Page 25 of Lethal Attraction

My lips pull over my teeth. “I may have drugged him—”

“Oh my god.”

“—but he was lucid! I just convinced him he was dreaming.“ I’m trying to salvage the situation, and it seems to work a fraction.

“And he was okay with dreaming about you?” She questions.

I avoid her eyes as I shrug. “He said it wasn’t the first time…”

My best friend spreads her hands wide. “Okay, I’m tracking this man for you. I need everything. His name, his socials, last known location. Give it all to me.”

I chuckle. “Reed Bellamy.”

“Ooh,” she draws as she props her elbow on the table and rests her chin in her hand. “He sounds hot.”

“He’s sooo hot,” I gush. “He has this whole good boy vibe to him, but he likes pain, Al!”

Her brows lift. “Holy shit! Your little sadist heart was eating that up, huh?”

“He may have asked me to carve my initials into his chest.” I smile sheepishly.

Alana reaches across the table, placing her hand on my arm. “And you think you ruined this? It’s obvious this guy is just as crazy about you. You have to find him.”

We’re both delusional on the notion of Reed actually liking me, but it doesn’t stop those old wounds from resurfacing. My smile fades a little as those insecurities bite at me. I draw back from my friend, my eyes becoming distant as I’m shunted into a memory.

“You’re lucky your punishment isn’t worse than this, Thalia,” my mother bites as she stares down at me.

We’re in the interrogation shed and I’m bound by chains to the floor. It’s been days since I was first brought down here. Dad is taking a break, and Mom has decided to pay me a visit during my punishment.

She sinks down to squat in front of me, and I recoil as fiery pain burns across every inch of my body. I haven’t been able to assess the damage, but I know there are scars that won’t heal and my stomach is roiling with harsh hunger.

My mother snatches my chin, examining me with those horrid, scrutinizing eyes. “He’s left your face alone. Good. We can’t have that scarred up.”

She releases me as I suck in a ragged breath. The concrete beneath me bites into my knees, and my whole body feels like I’ve been set on fire. I can register the warm trickles of my blood leaking down my flesh, but I don’t know where it’s coming from.

Not with her looming over me.

“You should thank Brooks. He did you a service,” my mother turns her back on me as she walks towards the hatch. She places her hand on the railing before looking back at me. “Let this be a lesson, dear. All men are the same. They only see a pretty face.”

She leaves me alone in the shed, closing the door as darkness shrouds me, and I scream until my throat is raw and scratchy. All the pain, physical and mental, melts together as I shriek my sorrow and betrayal into the lone night.

I’m only shunted back to reality when Alana slides her hand over mine, holding me tightly. “Thalia. You’re more than a pretty face—”

“Would Reed even care about me?” I chuckle brokenly.

My best friend’s eyes portray her sadness as she stares back at me. “If he doesn’t, then he isn’t the one. There’s so much more to you.”

The sincerity in her voice always gets to me—like my best friend can see past my exterior to all of my quirks and compassion. She’s said time and time again that I’m much like a flower. It appears beautiful as a whole, but it’s just as extraordinary if every layer is peeled away and extracted. Poetic as fuck, but she’s the only person I’ve allowed to see the real me.

Which is why I choose my next words carefully. “I really like him, Al. I’m just…scared.”

She gives me a knowing look. “But we would rather say you tried than to say that you let him get away, right?”

I nod.

She smiles. “Then let’s get your surgeon.”

I chuckle. “We’re really doing this, huh?”