AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Your weakness.
But most of all, the most suffocating reason why I was terrified was because as I stood across from Arlo, all I felt was the need to go to him, to press my body against his and let our darknesses coexist.
“Why would I be on a man like that’s radar?” Those words were whispered, and still Arlo didn’t speak even though I knew he heard me. But I didn’t need him to say the words to know the answer to the question I asked. Yet again I kept firing them at him, now more than ever wanting him to lie—to deny—what I said, what I felt.
“It’s my fault,” he finally said, but there was no guilt in his voice. There was… nothing. He tipped back his glass to finish off his vodka before setting it on the bar behind him. “I shouldn’t have let him see my reaction.” The last part was said almost as if he spoke to himself.
“I don’t know what the hell’s going on,” I admitted softly before finishing off my liquor as well. I coughed, covering my mouth with the back of my hand as the burn settled in deep. It was fire down my throat and coalescing in my belly. It was a light-headedness that made the situation a little less dreadful.
I turned from Arlo and walked toward the windows, the glass starting at the floor and going all the way to the ceiling foot after foot above me, nothing but skyscrapers and twinkling lights as far as the eye could see. Down below, there was nothing but red and white lights moving back and forth. Did the people there know the world they lived in? Did they know the evil men behindthe designer suits and gentle smiles? Did they know death was right in front of them, and they opened their arms to embrace it like a warm friend?
I could see Arlo coming to stand behind me in the reflection of the glass, but I couldn’t find it in me to feel any kind of fear. And although there was this awareness inside me that this man was dangerous, I never felt that his violence or aggression would ever be directed toward me. It was illogical. It was fucking stupid.
I knew nothing about Arlo, but if I looked hard enough, I could see his entire story written right on the surface.
“You’re a bad man,” I said as I stared at his reflection. He was looking down at me, his dark brows pulled low. He lifted a hand and ran it over his mouth, the sound of his palm moving over the stubble that created a light shadow across his cheeks and jaw loud right beside my ear. It was masculine. Arousing. It shouldn’t have turned me on, but it did.
“I am.” That word was final. So final that I felt a chill race up my spine as he said it in that low voice.
“Are there worse men out there than you?” I didn’t know why I asked the question. Because truthfully I knew the answer.
“No.”
I wanted to say I didn’t believe him, but I’d be lying to both of us.
“But there are men out there who would hurt you, Lina… simply because you’re associated with someone.” I knew he meant associated withhim. “They’d hurt you to make a point, to take a perceived weakness and snuff it out.” His gaze was so fierce.
My heart hiccupped. Was he sayingIwas his weakness? I didn’t even know him. How could I control someonethatmuch? But my words were thrown back at me because the feelings I had when I was in Arlo’s presence were soul-searing.
What Arlo unknowingly made me feel was hot enough to burn the wings off an angel.
My breath caught at the cold calculation, what he implied.What he’s saying.
“And it’s taking every single ounce of self-control I don’t even possess not to go back there and kill any bastard who would take your life as if it meant nothing.”
I didn’t know why I turned around, didn’t know why I faced the predator head-on. But as he took my now-empty glass from my hand and set it aside, his eyes never leaving me, there was nothing on this earth that could have forced me to look away.
I moved my arms behind me and pressed my palms flat against the window. The glass was cold and smooth beneath them.Hard. I curled my fingers against it, even though I knew it wouldn’t give me any purchase.
I stared into his eyes that looked so dark with the shadows gently caressing him like a lover. And I knew the absolute truth the longer he stared at me, peeling away bit by bit, exposing me inch by inch.
“Did you kill that man in the alley?” I knew I wouldn’t have to specify what and who I meant.
One.
Two.
Three seconds passed before he moved in an inch closer. “Yes.”
He said that word as if it was the easiest thing to admit. As if killing was the simplest form of pleasure. I held my breath, his truth like a sledgehammer to my chest.
“Ask me why I did it.” Low voice. Deep words. Tearing me from the inside out.
“Why did you kill him?” There was a hitch in my voice that I knew couldn’t go unnoticed.
He leaned in until his lips were close enough to my ear that his answer would brush along the shell. “For you.”
My heart was running a race in my chest. Bu-bump. Bu-bump. “What are you?”
