Page 100 of Haunted Prey

It took him a moment to answer. “Not long. A few days after I lost you.” He approached me, showing me the bottle in his hand. “I knew if I didn’t try again, I might not ever have you back. I wanted that more, so I got my ass into gear and Andrea was willing to help.” He shook the little bottle before putting it in his pocket. “It’s hard every day, but I’m getting better at it just like you said.”

Tears stung my eyes, and I blinked them away. “I always believed you would.”

I snuck back into my room just as the light slipped through the shades of the window, washing the area in gray-blue light. As I closed the door softly and went to lay next to her, Lena turned and fixed me with a suspicious eye.

“Did you lose yourself going to the bathroom?”

I pursed my lips. “Maybe,” I muttered.

She crossed her arms. “You were with him all night, weren’t you?”

I couldn’t keep my expression blank and looked away knowing she could see the guilt on my face.

Lena sat up. “Eve—”

“I can’t stay away from him, Lena. After everything, I’m sorry, I can’t. I won’t.”

Sighing, she reached out for me and I sat by her, taking her hand.

“As your other best friend, it’s my job to be honest with you because I love you. I don’t think you need me to tell you how batshit your relationship with him is. After yesterday, I was close to threatening that man’s life if he ever touched you. It’s all so fucked up it’s hard to believe.” She squeezed my hand. “I see how you look at each other. It kind of freaks me out. I don’t know how much of it is really you or if he broke you, then tried to make all those shattered pieces fit to his whim.”

I looked at our hands. “Truthfully, it might be a little of both. But I’d been broken for a long time and now I think we just want to heal. I know what it looks like. I know it’s crazy. But it just is. And it’s what I want.”

“Just please, Eve, promise me if he ever does anything to scare or hurt you again, you’ll tell me. You let me and Jamie protect you.”

“I promise.”

I heard the garage open and the rev of an engine as I finished drinking my coffee. The rain had stopped according to Leslie who had been in the garage before sunrise, working on one of his cars.

Emery had gone to help him after fixing me and Lena some breakfast tacos, which she took reluctantly, mumbling something about being sick of eggs. I’d nudged her, and she thanked him half-heartedly.

Not long after, Dominic appeared. He greeted us with a nod and smile before he went to the kitchen.

Leslie came in briefly to talk to his brother, and I noticed Lena tense when Lez glanced her way before returning to the garage. I felt bad that he still made her uncomfortable even if he appeared to be behaving himself.

As Dom sat at his computer with what appeared to be an energy drink and a bag of chips, I got up from my seat, letting Lena know I’d be right back.

As I approached Dom, he looked over at me, his brows raised as if surprised. He turned in his seat to face me.

“I meant to tell you, you have an impressive setup.”

He smiled again and signedThanks.

I checked over my shoulder and caught Lena giving me a curious look as she sipped her coffee. I turned back to Dom. “Listen, I was wondering, you wouldn’t happen to have a spare laptop lying around, would you? I know this is kind of random but I’ve been working on my thesis for school. It was about Emery…is about Emery…but it’s kind of grown from just that subject alone.” I shifted on my feet as I tried to explain. “I’d like to add more about all of you. But I don’t have my laptop. I did save everything in the cloud and I figure if I could borrow a computer just for a little bit—”

He put up his hand to stop me then he wrote on a notepad next to him and showed it to me.

“Say no more.”

I let out a breath. “Thanks, Dom.” I smiled.

As he made for the garage, I went back over to Lena.

“What was that about?” she asked.

“I need to add some things to my thesis.”

Her eyes widened. “You aren’t serious.”

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