Page 148 of Prey for You

Wearing my hoodie.

Holy shit.I almost wept with relief.

She was wearing one of the hoodies I’d left here on a previous trip. I’d forgotten about it. But I recognized the frayed spot on the edge of the hood where I’d once tumbled on cement and scraped a hole in the layer the string passed through.

For a moment I took in the sight of her. My heart ached.

She was laying here in the dark, staring at the television, wearingmyhoodie. That had to be a good sign, right?

But now, how to let her know I was here without freaking her out completely?

Adrenaline flooded my system when she started talking.

“I’m holding my phone with the emergency call button right under my thumb. They don’t even have to answer the call. It will ping Jeremy as soon as I dial it and he’ll be here in like five minutes. Maybe less. I think he’s posted guys around the neighborhood,” she said quietly. “If you leave, I won’t call him. But next time you show up I’m calling without warning you.”

Her voice was flat, quiet, toneless.

“Bridget—”

“I’m not playing games, Sam.”

I cleared my throat. “Neither am I.”

Her head finally turned and she pulled the hood back so I could see her face. Her eyes reflected the cool light from the television screen. There were sparkling smears on her cheeks. She’d been crying. Her eyes were clear now, though.

I lifted my hands so she could see them—see that they were empty—and took one step forward into the dim light of the room.

“You don’t have to say anything. I won’t touch you. But I need you to listen. If you don’t want to talk when I’m done I’ll leave and I’ll never come back. You have my word.”

“Your word is worth squat.”

“That’s… not true. But I understand why you feel that way. I just… please, Bridget. Let me talk. I won’t come any closer.”

She was sitting up on the other end of the couch now. She’d drawn her feet up and had her back to the couch arm. I had no doubt she could leap from that position faster than I could get to her, but it didn’t matter. I wouldn’t scare her that way.

She stared at me warily, but didn’t say anything and didn’t move. So, with a final pleading prayer, I started talking.

“I need you to know that I’d never make a choice to hurt you. Ever. You’re the One for me, Bridget. Forever.”

Her expression didn’t change, but her eyes narrowed. I plowed on.

“The first time I saw you—in that gym when you didn’t even know I was there—Iknew. I knew you were it. I should have walked away before we’d even met. I knew that too. And I also knew I wouldn’t. I don’t know where you stand on this stuff, but I know God makes people for each other. And he made me for you, Bridget.”

She didn’t react at all.

Damn.

“When you showed up at the church after I’d agreed to hunt you, I thought you were a trap. I thought you were onto me and were baiting me. I was terrified. But once we started talking… well, I wasgone.The problem was, you knew me as two different men. Ihatedmyself for that, because even though I hadn’t planned it, I was lying to you.

“And then you liked me too—me, Sam—and I thought you were a gift from God. Like, how was that possible?” I swallowed hard. “But you chose Cain.”

We’d talked about it since and I knew her logic during that whole time was way off, but still. Regardless of how she justified it, her instinct had been thatCainwas the one for her. And Cain was now the smaller part of me.

“When I proposed, I made it about the Court case because deep down I wasn’t sure you wanted me, Bridge. I’m… I’m still not, sometimes. That’s the truth. Sometimes I wonder if you only want Cain. And the real me is just the bonus that comes along with that.”

She didn’t move. Didn’t even blink.

Shit, was I right?

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