Page 57 of Hunting Pretty

I was standing in the back of my missing friend’s closet, hiding from the Byrnes’ butler, holding hands with my fucking stalker.

What the actual fuck?

My stalker’s back was so broad I could barely see aroundit, his height and his shoulders almost completely blocking my view.

As he crowded me against the wall, I could feel that every single one of his defined muscles were tense, pressing into me with each steady breath he took.

He might be ready to spring into action but at the same time he was calm and steady.

Somehow that made me feel less panicked.

I held my breath as footsteps came closer.

Lisa’s voice carried into the room next. “She’s not in here. I told you she went to the bathroom.”

“Then why wasn’t she in the bathroom, Ms. Shiel?” The butler’s voice was so close.

The closet door opened, and from around my stalker’s body, I could see a line of dim light falling across the closet floor.

If the butler took even one step in, he’d see us for sure.

Oh my God, how would I even explain if we were caught?

I didn’t think “I got lost” would cut it.

And how would I explain the presence of my stalker here as well?

He’s my boyfriend.

I shoved that ridiculous thought away.

I peered past my stalker and past the sequined gowns at the entrance, waiting to see whether the butler would catch us.

For a long moment, time stood still.

Then the door closed, cutting off the light and plunging us into the dim again.

Footsteps and voices retreated.

My stalker waited a full minute before he spun, clothes hangers clattering as they were pushed out the way by his wide shoulder.

“Stop investigating, Ava. Or you’ll regret it.”

Then he slipped out of the closet, cold air rushing into the space where he’d been as I sagged against the back wall.

Fuck me.

What had just happened?

He’d been about to tell me something before the butler came in. Another thought occurred to me.

If he was so insistent on my stopping the investigation, it meant I was on the right track.

I grabbed my phone, then slipped out of the closet and glanced around the room. My stalker was gone.

How the hell did he even get in here?

My gaze stopped at Liath’s window and I crept up to it, peering out from the corner of the sill to the dark night beyond.

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