Page 56 of You Don’t Kiss Your Brother's Best Friends

I didn’t really expect an answer. So I was surprised when I got one.

“Out back. In the garden.”

He started up again, and this time I fell into step behind him. If there was anything new to learn; any kind of information I could gather in regards to tonight, I should probably gather it. Besides, there was something about this man that told me he wouldn’t accept the word ‘no’.

It was liberating, to be able to walk freely through the manor again. We encountered security in three different hallways, but with Victor leading me, no one even batted aneye. Down the stairs we went, eventually passing through the ballroom on our way outside. Bruschetta Joe was in his usual spot behind the bar. He looked up and shot me a worried glance, but I shook my head curtly, and he went back to whatever he was doing.

Outside, the weather was crisp and clear, the sky a vast stretch of unblemished blue. Victor led us through the gardens, past the security perimeter, and out along the path by the lake. This had been my jogging circuit, almost every morning I’d woken up here. My stomach constricted a little, as I wondered if he somehow knew it.

“Where are we going again?” I repeated.

Victor answered without turning around. “For a stroll.”

“By the lake,” I mused.

“Yes.”

Each successive step brought us further from the house, making me more and more uneasy. Eventually I turned and risked a look back. The mansion was so far away now, I could barely even see it.

“Is this a romantic stroll?” I ventured, adding a laugh. It came out nervous on purpose.

“No,” Victory chuckled. “Not even a little bit.”

I swallowed, dryly. With the more obvious intention out the window, his answer seemed ominous.

“But—”

“Oh honey, don’t worry,” Victor grunted, picking his way forward. “You’re not my type.”

A few steps later he stopped and turned, and I almost bumped into him. His gaze was piercing, as he regarded me with a crooked smile.

“You’re beautiful, don’t get me wrong,” he said. “Gorgeous, even. Let’s just say you don’t have the right equipment.”

His eyes flitted down and up, and then he was walking again, leading me further from the house, further from safety. Further away, into what I knew to be nothingness.

“I… should probably get back,” I told him. “Tonight’s extremely important. If everything isn’t—”

The path turned a corner, and then I saw. The rest of the words died in my throat.

“Emily,” Victor said by way of introduction, “this is Jacob Foley.”

The man was standing a little bit off the path, staring out over the lake. He turned, smiled, and approached with his hand extended.

“Hello, Emily.”

My stomach lurched. Every warning bell or silent alarm I’d ever known; was now being tripped in my brain. He took my hand, even though I hadn’t offered it, and shook it with a palm that was simultaneously moist and cold.

“Pleased to finally meet you.”

~ 33 ~

JOCELYN

There was something off about him, I knew right away. It could’ve been his eyes, which seemed too far apart from his nose, or the way he kept licking his lips, which were dry and cracked. Or maybe it was the way he said ‘finally,’ as if he’d been waiting his whole life to meet a woman he didn’t know, and who knew nothing about him in return.

“I’d heard you were beautiful,” the man cooed, attempting a smile. “But they didn’t tell me you were this tall, this drop-dead gorgeous.”

I wanted to run. I wanted to hide. I wanted to take my hand back and wipe my palm across my pants, to get the clammy off it.

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