My voice sounds rough. “That's everything.”

Presley stares at me. “Now what?”

“Now you decide.”

CHAPTER 40

Presley

The words hang in the air between us.

The decision is mine to make.

Hades doesn’t move. He just stands across the room, waiting.

I stare at the man I've spent weeks trying to understand.

The man who watched me through my windows before I even knew his name. Who terrified me from the woods. Who bought Penny a Halloween sweater. The one who chased me through a bookstore wearing a mask. Who sat beside me while I talked about Grandma. Who learned everything I told him and stole the things I didn't. Who murdered his stepfather because he decided the man deserved to die.

And apparently, that same terrifying man is now waiting for me to decide whether he gets to remain in my life.

Jesus Christ. My dating history really took a fucking turn.

I lower myself onto the battered couch because my legs suddenly don't feel reliable.

Hades stays where he is.

That bothers me.

Which is ridiculous.

If he comes closer, I'll probably tell him to back up.

Because he doesn't, I want to ask why the hell he's standing all the way over there.

Apparently, I'm impossible.

Penny would be disappointed in me.

Actually, she’d be disappointed Hades hasn't provided her with another sweater.

I press my palms against my thighs. “Did Wilder know you were going to kill him?”

Hades's expression changes slightly. “No.”

“He just helped you?”

“Yes.”