Page 26 of Lock Me Out

13

COLT

Something is wrong.

There’s a weird charge in the air when I get home after another study session. I feel it throughout my body, can almost taste it as I step into the kitchen. Like the feeling before a thunderstorm.

“Leni?” I ask, my voice echoing in the otherwise silent space. “Where are you?”

“Be right out!” There’s a strange sound to her voice. It’s too loud, too bright.

“I brought you something,” I call out, holding up a bag where two pints of ice cream wait to be devoured. “I wasn’t sure what flavor you’d want, so I figured I’d eat what you don’t want. But if you don’t come out from wherever you’re hiding, I’m taking both.”

Finally, she answers from the bedroom. “Be right there!”

Rather than take the ice cream to her, I put it in the freezer for later, wondering why she sounds so off. Maybe I’m misunderstanding. Maybe she is planning something naughty.What does she have in mind? I can’t wait to find out. My cock is twitching as I follow her voice to the bedroom, wondering what she’ll be wearing when I find her.

She’s not in a sexy outfit, waiting in bed. If anything, she looks annoyed when I come in, frowning and everything. “I said I’d be right out.”

Yeah, something’s wrong, and instead of my brain being full of hot, tempting images, there’s nothing but ugliness now. “What’s going on?” I ask, noticing the balled-up sheets in one corner of the room. She’s stripping the bed. Why would she need to do that?

“Stop what you’re doing,” I demand while she pulls the case off a pillow. “Now. Fucking stop.”

She flinches, but does go still instead of continuing with the bed. The pillow she was stripping is now in front of her, with her arms wrapped around it. “What’s wrong?” she asks, still staring at the bed. Her damp hair hangs along the sides of her face. Fuck, she even took a shower.

There are only so many ways I can interpret this.

Everything is starting to go fuzzy. There’s a thumping in my head, loud enough to drown out everything else going on around me—the traffic on the street, the gentle hum of the HVAC system. My pounding heart overpowers it, getting louder with every second that passes without her being able to look at me. She can’t even face me.

Somehow, I’m able to keep my voice soft, asking, “What did you do when I was gone?” Her mouth works, opening and closing, but finally, all she does is chew her lip the way she does when she’s afraid to tell the truth.

“Answer me,” I command. There’s a storm brewing, and it’s not going to be pretty when it explodes. I can barely contain it, but I’m trying. I’m fucking trying, for her sake, to be a better man. And for what? For her to cheat on me?

“I took a shower, and now I’m cleaning a little. Is that all right?” she whispers.

I know I’m not imagining the defiance in her question. Almost like she’s pissed off. At me? What did I do? Another reason I’m sure she’s hiding something from me—she’s never like this.

Swinging the bedroom door shut, I lean against it with my arms folded. “Tell me the truth. We’re not leaving this room until you tell me the truth.”

“Who says I’m not?”

“Why don’t you try looking at me? Why don’t we start there, Leni? Because right now, what I see in front of me is somebody who’s lying to cover their ass. Why are you lying to me?”

“I’m not.”

Fuck, she doesn’t even sound like she believes it. She sounds tired and weak, if anything. But why?

And then I see it. When she goes back to putting the pillowcase on the pillow, the sleeves of the oversized cardigan she’s wearing slide back a little so I can see her wrists.

And the marks around them.

The sight launches me across the room, where I take hold of her arm to pull the sleeve further back. “How did this happen?” I demand. Fuck trying to be understanding, so she’s not scared. I’m tired of tiptoeing around and not getting anywhere.

She doesn’t answer quickly enough, and I shake her a little. “Tell me! Where did these come from? What did you do to yourself?”

“I didn’t do anything!” She almost bares her teeth, yanking her arm away. Her breath hitches as she turns, her face hidden by hair again. “Please, don’t do this. I’m begging you not to.”

“Begging me?” Nothing she’s saying makes a damn bit of sense. “Tell me the fucking truth, Leni. What happened when I was gone?”

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