Page 135 of Stone Cold Touch

I opened my eyes. “Yes.”

“And you were right. We all have free will. Even demons.” He placed his hands on either side of my head and leaned in. “I proved that was true. And what is happening to you—if this is you—it’s not something you’ll freely choose to do. So to me, it makes a difference.”

“What do you mean by if? We haven’t found the Lilin. The crone all but said it was me. You even came back up—” My voice cracked again and I didn’t know why—why knowing that the reason he’d returned to the school was that he thought I was taking souls and nothing else hurt like a stab to the chest. “You came back because you thought there was a good chance it was me. Why...why didn’t you tell me at the beginning?”

He turned his head and breathed deeply. “What good would it have done?”

“You should’ve told me.”

Roth hung his head. “I didn’t want to put that on you.”

Something lurched in my chest at the soft admission, but there was something else I needed to know. “What are your orders if I’m the one causing this?”

He shook his head a little.

Anger rose swiftly through me and I reached up, knocking his arms down. “Tell me.”

Roth’s gaze latched on to mine. “I’m to take care of you.”

Hearing his words was like being smacked. “In other words, you were going to kill me?”

He swallowed. “Layla—”

“Oh my God, Roth, you...you’re really here to take me out, aren’t you? If you find proof or another demon or the Wardens discover that it’s me, you’re here to stop me.”

“It would be my job to do so.”

“Are you serious?” I slid along the side of the elevator, putting space between us. My stomach roiled. After what we’d shared, after he’d comforted me when I admitted my fears... “I trusted you. Jesus, everything about you—about us—has been nothing but a manipulation. Do you understand that? You were here the first time around to find Paimon and I was just a means to an end then. And now I’m literally the means and the end for you. Anotherfuckingjob.”

He flinched.

I moved in a tiny circle, pushing the hair out of my face. My thoughts whirled and bounced from one messed up thing to another. “Is there anything else that I don’t know that you want to tell me?”

There was a pause and even as he shook his head, I knew differently.

I lowered my hands, staring at him. “You’re lying now.”

“You don’t understand.”

That was it. I lost it. Who knew what exactly flipped the switch. The fact that Roth was technically topside to kill me might have had something to do with it. My arm swung back and my hand cracked across his face. The blow stunned him, but didn’t move him. And he didn’t retaliate. He just stared at me. Silent. Full of more secrets. I swung again and his hand snapped out, catching my arm.

“Stop it,” he said.

I was beyond listening.

Bringing my leg up, I aimed my knee at a vulnerable spot, but he whipped me around before I could make contact. He crossed my arm over my front and then locked me in an embrace.

“Let me go!” I shrieked, throwing my weight back.

Roth braced himself. “Yeah, I don’t think I want to get bitch slapped again.”

I pulled my legs up and then swung my upper body weight down. Caught off guard, the momentum pitched us forward. He shifted, taking the brunt of the fall, but rolled quickly, forcing me onto my stomach. I started to push up, but he was suddenly on me, the entire length of his body pushing me down.

“Stop,” he hissed into my ear. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

My heart turned over. “Yet.”

Roth suddenly shifted, rolling me onto my back. Before I could raise my arms, he caught them, pinning them above my head. Raising my hips, I tried to knock him off, but that ended up having the complete opposite effect, pushing him farther down on me.

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