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The feeling is more than mutual, but I don’t tell him that.
My hand finds his cheek, my thumb rubbing his dark facial hair. “You’re the one who left the scarecrow, aren’t you?” I ask him. The eyes I sense at night are Remy’s. They’ve always been Remy’s.
He clenches his jaw. “I needed people to stay away from you. I knew it wouldn’t scare you that much, and people here are superstitious. It seemed to work. It was the only way I could protect you when I couldn’t be there.”
I keep my eyes down, refusing to look at him. Afraid if I do, he might capture my heart entirely, and I can’t let that happen. Tommy already has a piece of it.
He knows I’m with Tommy…he just doesn’t care.
He presses both arms on either side of me before he grabs my chin, forcing the matter, his lips are now a kissable distance, and my legs nearly give out.
“You need to get out of this town, little lamb,” he says, his voice ragged against my ear.
“Why?” I whisper as a flame rises inside me. His mere presence makes me queasy. There’s an urgency about him that didn’t exist before, a heaviness sparked by something unseen.
“There are things happening in this town that I can’t explain, Didi. Things I can’t protect you from the way I want to.”
A beat of silence passes as I keep my eyes locked on his. The pain inside them mirrors my own. “What are you saying?”
He threads his hands with mine. “Everything’s about to change. Promise me you’ll leave Kinsmen after you graduate, and not a day later. If you stay here, guys like Billy and Clyde will be the least of your worries. This town is evil, Didi, and it will eventually kill you.”
He speaks of the town like it’s a living, breathing thing—as if it’s Shadowface itself.
A wind kicks dust up, rustling the trees around us, and a cold silence washes over us as I flick my eyes up to him. “Do you want to kill me, Remy?” The words escape my lips before I can control them.
Why would I ask him that as if it’s a prize to win?
His eyes dance with desire. “I don’t want to kill you, but I want to rip your fucking heart out.” He kisses me before I can even process his words, or my body’s response, which is to melt into him instead of fleeing. My body explodes the same way it did last time he kissed me. Except this time, I’m prepared for him.
I tilt my head as his lips graze down my neck…his facial hair tickling me. He kisses me desperately, nipping at my neck with his tongue. The sensation is doing strange things to me. Heat rushes to my stomach, and my heart is on fire.
“Remy,” I whisper. He pulls his lips off me and watches me. “Are you Shadowface?”
He pauses before he says, “Not yet.”
Not yet? What does he mean by that?
He runs his hands down my side, drawing his attention downward. His body is stealing all my breath, as if he’s made of death. He hooks his thumbs through the belt loops on my pants, and I suck in a breath when I realize what he is doing.
“Take them off,” he demands.
As if my fingers are possessed, I undo the button of my pants and let my trousers fall a couple inches. He slips them down slowly, and I’m thin enough that they slip off without effort. My bones freeze, chilling me to my very core, and he moves his attention to the belt still digging in my flesh.
“Take this off, too,” he whispers, gently nudging me.
My heart can barely take it. “I can’t. You have to do it for me, Remy. If I do it, I will burn in hell.”
“You’re going to burn in hell anyway, little lamb. Let me help you get there.”
My thighs clench in response, but I make no move to stop him.
He swallows as he pulls the leather down slowly. I hiss as the sharp belt causes blood to pool over my scars, and he pauses, rubbing his thumb over my belly.
“Keep going,” I whisper.
I grab the back of his neck, his facial hair tickling me as he slides the belt down, pulling it over my bone and flesh until eventually, the pressure gives and the belt drops to the ground with a clank.
No key needed at all.
