Page 99 of Psycho

Small, delicately shaped hands were wringing the fabric of the shirt—showcasing her feelings.

I was so used to her hiding away what she was thinking and showing, that I didn’t know what to do about this nervous girl standing in front of me.

She stayed by the threshold for a bit, looking down at her bare feet, her toes wiggling.

I waited for her to make up her mind, but she would probably have guessed there was no fucking way I was letting her sleep anywhere but in bed with me.

I felt myself relax marginally when she let out a small breath of air she was holding and walked over to the bed, one small step at a time.

Our eyes met when she got to the edge.

I held up the blanket for her, and she bit her lip in consternation before climbing into the bed. The mattress shifted a little from her movement.

She put in as much space between us as possible, her back to me.

I smiled a little, knowing she couldn’t see me. I reached out and turned off the lamp, bathing the room in utter darkness, then lying back down on the bed.

I reached over for her and wrapped my arms around her middle, pulling her in close until her back was plastered up against my chest. Our legs tangled between the sheets, and I wondered why the fuck I was feeling like this with this girl so close in my arms.

I had never brought another woman back to my place, not even to fuck. And that was the only kind of relationship I had with other women—besides Ryleigh.

Lainey tensed against me. “What are you doing?”

“Holding you close,” I replied.

“Why? Do you think I’m going to run away?”

I scoffed. “I know you’re not.”

Not when there wasn’t a place secret enough in this godforsaken world in which she could hide that I wouldn’t find.

Not when I had her grandma in that nursing home.

And not when I had already decided she was mine, and mine was what she was gonna stay.

There was no other alternative for her.

“Then let me go,” she said, trying to get away.

I pulled her back into me, one hand moving up her sternum, between her tits, and curving it around her delicate neck.

She stilled.

“Good girl,” I said softly, knowing this was probably scaring her. But if fear was what it would take for her to obey me, then I wasn’t above using it.

Even if I would have broken my own arm first before I’d break her neck.

She didn’t fucking need to know that.

“Micah…”

I squeezed slightly. “Go to sleep, sweetheart.”

Her breath caught, and I wasn’t sure if it was the hand on her neck or the nickname that just came out of my lips.

Whatever it was, I felt her relaxing into me.

It didn’t take her long to fall asleep after that.

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