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Archer moves toward me, his steps purposeful. His tanned arm snaps out, and he grabs onto my chin, pulling me to him. “Who’d you piss off, little Lake? You do something tonight? Talk to someone? Do something to make someone angry?” He pulls me so close to him, I can feel the warm breath from his lips kiss my face.
My hands go up, and I shove against his chest, ripping his hand off my face. “I didn’t do fucking shit, Archer. I just got back hours ago. Who the hell could I have pissed off in that time? How could I have done this much damage?” My hand waves toward the blood on the wall. “So quickly?”
His brow lifts. “You could burn down a building in ten minutes, so I think you can piss someone off in a few hours.”
My blood boils, simmering to the point I feel like my skin might melt from my bones. “How do I know you didn’t do this? To scare me? To make me angry?”
His jaw clenches. “If I wanted to piss you off, I’d do something much more conniving than splatter red blood on some walls,” he growls, his chest heaving to the point the muscles ripple beneath his shirt. “Maybe it was you? Mad about the party? Mad about what happened all those months ago?”
I spin around, darting out of his hold as he tries to snatch me. I race up the stairs, so fucking pissed at him for bringing up my worst nightmare, for believing I’d ever do something as cruel as putting real blood on his boat. For what, for fun? To be petty? Does he not know me at all?
“I’m going home,” I snap.
“You’re not walking through those woods alone, Lakyn. Someone was out there stalking you!” Creed shouts at me.
As I walk onto the deck, my fingers go to the railing. I grip it tightly, the metal cool against my palm. I’m so fucking ready to swing myself over and swim out of here. Go anywhere. Anywhere but here.
I can hear footsteps pound up the stairs, and I keep my eyes trained on the dark water. They slow as they approach me, and my back stiffens. I already know who it is, and I don’t think my heart is ready for it.
Gripping the railing in front of me, I take a deep breath as the wind blows against my face. I wish it would give me clarity, yet I can still smell Reign as he steps up behind me.
“You going to jump?” he asks.
I bite my lip. “Thinking about it.”
He steps closer to me, and I can feel the warmth of his chest against my back. “Who do you think was watching you, Lakyn?” He steps closer. “An admirer?” Leaning down, his lips brush my ear. “Or an enemy?”
I turn my face, relaxing despite myself into the familiarity of his body molding to every inch of mine. I hate it. I love it. I want more, yet I want to run away and never see him again. “All I know is, it felt… like a threat,” I breathe.
Cold air whips across me as he steps back, moving until he’s beside me, his corded, tattooed arms resting on the wooden railing of the boat. “You don’t look happy about it.”
My brows lift, and I let out a little laugh. “Obviously. Someone chased me through the woods and wrote with blood on the wall. The message was obviously for me.”
He cocks his head to the side. “Now, why do you think that?”
“Because if it was for my friends, it could’ve happened anytime in the last eleven months.”
He shrugs.
“How much do you know?” He seems so calm about the situation. “Why would you come back here? I mean, really. Did you come back because of the murder? Or is there another reason?”
A smirk lifts his lips, his straight teeth showing, and my knees instantly grow boneless. “A little death doesn’t scare me.”
He shifts even closer, and it feels menacing as his body grazes mine. He’s done things, committed crimes, been as ruthless as they come, yet he seems darker than ever before. “You act as if you’ve been in this position before. You kill someone in the last three years?”
His fingers lift, and he grips a lock of my hair, giving it a tug. “I’ll just say, if you think you’ve done some fucked-up shit, it’s basically child’s play compared to what I’ve done.”
A chill runs over my skin as he watches me coldly. Our eyes lock together, stuck in a hold we’ve been in many times before. No one wants to be the first to look away. Though, the truth is, even if I wanted to, he’s always kept me trapped in his hold.
I hate the man who bruised my soul, yet gives me the air I need to breathe.
The heat in his eyes speaks volumes, and I want to learn more. To dig into his chest and uncover the monsters that lay beneath the surface. I want to expose them, read their stories, uncover their sins.
Where he’s been, what he’s done. I want to know it all.
His jaw clenches, as if he can hear my thoughts, can feel the way that I’m feeling. I want more, I want less. I want to get closer, and I want to escape. He’s different, I can tell that much.
“We’ll never be what we once were, Lakyn. Remember that,” he says calmly. The way he looks at me, it’s as if he wants to demolish me where I stand. Like he wants to consume me and leave me as nothing but bones. It locks me in place.
