Page 64 of Tripp

“Uh-huh,” she grunted, sleep still struggling to steal her from me.

“It’s about Rick,” I confessed. I hated bringing up his name while lying in bed with Reece but I had to tell her what happened. What I’d done. I knew I was risking her, riskingus, but I didn’t want that kind of secret between us.

Her eyes fluttered on my chest, her lashes causing an odd tickling sensation. The strands of her long hair cascaded over my arm as I continued to hold her tightly.

“I don’t wanna talk about him.” She was more awake than before but still groggy. “He’s dead to me.”

“Well, speaking of. . . .” I waited for the dawn of recognition to blossom in her brain. It didn’t take long. She pushed herself up and bent her legs behind her, waiting for me to elaborate.

“What?” she prompted, rubbing her eyes with her palms to drive away the sleep once and for all. “Why did you say it like that?”

Not sure how to start off this particular conversation, I reached for her hand, wound my fingers with hers, opened my mouth and let the words flow. “He tried to come after you again.” She gasped and I shook my head to stop her from responding. “Hawke was the one who actually spotted him. That guy was brazen.”

I couldn’t stop her from interrupting that time. “Was?” She tried to pull her hand from mine but I only held on tighter. “What are you telling me?” Her voice shook and her eyes widened. I feared she wouldn’t understand what I’d done, even though she’d lived with the fear he’d find her and most likely would’ve ended up killing her.

“When Hawke saw him waiting in his car across the street from Indulge, he called me right away. My blood boiled at the thought that he was never gonna leave you alone. Never,” I reiterated, trying like hell to drive home that she would’ve been in constant danger as long as he still breathed air into his lungs. “When we approached him, he tried to leave, but I ripped open his door and flung him onto the pavement before he could. Hawke did a quick search of his car and found a loaded gun in the console, along with a half empty bottle of whiskey.”

“What did you do?” she whimpered, finally withdrawing her hand from mine. She moved back on the bed, the small distance between us like a knife to the chest.

“I had to, Reece. I had to get rid of him. Right before I shot him, he drunkenly confessed that he was gonna punish you for leaving him. That he was gonna kill you and then kill himself.”

“He said he was gonna kill me?”

I wasn’t sure why she was shocked by that.

“Yes.”

“So you shot him?”

“Yes.” My expression was blank. I wanted to smile, knowing Rick would no longer ever be a threat to Reece, but I knew it wasn’t appropriate.

“Dead?” She looked to be in a state of shock.

“Yes.” I kept repeating the same one-word answer, but it said everything. The truth. I’d snatched lives in the past, but this one felt more justified than most.

Because I loved her.

“Oh my God.” Her eyes never left my face. Her expression mirrored my own, which was not good. It meant I couldn’t get a read on what she was thinking or feeling.

So what did I do? I revealed feelings I’d been harboring for a little while now, blurting them out at the most inopportune time.

I reached across the bed and drew her close. Thankfully she didn’t struggle, her surprise at what I’d told her incapacitating her refusal. Placing my hand on the back of her head, I pulled her so close the tips of our noses touched.

“I love you.”

Her warm breath hit my lips, the need to kiss her more powerful than ever before. Her mouth parted but she didn’t speak, not for an excruciatingly long minute.

“You do?”

Not the response I was hoping for, but at least she didn’t pull away in revulsion.

“Yes.” Again with the one-word answer.

She continued to speak, glossing over the fact that I’d just told her that I loved her. Maybe she was in shock. Maybe she didn’t feel the same. It didn’t matter. I wasn’t gonna lie; I would’ve loved to hear her say those three words back to me, but as long as she didn’t run from me after hearing what I’d done, everything would be fine.

“I can’t believe I made you kill him. I’m so sorry, Tripp. I never meant to drag you into my mess.”

Wait . . .

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