Page 22 of Unveiled

On the other hand, it’s clear the monster and I both need this time to heal from what happened. Even though I tried to act like I was too strong to be affected by it, I wasn’t fooling anyone. And though the monster has thrown himself into finding and killing my captors, he clearly hasn’t dealt with the guilt and pain of losing me.

“Ainsley? Don’t tell me you’re falling for him again,” Ethan says through the speaker after my silence stretches on for too long.

“No, no, I’m not,” I assure him. “I was just thinking that this time might be good for us. We both need to heal and move on from what happened, and maybe if he can get past his guilt, he’ll finally be able to let me go.”

Now it’s Ethan’s turn to stay quiet as I capture my lip between my teeth, waiting to hear his response. He’s always been afraid that walking away and never speaking of the monster again wouldn’t be enough. He thinks I’m not strong enough to forget the love I once felt for him. Maybe a few months ago, he would have been right. Not now, though.

“You don’t know him very well if you think he’s ever going to let you go. He’s been pining after you for years, and you didn’t even know it. Do you really think he’s going to give up just because he has to wait for your feelings to resurface? And that’s if they haven’t started to already.”

My cheeks heat at the implication, but not being able to deny it makes it that much worse. I don’t love the monster. Not anymore. But, I’m remembering why I fell for him in the first place. It’s in the way he takes care of me, and the way he holds me when I’m crying or just having a nightmare. I can see it when he’s being gentle with me, and also when he’s pushing me because he knows I can handle it.

Just because I can remember why I fell for him, doesn’t mean it’s going to happen again. I have that much self control.

“It’s fine, Ethan. After this week, I’ll go back to school and we’ll never see each other again. Well, he’ll still have that stupid camera until I move out, but I won’t have to see him,” I tell him, knowing in my soul that all I need is to stay strong for a few more days and then it’ll be over, and I can grieve the love I could have had and move on.

Ethan chuckles through the speaker, a humorless sound that instantly puts me on alert. “Ainsley, he’s been in your apartment more times than I have this semester, you just didn’t know it. Do you really think that’s going to change just because you spent some time together?”

He’s never told me this. As far as I knew, the monster kept his distance, choosing to watch me through cameras and send the occasional text that I always ignored. I’m not really sure how to feel about him creeping around my apartment. I mean, I’m not surprised, he’s broken into my apartment while I was home more than once before. But something about him breaking in just to watch me up close feels… different.

“Why didn’t you tell me he’s been coming to my apartment?” I ask accusingly, feeling betrayed by my best friend all over again.

“Because I threatened to take you away from him forever if he told you,” comes a husky voice from behind me. Whirling around with my heart in my throat, I find the monster standing in the now open doorway, rubbing sleep out of his eyes. I was so lost in my thoughts, I never even heard him come outside.

“Why were you coming to my apartment?” I know what his answer is going to be. I’m just asking for the punishment of knowing the answer.

“To watch you sleep. I didn’t know you were having nightmares until the other night, because you never had them while I was with you. Sometimes, I would sneak in while you were in class, just so I could feel like I was close to you again.”

He walks closer to me, invading my personal space as I stand my ground. When his hand brushes my hair back and he leans down to whisper in my ear, I don’t even flinch away from him.

“Sometimes, you cry out in your sleep for me, begging me to take you away again. But you didn’t know that, did you?”

No. I wouldn’t do that. I never wanted to see the monster again, let alone be taken by him. He’s lying to me, just to get a reaction out of me. I won’t give him the satisfaction.

“Now, I believe this is my phone, which means he was calling to speak to me,” the monster says as he pulls away from me and holds out his hand, reminding me I still have his phone pressed against my ear with Ethan on the other line.

“I want to see him,” I announce as I hand the phone to him.

“What?” He says into the phone, greeting Ethan with as much warmth as he can muster for his little brother. There’s a long pause as Ethan makes his demand, and the monster doesn’t break eye contact.

“No.” Another long pause, and I can feel my cheeks heating the longer the monster stares at me.

“She hasn’t even asked. Stop assuming you know what’s best for my girl and let me handle this.”

My entire body heats from the way he claims me as his, even though I don’t want it to. Those words shouldn’t affect me like they do, not this time around.

The monster hangs up the phone without a goodbye and drops it into the pocket of his still bloody sweatpants.

“I want to see him,” I announce again, since he clearly didn’t take my request to heart the first time.

“Okay,” he answers.

“This week. I want to see him this week, before spring break is over,” I clarify.

“Fine,” he answers, again not fighting me.

“Really?”

There’s no way. The monster hates seeing me around other men, even Ethan. I expected some kind of fight, so why is he just giving in?

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