Page 87 of Haunted Prey

I glanced at him over my shoulder. “Lena?”

I watched him digging his knife into the wood of the pew in front of him. “She’s got bad dreams too…” he said quietly. “I heard her whimpering. I thought…” I waited for him to finish that sentence but he didn’t.

I turned to fully face him. “Maybe it’s you she dreams of. You scared her after all. You threatened to hurt her.” I hugged my bad arm, feeling it starting to ache. “She doesn’t deserve that. She’s the nicest person I know. She’s—”

“A good girl?”

I tensed, clenching my jaw.

Leslie sighed. “Yeah. I bet she is. Too good for—”

“Someone like you.”

He turned his head away and laughed.

I looked around, trying to find a clear path through all the garbage and debris so I could get back to the apartment. How the hell I even maneuvered around as I did was enough to creep me out let alone knowing Leslie had been watching me.

“What did you dream of?” he asked.

I froze, watching him again. No way was I going to tell him I’d dreamed of him and the others.

“I don’t remember,” I lied, trying to keep the shaking out of my voice.

He nodded, and I had a feeling he didn’t believe me. “When you do, the confessional is at the back. No priest to hear your sins though, just ghosts probably.”

I glared at him, confused. “What are you talking about? Why would I need to go back there?”

“So you can confess obviously.”

My blood went cold, my heart dropping to my stomach. “What did you say?” I whispered.

He tilted his head at me. “Those were your words. The ones you kept repeating while you stood there.” He pointed to the statue. “Getting pretty loud too. Creepy as fuck, honestly.” When I didn’t reply, he continued with, “You got something. A secret, huh? You’re a Martel so I’m sure you’re full of them. Wouldn’t doubt you knew what was happening to us. Emery believes you didn’t. I think Micheal might come around too. But I don’t trustyour word and neither does Cassidy. Dom won’t say but he’s smart, he’ll figure you out eventually.”

“I didn’t know,” I replied. “I swear it. I didn’t.”

He shrugged. “Guess it doesn’t matter. In the end. Micheal brought in Andrea and we thought he was crazy. She’s proved useful but we still haven’t forgiven her. Probably never will. You can be the same.”

I closed my eyes. “I wish I had known. I would have tried to stop what had happened to you and the others.”

Lez snorted, but he didn’t refute me. “Whatever you’re hiding. Know it’ll come out sooner or later. I wonder if Emery will see you as his sweet little angel then.”

I opened my eyes, feeling an awful dread taking hold. I peered along the ground as I took a careful step. I just wanted to get back to the apartment, to curl up beside Emery and hide away.

I went to take another step and felt something hard under my foot. I winced and stumbled.

I hadn’t heard him move. I only flinched when Lez caught my elbow, gripping it firmly.

“What are you—”

“Last thing I need is your boyfriend attempting to kill me when he thinks I’m responsible for your feet getting fucked up by glass,” he said in annoyance. “As much as I’d love to take that guy on, we need his rage focused elsewhere, not on me for the time being.”

He clicked on a small light, guiding me along until we reached the center aisle.

“Where were you two hiding, anyway?” Lez asked as we walked toward the doors leading to the entrance of the church. I pointed to them.

“Upstairs through there,” I said.

Lez stopped and turned toward me, blinding me with his light so he could see my face. “You mean, Micheal’s old apartment?”

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