Page 17 of Psycho

“Whatever you decide, I’ll help you through every step of the way. You’re not alone in this, Storm. You don’t have to hide it from everyone.”

My voice broke, “I feel like such a fool.”

“I know.” He tilted his head and squeezed my fingers, “But imagine how strong you could feel if you owned the entire thing and made it all turn out however you wanted it to.”

“Strong.” I chuckled humorlessly. “I can’t remember the last time I felt strong.”

“Give it time.” He gave me a one-sided grin again, “Just wait and see how strong you come out of all of this in the end.”

Chapter 9 – Maddox

My little Storm was asleep on my shoulder, and I couldn’t find the gumption to move. The building could be on fire around us, and I’d be hesitant to move away from her touch. The cute little snores escaping her made me chuckle, and the way she burrowed deeper into my sleeve anytime I dared to move even the slightest bit made me… burn.

It felt like every inch of my skin was being electrified by her desire to be closer to me. Even if she was asleep while she was doing it, I couldn’t help how it made me feel.

We were still on her couch, having spent the entire day watching movies, and I even cooked her dinner. Turns out she’d been living off the junk food and avoiding the healthy stuff without my supervision.

Which was going to end now.

If I wasn’t around to cook her dinner, I’d have it delivered. Liv was growing a human, for fuck’s sake; she needed to eat some protein.

My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I pulled it out, already knowing what it was and dreading it.

I’m here. Go time.

Dane once again insisted on joining me for night two of my hunting and I would have told him to never mind and that I wasn’t leaving the couch until Olivia woke up and kicked me out, but I had scheduled three separate hits for the evening. And I didn’t want to fall that far behind schedule by skipping it.

Be down in a few.

I tucked my phone away and as gently as I could, I slid out from under Olivia’s body, slowly lowering her down onto the couch and on a pillow. Squatting down in front of the couch, I pulled her blanket up over her shoulders and her eyelids fluttered open and she looked around.

“Did I fall asleep? Again?” She blushed a little and tried to sit up.

“Shh,” I pushed her back down and adjusted her blanket again, “It’s okay. I was just going. Go back to sleep.”

“Going.” She repeated and then bit her bottom lip as she brought her hands up under her face. “Hunting?”

“Yes.” I pushed a lock of hair back over her ear, unable to resist touching her, and she stared up at me with her turbulent eyes.

“You don’t have to do that for me.”

“Yes, I do.” I countered, resting my elbows on my knees so I wouldn’t keep touching her. “But don’t think it’s something I don’t want to do. Because I do. I want to rid this earth of those men. It will be a better place without them. It’s who I am.”

“You say that like I should cower from you because of it.” She challenged and sat up, propping her head on her hand. “I don’t, by the way.” Her eyes roamed over my face as she paused, “I’mnot scared of you. You’re too kind to me to let your darkness toward others affect me.”

I smiled, and I watched her reaction to it as she nibbled on her bottom lip and stared at mine. “You should be scared of me, Storm.” I reached forward and used my thumb to pull her lip free of her teeth, tracing my fingertip over it. “Because my kindness to you is so fucking foreign to me, I don’t know if it can last.”

She snapped her teeth together, nipping the end of my thumb, and grinned at me. “I’m not the kind of girl to run from fear.”

“Maybe so.” I growled, pulling my hand from her face and standing up, towering over her. She leaned back against the back of the couch so she could look up at me. “But you should be, because I’m darker than anyone you’ve ever met before. I just hide it from you.”

“Not very well,” She huffed, “You delivered me fingers.”

“Careful,” I warned, “Or it will be eyeballs in the morning.”

She fake gagged and then snuggled back into her pillow. “Who’s on the list tonight?”

“Ramsey Tuft, Quintin West, and Isaac Renfield.”

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