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I want to know where the hell she’s been, so I barge into her room without knocking. She jumps and turns around, holding her dress in place. Both spaghetti straps are hanging loose on the sides as if someone tore them off.
My blood runs cold.Hansen.
Valerie should have yelled at me already for invading her privacy, but she keeps staring with eyes as round as saucers while her breath comes out in bursts.
I shorten the distance between us, and then I notice dried blood on her lower lip from a small cut and a bruise on her neck in the shape of a hand.
“Who did this to you?” I ask in a cold and tight voice, already knowing the answer.
She steps back. “Nobody.”
“Don’t bullshit me, Valerie. It was Hansen, wasn’t it?”
Her eyes harden. “I said it was nobody. Leave it alone, Eric.”
Fuck. If she seemed frightened, I could believe she didn’t want to tell me out of fear. But her eyes are flashing with anger, and it’s aimed at me. My stomach coils tight, making me sick. She can’t possibly be in love with that scumbag.
“Why are you protecting him?”
“I’m not protecting anyone,” she grits out.
“Then tell me how you busted your lip and why your brand-new dress is destroyed.”
She chuckles, but her eyes remain cold. “Maybe I like it rough. Have you thought of that?”
Take a knife and plunge it into my heart, why don’t you?
I don’t buy her bullshit though. Hansen hurt her, and that’s all I need to know. But I can’t simply leave, so I step closer and run my fingers down her arm. “If you truly liked it rough, you wouldn’t have gone to Hansen, Val. You would have come to me.”
She gasps, and her eyes widen. God, even with the fury of a raging fire burning through my veins, I want to kiss her. For the first time, she’s looking at me as if she’s considering the possibility that I could be more than her stepbrother. The space between us seems to crackle with electricity. I don’t make a move, waiting for Valerie to decide.
The sound of the front door opening breaks the spell. Our parents are home. I step back and run my fingers through my long bangs to try to dispel the fog of lust that almost made me cross a line. Then I spin around and walk out of her room.
I might be lacking a soul, but I don’t take advantage of girls. Something bad happened to Valerie, and I intend to find out how bad. I’ll make sure Hansen sings before I’m done with him.
* * *
VALERIE
I let out a breath of relief when Eric leaves me alone. He caught me having a weak moment while I was still reeling from what happened with Hansen, and I hate that. But then he said the first real thing to me since he came into my life.
He’s always flirted with me but never seriously. He does it to get on my nerves. Tonight was different. I could see the desire blazing in his eyes, and I almost caved despite what happened at the party. I’m not like most people. I don’t react the same way to bad things as most of the population does. What Hansen did was the most extreme shit that’s happened to me. A different girl would be curled up in a corner, crying herself senseless, and be broken for a very long time. Not me.
I’ve had a crush on Eric ever since I met him. How could I not? Those baby-blue eyes that always burn with intensity, those lips that can curl in the most wicked smile, and a face that belongs on the cover of a magazine. But besides his looks, it’s the disdain he seems to have for humanity in general and his dark sense of humor that draw me to him. He’s been a pest since he moved in, though, so I focus on that and try to ignore my attraction to him.
If our folks hadn’t arrived home when they did, I might have crossed the line with him. Not only to fulfill a fantasy but also to eradicate the memory of Hansen’s touch. Thinking about him fills me with rage. My body starts to shake, and I want to break things. I curl my hands into fists, digging my long nails into my palms until it hurts. Then I take deep breaths, willing my pulse to slow down. I can’t act on impulse. Revenge is best served cold, and Hansen will get what’s coming to him.
I take off my ruined dress and toss it in the trash. I want to burn it, but I’ll do that later. First, I need a scalding-hot shower. My skin burns when the jets hit me, but I endure the pain until I get used to it. I wash myself twice, and then I get ready in an all-black ensemble that reflects my mood. My shoulder-length hair will have to dry naturally. I don’t want to wake my father by blow-drying it. I need something from his office.
He keeps pharmaceutical samples locked in a cabinet, but I made a copy of the key a long time ago. I’ve been stealing shit from him for years. I love to experiment with chemicals, especially ones that can kill without a trace. I have some vials of poison in my room already, but none of them will do. They kill too quickly, and I want Hansen to suffer for what he did to me. He fucked with the wrong girl.
four
Eric
Iusually plan my kills better. Preparation and research are half the fun, after all. But there’s no fucking chance I’ll wait to make that motherfucker pay. Hansen hurt Valerie, and he doesn’t deserve to live to see another day.
Before I return to his house, I need my tools. When I moved to Stanmore, I had to find a place to hide them. Keeping my stash in the house wasn’t an option. But one of the advantages of living in the boonies is that there isn’t a shortage of woodland around. My hiding spot is a minute’s drive from Keith’s house, but I cycle there. No car engine noises to draw attention. Plus, that way, no one can see my license plate and put me at the scene.
