Page 98 of Locke

“That’s up to you.”

Now she crossed her arms, seeming lost. “I’ve got nowhere to go. Like I said, you’ve ruined me, Locke. I’ve lost all my jobs, most likely the roof over my head, and everyone will probably think I’m crazy.” Her eyes watered now as she nodded once. “That was your plan, wasn’t it? You’re going to make me run away from everyone and everything, and they’re going to think I was a nutter that just took off.”

“That’s part of it,” he replied. “I’m doing this for you.”

“Fuck you, how do you live with yourself?”

He wasn’t going to answer that. She might monologue again. He walked to the desk nearby and placed his gun down. Then he removed his suit jacket and flung it over the computer chair. Turning it towards him, he sat down and leaned back. He stared at her as her eyes danced with thoughts.

“You want to be chased,” he said just then. “I read your journal—”

“Those were personal thoughts, you fucking psycho!” she roared now. “None of it was fucking real.”

He stared at her closely, catching the way she avoided his eye now. “You’re lying. I think those words are the only truth about you.”

She shook her head, muttering under her breath, “My life was supposed to be a romantic comedy.”

He smirked now, curiously asking, “Did you end up with that man-boy with the muscle car in this romantic comedy, Kali?”

She glowered at him. “Shut up, Locke.”

“His dad owns a dealership, and he helps someone I closely work with chop shop. I imagine your beloved Eric—who accepts blowjobs in his spare time from your dirty roommate—would have stepped into his old man’s shoes.”

“Liar.”

“It’s true.”

She fumed while he continued. “Crime would have followed because that’s what you attract, Kali. Your body hums for danger. You pull it in like a magnet. It’s how you found me.”

“Found you?” she scoffed, dismayed. “You drove that man into the bathroom.”

“He chose to flee there.”

“Liar.”

That was her favourite fucking word.

He tapped the arm of the chair as he continued to study her coming apart. “Your body called to me. It’s why you stopped in that club to stare at me. You couldn’t see me, but you knew I was there.”

Her chest slowed now as she looked at him closely, a strange expression passing over her. Brows furrowed, she admitted, “I…I felt you.”

“What did you feel?”

“I felt…life.” She caught her admission, shutting her eyes briefly to shake her head. “You’re crazy. You’re making me crazy.”

“I’d rather be crazy than like everyone else.” Watching her calmly, his heart tha-thumping in that fucked up possessive way, he said, “I’m doing this because we’re the same. We want to be revived. We want to remember what it’s like to live.”

She opened her eyes, coldly asking, “You’re not giving me a choice, are you?”

“You don’t want me to,” he reminded her. “You want to be chased because you don’t know the feeling anymore. You want someone after you because no one’s ever come for you. You’re an emotional orphan, like me. You want to feel like there is a being out there that will go to the ends of the earth to possess you. And I’m right fucking here.”

She looked uncertain. “What are you going to do to me if you catch me?”

“When I catch you, I’m going to keep you.”

“What does that mean?”

He dropped his guard, letting her see all his wicked intentions. She instantly paled. “I’m going to give you what we want.”

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