Page 110 of Beautiful Prey

The look he gave me was something I couldn’t describe. But I knew now he really was sorry for hurting me.

“If I had known…” he said.

“You would have killed me too.” The words came before I could stop them. But I didn’t regret them.

His expression turned pained. But he and I both knew it was true. He had been out for revenge. He had been out for blood.

“I’m glad,” he whispered. “So glad you hid from me, Evee. That I didn’t find you.”

“Me too.”

Without warning, he dropped to his knees. He gripped my waist and pulled me to him, crushing his face into my stomach.

“I’m so glad…”

I placed my hands on his shoulders. I let him hold me for a moment, let him repeat over and over how glad he was, how sorry. He went silent when I trailed my fingers through his hair.

“At least this day won’t be a repeat of the past,” I said finally, then laughed. “Just the second most memorable birthday I ever had.”

His head shot up to stare at me. He stood quickly, studying me. “Your birthday?”

I nodded. “You think my mom and dad named me Eve for any other reason? Born on the eve of Halloween. Duh.”

He covered his face in his hands and shook his head in disbelief. “No. No,” he groaned.

“What?”

He swept his hands through his hair. “Fuck!” He turned away as if embarrassed. “How did I not figure that shit out? It was your birthday they were celebrating. I thought it was one of theirs. Now, it makes sense.”

He was really getting worked up about it. “I didn’t exactly expect you to figure it out,” I said, feeling kind of amused seeing him in agony over it. “Or for you to remember. Although…”

He turned back to me. “What?”

I pursed my lips. “I thought maybe you caught on since you left me that…giftat the banquet.”

It took him a second to remember what I was talking about. Then I saw the guilty look in his eyes before he glancedaway. “Ah, that. Yeah, not exactly a birthday gift. Just another reminder of how fucked I am in the head. Though you gotta admit it was kind of—”

I crossed my arms, and he didn’t finish his sentence. “Fucked up,” I said.

“Fucked up,” he repeated.

At least he admitted it.

He turned to me again, exasperated. “No, but why didn’t you tell me? You weren’t going to? You were just going to let it slide while all this was happening?”

I shrugged. “It’s not a big deal.”

“Not a big—” He huffed. “It is a big deal to me.” He jabbed a thumb at his chest. “Oh, baby, it all happened on your birthday. Fuck, I’m the biggest piece of shit in the world. I’m scum.”

I opened my mouth but wasn’t sure what to say.

He looked around as if he could find a way to fix what he didn’t know.

“Emery, it’s fine,” I said.

“I’ll be back,” he replied as if not hearing me.

Sighing, I went back to cleaning, then used the bathroom, washing up and combing my hair out. As I came out, I found Emery’s mask on the bedroom floor. I reached down and picked it up, staring at the skull face.

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