Page 61 of Possess Me! (I Want You To)

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Fifteen minutes later things took a turn for the worse.

I could hear Violet in the kitchen rattling around. Damn. Had she even left since breakfast? My stomach was growling again. And after how long my talk with Prudence had taken, I was more than ready to toss a bag of ramen in the microwave, and try my luck.

I paused, halfway down the hallway.

Violet’s voice echoed through the air, hushed, like she was speaking quietly on purpose. Because—as much as I made fun of Prudence for being nosy—I was actually pretty nosy myself, I stayed silent. I tip-toed down the hallway till I was close enough to hear clearly without giving myself away.

When I was fifteen I had a similar experience. Hidden in the darkened hallway of our trailer, listening to Mom’s hushed whispers as she told Paul, in no uncertain terms, that she wouldn’t marry him unless he was willing to love all of us the way we were meant to be loved. I’d never known my dad. Never known any of our dads. That alone had made me wary of Paul from the start. He’d had to woo all three of us kids just as hard as he’d wooed Mom. Except, when she got flowers and nights out on the town, we got a dad that showed up for every spelling bee, baseball game, and art contest we’d ever participated in. Paul had never let me down. Not once.

Hearing her words back then, I’d felt peace.

This situation though—was different.

Instead of feeling excited as I eavesdropped, I was…apprehensive.

So much was going on it felt like there were marbles rattling around inside my head. I shook it to clear it, and held my breath so I could catch the words Violet spoke next.

“He’s still here,” she hummed.

Who is still here? Me? Or Prudence? This already didn’t sound good.

No bueno, no siree.

Scraaape, thud. The familiar sound of Violet pulling out our cutting board, and setting it on the counter filled the air. Ah. Against my better judgment, a smile crept across my lips. No doubt, Violet was probably about to prepare one of her fucking amazing Italian recipes. They were her go-to form of apology after we’d been fighting. A manipulation I welcomed with open arms, and an open mouth. There was nothing a nice, thick lasagna couldn’t fix. Not for us. Maybe she was about to ruin that though, because something about her words seemed…off.

I exhaled quietly, then held my breath again.

Anxiety tingled at my fingertips.

“Yes. He’s still wearing the necklace,” Violet answered whoever she was talking to on the other line. The rattling of cupboards in the kitchen paused as she listened to their response. Icy fingers clenched around my heart as I protectively clutched the cross hanging from my neck. The ivory bit into my palm as I squeezed tight to soothe myself.

Standing in shocked silence, fear buzzed at the edge of my senses, insistent, and all-encompassing. I’d loved and lived with Violet for long enough to understand that if she was conspiring against me, it was only for my own good. She was just that kinda person. Bossy as hell, but good-hearted.

This time though…I couldn’t shake the feeling that she was about to betray me. I tried to rationalize her words but…the longer I listened, the clearer it became that Violet was plotting against me.

“If I take it off of him, what happens? Will he…you know…disappear?” She was quiet for a moment, oblivious to the fact that my skin was crawling and bile made my mouth taste like battery acid. “Okay, so if that won’t work, then when can you come get your brother? Tomorrow? The longer they’re together, the closer they get, and Luca is… He’s too soft for this. He’d attach himself to a phone pole if he thought it looked at him twice.” I knew she didn’t mean to be cruel. I knew she couldn’t know I was here, listening like a sneaky little creep—but…fuck. Did she really think I was that stupid? Before that moment, I hadn’t known a person could be eviscerated with words alone.

My eyes burned.

There was more silence as she listened, and then, “I’ll try to distract him until then.”

Who was she talking to?

Was this Prudence’s family?

I realized now why he’d been so careful to hide his location from them. Clearly, like he’d suspected, they’d figured out where he was through Violet. Maybe they’d overheard one of our many conversations about him? Elmwood was a small town after all. And if that was the case, it meant they’d been hunting for him from the second he’d disappeared. There was no other explanation. Fuck, I was across the entire country, how the hell had they known where he was?

How did Violet know them?

What was going on?

Maybe Prudence wasn’t as paranoid as I’d thought he was.

And then…her words finally clicked into place. The necklace. Duh. The necklace belonged to Prudence. He’d appeared in my life the second I’d put it on. I could still remember the way he’d talked me through orgasm, his voice dark as sin in the back of my mind. But that had been in Elmwood which…meant it wasn’t that weird that Violet might know Prudence’s family after all.

Maybe the whole town was in on the supernatural conspiracy.

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