Page 38 of Blood Secret

I lowered them slowly, feeling guilty for touching him.

He was like stone, but warmer, though not as warm as me.

Did his heart beat? It had to, or else how was he alive? There was so much I didn’t know.

He cleared his throat and put a little more space between us. “You have to understand the stakes. You need to for your own safety. This is no game—I would think you knew that after seeing what you did in that alley, behind the club. I don’t kill because it’s enjoyable. I kill because I have to.”

“Don’t pretend it’s not even a little enjoyable for you,” I muttered, rolling my eyes. “I saw you when you killed her. You were exhilarated.”

“Exhilaration is not enjoyment.”

“You’re lying. I thought you said you would always be honest with me.” I held eye contact until he chuckled.

“All right. I admit it. There’s something thrilling about the hunt. The fight. Winning. Because it’s a fight for more than glory. It’s life-or-death stakes. If I win, it means I keep my life.”

“I thought your life was so depressing and bleak. Why would you fight to save it?”

His mouth opened, then snapped shut. “Do you always ask so many questions?”

“When I have a question, I ask it.”

“What else do you want to know?”

“Nothing right now.”

“And that’s a lie,” he announced. “There’s a lot you want to know. You want to know all about me. Don’t you?”

“There’s nothing we need to discuss right now.” I needed to breathe, to think. He was too much. How could I go from hating him after he hurt my feelings to wishing he would kiss me?

He nodded slowly, never taking his eyes off me. “I could use a shower after touching that… thing,” he decided.

I shuddered when he called him a thing. Tricked into thinking he’d be strong, powerful, if Bradley took him under his protection. More cowardly and pathetic than ever.

Dead in a dumpster.

“I’ll move the body later,” Vale announced, as if he was reading my mind. “Once the streets are empty, later tonight. As long as you promise to stay here with the door locked behind you. I’ll take it down to the river or someplace a little more public, so the store owner’s business isn’t disrupted.”

“Thank you.” I didn’t know what else to say.

It seemed stupid to thank him for something that was only the right thing to do in the first place. But he seemed to expect some response, and that was better than nothing.

I could breathe more easily when he was on the other side of the bathroom door.

His presence was just too damn much for me to handle. I was actually excited after that little bit of contact. Just touching him, feeling him close to me, feeling his breath on me. I splashed cold water on my face in the hopes of cooling down.

When I turned off the tap, I caught the sound of whimpering from the street.

A faint whimper, sad. Heartbroken. And young.

A child.

One of the kids who lived on the block?

I went to the window and leaned out, looking down to the sidewalk.

She was sitting against the wall opposite me with one of her knees pulled up close to her chest.

It was bleeding.

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