Page 136 of All Our Secrets

“Youfucker,” I snarled and shoved him.

My hands connected. No, they did more than that. King’s feet left the ground, and a second later, the force of my blow sent him flying into the hallway. He slammed into the wall. His house was as plain as he was, so no pictures fell. My best friend had always been like that. He’d never been nice or likable. Just there, but I had admired him for it. How detached he was from everyone and everything. But not any longer. I wouldn’t regret taking Peyton. She deserved to be with someone with energy, who knew how to have fun. The exact opposite of King. Me. Why couldn’t he understand that? Why I couldn’t leave her and my son. She was depressed without me, even more so since King had fucked with her emotions.

He groaned and grabbed the back of his head. When his eyes found mine, they were narrowed to slits. “You can’t change anything. I’m going to get Peyton, bring her back, and love her like I never lost her, because I didn’t. I’ve loved her when she loved you. I’ll love her when I’m old, and when I’m dead like you.”

In a sense, he was right.Hisbody would love Peyton’s. Buthewouldn’t.

“I can change her life. I can make it better.” I stalked forward as King stood. “By becoming a better version of you. One that will never make her sad or cry like you do.”

He froze. “What the fuck does that mean?”

“You know what I mean. You stole my life, so I’ll steal yours.”

“I didn’t steal your life. You ended it yourself when you stormed off on that bike.” King threw his hand up and pointed. “You best be glad you’re dead, because I’d bash that pretty head of yours in if I could grab you.” He lunged and slipped through me.

I spun around and kicked him in return. His forehead smacked against the metal shoe rack with a jarring thud.

“Ah,fuck. You’re such a little bitch.”

I waited for him to stand again before I said, “This is the only way to get my family back.”

King shook his head and stepped into his kitchen.

I followed. “You don’t think I won’t do it? Take your life for mine?”

“Oh, I don’t doubt you’ll try, but I’ll never let you have Peyton again, even if it is with my body.”

Words failed me that time. All I had was my seething rage. As it latched on to me from the inside, I grabbed King. He tried unsuccessfully to shove me again. For once, I was thankful I was a ghost. He had always been a solid brick, and in a hand-to-hand fight, I would probably lose. I swiped my fingers through his arms.Take this body. Make it mine. I wanted my wife back. I needed her. But why was my body refusing to merge into his? I’d tested this out the night before—possessing a bystander in town—and it had been easy. So why wasn’t it working with King? I bumped my chest against his, but I couldn’t take over his body. It was like something repelled me from going forward. King was stubborn.

“Get off me.” King caught me off guard when he threw himself back against the refrigerator. The appliance wobbled as he wrestled to free himself from me.

“No. This is my last chance.”

“Don’t you want to know what Peyton has to say to you?”

I froze at his words. Did I want to hear her rejection?No.Did I want to hear her tell me she loved King?No.

The truth slipped from my thoughts easily. I already knew what she had to say. But I had no interest in hearing her speak it aloud.

“You planned on stopping her before I heard anything at all. So why do you care?”

“I never intended to stop Peyton from speaking to you. I just wanted to make sure you didn’t do something you’d regret. And I wanted to make sure she came back.”

That didn’t make it better. “Do you have no fucking decency?” I yelled.

“Like you did the moment you figured out she wasmyPeyton—the gamer girl I spoke about all the damn time?” he snarled. “Do you actually think you can pull off being me? Peyton knows me. She’ll know I’m different.”

“She won’t.”

“She will.”

The way King stared back into my eyes, fucking straight through me, unnerved me. It pissed me off, too. Like he thought he understood my wife better than I did.

“We are two completely different men.”

Without words, I tried to pass through him again—possess him, become him. My chest bounced off his as soon as I pressed against him. “Stop fighting me.”

“I’ll never let you have her again.” The venom dripping from King’s voice as I held him against the appliance made me frantic. I was losing hold of everything I loved when it should have been so easy. Easy to take back what was mine. To claim his useless body so I could be with my family.

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