Page 157 of Pretty Little Lies

Regret instantly fills my chest because I’m not that girl. I don’t hit guys because they hurt my feelings.

Because you don’t allow anyone to get that close.

“Better?” Torin asks me, shoving his tongue into his cheek that I just slapped.

No.

I opened up, and Reeve, of all people, was going to murder my dad. I wouldn’t have bet on him. I didn’t even think he’d have it in him, but I judged him all wrong. So, who’s to say that I have any judgment at all.

“Please, leave,” I mutter, feeling the sting of tears behind my eyes. I can’t stand to look at him. I’ve had feelings for Torin—long and extensive ones when I was with Matteo. I thought after so much time had passed that Torin had forgotten all about me.

I would see him in passing once in a while, but I never got too close to him. I knew exactly what he was capable of doing to me.

And he did it.

“Bay, I’m sorry,” he issues out, making goosebumps pebble along my skin. “It’s not an excuse…but no one knew who was in this house. Just what the job was.”

I hear what he’s saying, but what if it was someone else’s father? What if that son or daughter didn’t wake up and they just took him away?

“I can’t,” I tremble, crossing my arms over my chest for some sort of stability. “It’s too much.”

“Trust me when I say, I know. That I’m fully aware of what we’re doing. That we don’t fully have the freedom of suspicion from each other. But I want you to know that we would never hurt you. Even if this ends badly.”

I hold his tawny eyes and look for a lie. A glimmer of deceit that tells me to continue with what my head has been telling me to do.

Stay away from them.

However, Torin and I have a spark that is undeniably electric and grounding. He exerts a confidence in me that I can withstand anyone or anything. He pushes my buttons, grinds my gears, but there is nothing in this world that compares to what Torin and I are—the same.

He knows that I didn’t want him here, but he knew I needed him. That I would fight and stomp my feet because my pride refuses to fuck off and go away.

That I am on the brink of losing all self-control.

“You know how much I care about you,” he utters ever-so softly that it’s hard to not just melt against his words. “I might not say it. I might not be as open as Reeve, but you have to know. I wouldn’t chase you if I didn’t want you. I definitely wouldn’t be right here wasting my time over making you forgive me if I didn’t need it. Don’t shut me out when you need me and I need you.”

“You don’t need me,” I blurt out. “There’s nothing that I have?—”

“You do. Open your eyes, Bay. It’s not your being South Shore or the fact that you were something I wanted. It’s because you’re my fucking soul in female form. No one gets me like you do.”

I shiver against his admission and understand what he means. That I may never hear it again because admitting weaknesses isn’t our forte.

However, it means everything just the same.

“Was it you?”

He surprises me when he shakes his head before his eyes brazenly fall down to my chest. “No, but I wish it were.Remember what I said, baby…once I had you, you were never going anywhere.”

Cairo.

And I’ll get to him the next time I see him.

“Do you need me to remind you how it was?” Torin erases some of the distance already, his palm resting right above the top of my ass, causing my nibbles to pebble needily against his touch. “I just need a wall.”

“Torin…”

“Yeah?”

“It’s girls’ night.” He doesn’t move, doesn’t flinch, doesn’t give two shits. “And unless you’ve grown a pussy overnight, you’re not invited.”

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