Page 119 of Give Me Love

She shakes her head. “He may be a psychopath, but he’s not stupid, Kat. He would have worn gloves.” She nods her head as she says it and then removes her fingers from her lips. “We’re not safe here.”

I look down at the table, knowing she’s right. He came in through my window. Austin goes out onto the fire escape and smokes sometimes, so it’s never locked. We made this very easy for him.

“You’ll stay with Bryce, and I’ll stay with Austin.”

I dart my eyes over at her, thinking it’ll suck to be apart. “Yeah,” I agree. She bites her bottom lip, and I reach over and grab her hand as she starts to cry. Sadness runs down her cheeks, filled with worry and fear.

“Why is he doing this?” she asks me. “How did I get mixed up with such a horrible man?”

My own tears spill out, and I shake my head. “You didn’t know,” I say to her. “There’s no way you could have known.”

“Did I do something to deserve this?”

“Claire, you listen to me.” I wipe my face and look at her. “You are a good person. Cain is not. Sometimes our paths cross with bad people, and there’s nothing we can do about that. Don’t you for a second think you deserve this.” I squeeze her hand. “No one decent deserves this.”

“But I’ve dragged you into this.”

“Don’t do that. I choose to live with you.”

She nods and sniffs. Placing her elbow onto the table, she rubs her face and sighs. “What a mess. What a horrible mess.”

Chapter Twenty-Five

Kathrine

The elevator dings, and I step off, walking to Bryce’s front door. I dropped Claire off with Austin and decided to swing by because Bryce’s phone is going straight to voicemail. I’ve only been here once. But there’s only one door up on his floor, so it’s not like I can pick the wrong one. I knock twice and wait.

“Coming,” I hear a woman say.

Is that Lou? It would be nice to see her again. She was super swee… The door opens, and my thoughts vanish.

Who is this?

“Can I help you?” she asks. Her dirty blonde hair is pulled away from her pale face, and her eyes stand out against her overpowering cheekbones. I see fine lines around them and wrinkles above her lips. She’s older. Skinny as hell and that sweater she wears almost swallows her. But it’s something about her eyes… Something familiar I can’t place.

I wring my fingers. “Umm, yeah. Is Bryce here?”

She tilts her head, scanning her eyes over me curiously. “Actually, no, he isn’t at the moment, but he said he would be home for lunch. Would you like to wait?”

I look behind me, not sure of what to do.

“I won’t bite,” she says with a small smile. It seems genuine enough.

“I guess. If you don’t mind.”

She moves so I can walk past. The apartment looks even bigger than it did the last time I was here.

Enormous ceilings with wooden planks and a colossal wall of windows that look out onto the whole city.

The dark wood floor gives the place a cozy vibe, and the pillow back cream-colored couches make the floors pop. I look to the open kitchen with its stone countertops as she walks back to the stove.

She opens the oven and looks at whatever it is she has in there.

“Smells good,” I say.

She turns and gives me a small smile, and then she smacks her forehead. “I’m so sorry,” she says, shutting the door and turning all the way around. My eyes grow wide at her apology because I’m not sure what she is apologizing for. “I didn’t even tell you who I am. I’m Mary. Bryce’s mother.” Even with an outburst like that, her voice is still soft.

Oh right, introductions. “I’m Kathrine,” I reply.

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