Page 22 of Pay the Price

I closed the door behind me, turning the knob to make sure it didn’t make a sound.

Daisy was asleep on the bed, her body a mound under the blankets, her phone plugged into a charger on the nightstand. This room didn’t have an attached bathroom like the primary bedroom, and it was simply furnished with the brass bed, a dresser, the nightstands, and the chair next to the wall near the bed.

I walked toward the bed — heel to toe so I wouldn’t make noise — and looked down at her. My chest got a funny feeling. Not heavy like it felt when I thought about her being away from us, when I thought about her being mad at us, but too full, like it might burst open.

She was so beautiful, her silky brown hair spread across her pillow, her face relaxed and peaceful in sleep. Her mouth was open just a little, and I had to pull myself back from the urge to kneel next to the bed, press my lips against hers, slip my tongue through the opening.

Then I thought about the way her mouth had felt around my dick when Wolf had fucked her in his bedroom and I got hard, the urge to slide my dick between her lips even stronger than the urge to kiss her.

But that would be creepy. Even I knew that.

Which didn’t mean I didn’twantto do it. It just meant I wouldn’t, because I’d learned that some of the things I wanted to do and say weren’t socially acceptable. Sometimes I didn’t care, but that was the thing: when it came to Daisy, I did care.

My dick got even harder thinking about Daisy wanting to be used and I forced myself to sit in the chair next to the bed, put some distance between me and the temptation of Daisy’s mouth and body.

For a long time I just watched her, drank in her face while I could because I had no idea when — or even if — Daisy would ever be able to forgive us for killing Blake.

When — or if — she would ever come home.

And that was how I’d started to think of the old house at the top of the falls — like home. Except without Daisy lighting up the place, it was just an old building with peeling wallpaper and creaky floors.

Which was how I’d come to break into Cassie’s apartment, staring at Daisy while she slept.

I missed her, and if this was the only way I could be near her, the only way I could look at her up close, I’d spend the rest of my miserable life breaking into buildings just to watch her sleep.

I sank deeper into the chair, but I wasn’t in any danger of falling asleep. I could sleep all day. There were only a few hours when I could look at Daisy.

I was going to take advantage of them.

Chapter 15

Daisy

Iwas half-asleep when I rolled onto my side and opened my eyes. At first I thought I was imagining the shadow in the chair against the wall. But as I lay there, my brain still fuzzy with sleep, the image coalesced into something solid.

A man.

He moved fast and panic reared in my body like a wild horse as he clamped a hand over my mouth. It was him, my stalker, the man who’d sent me the broken vase.

Not Calvin after all, but someone else.

I opened my mouth to scream but the man was on me before I could get the sound out.

“Stop! It’s me.”

I looked up at him, his features visible now that he was practically on top of me in bed. “Otis?”

It came out muffled behind his hand, still covering my mouth.

“Don’t scream,” he said. “I’m just checking on you.”

My panic hardened into anger. I bit down on his hand.

“Ow, fuck,” he hissed, removing his hand and flipping it in the air. “I guess I deserved that.”

“You guess? What are you doing in my room — in Cassie’sapartment— in the middle of the night?” I reached over to tap my phone for the time. “It’s three in the morning! Fuckingasshole!”

“I’ll explain,” he said. “But maybe, uh, keep your voice down? I’m not looking to get my ass kicked by Bram.”

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