Page 35 of The Killer Who Kept Me

I gently kissed Tucker on the head and glanced up at my sister. “Not unless science has improved a great deal.”

She rolled her eyes. “Saros, I’d totally carry a child for you and whomever you married.”

It didn’t surprise me that Dafni would offer such a thing; it was who she was. What did shock me was that the moment she’d said it, I’d immediately thought of Em.

“I know that look.” She waggled a finger at me. “It’s the new guy upstairs in the bedroom next to yours.”

“You know an awful lot about what goes on in this house for someone who doesn’t live here.”

She shrugged. “I know all.”

“Then you know that guy—whose name is Em, by the way—has been through hell. He saved my life; I’m simply returning the favor.”

“Oh, shut up. I’m fucktose intolerant.”

“Excuse me?” I snorted, causing Tucker to squirm.

“Fucktose intolerant. Meaning I’m completely unable to tolerate other people’s bullshit.”

I raised a brow at her and stood to rock Tucker back to a deep sleep so he wouldn’t cry. “Where do you get this stuff?”

“A meme. Now come on, brother. You like him, don’t you?”

“My life is dangerous, Daf. He’s been through it and more. I really just want to help him. He could’ve died for me, and I have a feeling he didn’t get out unscathed that night.”

She moved closer to me and smiled. “Don’t decide other people’s futures. You’re not God, no matter how much you want everyone to think you are.”

I grinned. “I don’t want people to think I’m God. That guy’s merciful, and there’s nothing about what’s to come that will be merciful.”

I didn’t have to sugarcoat anything for Dafni—she got it.

“Remember the time when you were—I don’t know, like, twelve, and you were building some robot thing for a science fair, and the damn thing kept falling apart?”

“Yeah, thanks for reminding me about that horrible memory.” I handed Tucker back to her.

“But don’t you remember the advice Uncle Andrew gave you?”

It took me a moment, but I did. “He came to the workbench that I was using and swiped it clean with his arm.”

Dafni snickered. “And he said, ‘You can’t rebuild on top of shitty parts. Sometimes you need to salt the earth and start over somewhere else.’”

“I don’t see what this has to do with anything we’ve been talking about.”

“You need to salt Em’s earth and rebuild something better for him, Saros. By the sounds of it, he trusts you and feels safe.”

Long after Dafni left, I replayed our conversation a few times. I didn’t even know if Em was interested in me and he had a lot of fucking trauma, no doubt about it.

That being said, there was something about the man upstairs who slept so close yet so far from me. He affected me. Maybe Dafni was right. I’d clear the path of all his monsters and be the only one standing.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

“Always do what you are afraid to do.”

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Em

I hadn’t seenSaros all day, but I understood. He had a family dinner—which, I guessed he did every week—that was actually not all blood related…it was a concept I couldn’t really wrap my head around. While I knew Ramsey had people over, I’d never been part of it, so I had no idea what all it entailed and how I should act. It seemed safe to simply keep to myself, say nothing unless someone asked me a question, and even then, to be vague in my response. It had kept me alive this long.

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