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“That’s up to you.” His gaze traveled over her face, wild but not unhinged. “We can move away, pretend to be horrified by Aaron’s actions, and start over.”
Every part of her recoiled. “Me with you? Like, married?”
“Not like that.” He shook his head. “Haven’t you been listening? I have needs. Times I’d want to be away, at my special place. Hunting.” He smiled again. “You’ve said it a million times. We understand each other. We share a bond. Hell, it’s why I did all of this.”
The panic inside her rose with each word. His disconnection to reality whipped and battered her. “Did what?”
“Moved Aaron’s body. Planted evidence on Ryan and Brent.” He smiled. “Let you live after you killed my baby brother.”
“You’re demented if you think I’d go along with your killing spree.”
“I hoped you would. It would make things easier.”
“Never.” She brought her arm up and swung the blade.
Chapter Fifty-Nine
JARED CAUGHT THE KNIFE RIGHT BEFORE IT PLUNGED INTO HISneck. Blood dripped from his fingers where they clenched around the sharp blade.
He made that awfultsk-tsking sound again. “Naughty girl.”
He tugged, and Lila felt her arm pop up at the shoulder. She blinked hard against the race of tears and pain. A harsh gasp filled her ears, and she realized it came from her. When she focused on him again, he was closing the knife and throwing it into the bedroom. She heard it crash against something but couldn’t see where. She was too busy focusing on the hammer he still held.
“You won’t kill me. We’ve known—”
“Our history doesn’t matter. If you make me hunt you, I will. And I will savor it.” He swung the hammer and caught her in the side.
She doubled over as pain shot through her, from stomach to back. She kept her head up because she knew if she looked away he would slam the hammer into her brain.
Her side thumped under her fingers, and an ache screeched through her head. Anxiety and panic mixed and swelled inside her. But she stayed on her feet.
“You’re going to bludgeon me, Jared?” She tried to ignored the pain and breathiness in her voice. “How will you explain that to the police?”
“You assume anyone will find your body.”
The hammer was right there, in front of her face. She bolted around him. Shifted to her wounded side. But he caught her mid-run and looped an arm around her waist, tightening against the wound he’d inflicted until the breath left her lungs. He pulled her against his stomach and held her there, his breath gliding across the back of her neck.
“That was a mistake.”
She’d always thought of him as a guy who sat at a desk. In shape but normal. What a joke. He possessed enough upper-body strength to clamp down on her and limit her options. All that running and conditioning. She knew that was part of his game. Part of the hunt.
She would not die like this, another victim of the Payne men.
“Let go!” She scratched at his arm. When he lifted the hammer again, she kicked out her legs, throwing him off balance. He shifted backward and yelled in her ear to stop.
His anger breathed life into hers, but she tamped it down. He wanted her to fight. He got off on the hunt and the fear.
She would not give him either.
She made her body go limp. “Okay.”
“Okay?”
His mouth was right next to her ear. His body so close. But she would not panic. She would not give him that.
“Do it,” she said, issuing her challenge.
He loosened his grip. “Your game won’t work.”
