Page 64 of Kill Me Sweetly

He took a couple of slow cuts and peered up at me.

“Exactly like that. We need a few of them and also some potatoes cut. Up for it?”

He nodded and proceeded to cut the carrots quickly and with perfect precision. I tried not to think about how easily he could wield a weapon and the damage he could do. Right now, I focused on the fact that he was taking a skill he learned and using it for good and not bad.

Shep watched Four like a hawk—not because he thought Four would hurt me. No, probably for the same reason I was watching him. There was a lot going on inside his brain, and anything could trigger an episode. Shep had told me the other night that Four could realize all the bad things he’d done in his life and hurt himself. And that was why we didn’t take our eyes off him.

Every one of us sat together at dinner. There was some discussion about tomorrow and the fact that we would all be split up into three groups. But mostly, we shared a lot of storieswith Max and Four about how Mason and I met, and we even brought up Heather and Andrew.

I watched Four’s expression as Gabe explained what had happened to them, and he nodded a few times as if he understood the words Gabe wasn’t saying.

That night as I was in Four’s room, ready to tuck him in because he loved it so much, I asked him a question through the bathroom door because I was too chicken to ask to his face.

“Four, I wanted to ask you something and you can choose if you want to tell me, or maybe you’ll decide it’s something you want to discuss with Aziza.”

He opened the bathroom door, and I realized we were going to have this conversation face-to-face.

“What did you want to know?”

“Tonight, when Gabe was telling you about Heather and Andrew and what they went through at the hands of their own parents, you appeared to understand.”

“I did.” He slipped under the covers and watched me.

“Were you…did they sexually abuse you, Four?”

His brow dipped a moment before he shook his head. “No, not like that. I knew pain like Heather and Andrew, and I understand how it all made them feel inside. But never that.”

I hated that he’d been hurt at all, but was relieved at the same time that he’d been spared one horror.

“Thank you for telling me.”

He didn’t say anything, so I gently squeezed his hand and got up.

“JJ.”

I turned to look at him. “Yeah?”

“Tomorrow. Be careful. Listen, don’t react. And promise me if you are in trouble, run. Always run and don’t stop until you’re safe.”

This boy.“I promise you, Four.”

He rolled onto his side and whispered, “Good night.”

“Good night.”

I shut his door and leaned against it for a beat. Why hadn’t he run if he’d thought running was the only way out?

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

SHEP

Once JJ wasunder the covers, I pulled him to me and rolled on top of him.

“Feeling frisky?” He winked and with a desperation I hadn’t felt in a while, I kissed him.

He must have realized how much I needed to be close to him, because he wrapped his arms around me, and if it were possible, pressed us even closer together. Our tongues tangled as our breaths mingled. Moans full of longing filled the room.

“Shep,” JJ whispered against my lips, but I didn’t want to part from him for even a second.

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