Page 106 of Fall With Me

Oh my God.

My stomach dropped as my gaze crawled over the walls. Not a square inch of paint was exposed. Photos were hung everywhere, some taped, some tacked up.

I couldn’t be seeing this.

Pictures of women I’d never seen before were all over the walls—walking outside of businesses, outside of homes, and other normal, everyday things, but some—oh my God—some were close-ups of wrists and ankles bound, but that...

My gaze moved over the left wall and then darted back. I turned to it, clamping a hand over my mouth.

There were pictures of me.

Photos of me insidemyapartment—me sleeping on the couch and in my bed. There were photos of me walking through my bedroom, wearing nothing but a towel, and then photos where I was wearingnothingat all. Photos of me naked, from almost every possible conceivable angle known to freaking man. There were so many of them, and I wasn’t alone in some of them.

There were pictures of Reece and me.

Cuddled up on the couch together. Him sitting on my bed and me standing in front of him. Photos of us kissing. And photos ... photos of us making love.

Horror dug razor-sharp claws in me as I stared at the photos. I couldn’t get enough air in my lungs. In the back of my head, I knew I needed to get out of here. I needed to call the police, but when I took a step back it was like I was walking in quicksand.

Floorboards creaked, the sound clapping through the room like thunder.

Tiny hairs rose all over my body. Ice drenched my veins.

“I really wish you hadn’t seen this.”

Chapter 25

Terror seized me at the sound of his voice, the shock of realizing I was so not alone making me a little dizzy for a moment. The photos on the wall blurred as I spun around.

He stood in the doorway of the room, his blond hair messy, like he’d run his fingers through it several times. Those sharp, dark eyes appeared to miss nothing, and his arms were loose at his sides, but his hands opened and closed, grasping air over and over.

Kip. It was Kip.

He was the one who’d been breaking into my house and it obviously went further than that. The photos of the other women...

Kip tilted his head to the side like he could hear what I was thinking. “You shouldn’t have seen this. You wouldn’t understand.”

Fear had my throat seized up and I croaked out, “What is there to understand?”

One shoulder rose as he glanced toward the closet. “Probably should’ve made sure you couldn’t find your way up here, but I honestly didn’t think you’d find it.” He took a step forward and to the side, putting himself between the closet and the door. My muscles locked up. “I mean, you hadn’t discovered it this whole time. Figured you weren’t smart enough.”

Any other day I’d be insulted for not being “smart enough,” however, today I honestly didn’t care what he thought about my level of intelligence. I had to get out of there. My frantic gaze moved to the doorway. I’d been in James and Miriam’s apartment before, and if the layout was anything like theirs, I knew this room led to a hall and then to the door.

“I know what you’re thinking,” he said gently.

I looked at him sharply. “That you’re a freak?”

His eyes narrowed. “And you’re a whore.” He spat the words out. Drawing back, I stared at him as a muscle flickered along his jaw. “You’re just like all the rest of them—just like Shelly.”

“Shelly?” I whispered.

“When it came to her, I was relegated to the friend zone for years, but I loved her. Ilovedher, Roxy.” His dark eyes flashed. “But she spread her legs for just about any guy who crossed her path. I wasn’t good enough for her, I guess.” He barked out a short, harsh laugh. “Well, I showed her just how good I was.”

When it hit me who Shelly was—the girl that had gone missing at the beginning of the summer—my knees went weak. I doubted showing her how good he was had anything to do with something I wanted to be a part of.

I thought about the other women—the ones in the photos on these walls. “You ... you hurt them because of Shelly?”

His lips curled up in a mockery of a smile. “I don’t think I hurt them.”

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