Page 67 of Blue

Hyperfixated on Dylan, her breath hitched when he crouched before her. Her heart lodged in her throat when she met his gaze.

She’d look him in the eye. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of seeing her fear.

“You’re probably a decent woman.”

Involuntarily, Blue winced when his hand came toward her face. Clenching her jaw, she braced for him to strike her.

Shaking uncontrollably, she drew her brows together the moment his fingertips brushed her cheek.

He didn’t hit her. No punches, no slaps, nothing. He caressed her cheek.

What the hell was his game?

“I hate to do this to you.”

The fuck he did.

“You seem to be a nice guy,” Blue said when she found her voice.

Binging true crime documentaries and watching self-defense gurus on TikTok had taught her to get on his good side and to remind her captor that she was human. She was a person who thought he was one too.

Swallowing hard, she tried harder. “I am a good person. You don’t have to do anything.”

He sighed, and his hand fell. “I wish that were true, but unfortunately, your taste in men led us to this. If it wasn’t for him, you wouldn’t be here. Really, it’s his doing, not mine.”

“We’re not even together anymore,” Blue blurted out as the tears streamed down her cheeks.

She didn’t knowwhathe had planned, but every fiber of her being told her it wasn’t going to be great for her.

“Well, that makes this even more sucky for you then, doesn’t it?” He snorted as he pushed up to his full height again.

Knowing she shouldn’t take her eyes off him, Blue tracked every one of his movements. Where he stood,howhe stood, what he did with his hands. His right one dipped behind his back.

Oh God. Did he have a gun? Would he shoot her?

Would it be quick?

Her heart threatened to explode through her chest. She had to say something to, if nothing else, delay it. He kept talking about how he didn’t want to do whatever he felt he had to. Maybe if she got him to put it off long enough, he wouldn’t.

“What did he do?” she asked in a shaking voice. “He, he, he is such an asshole.”

There. Now they were both in agreement. Mooky was a dick.

Chuckling, Dylan’s right hand came into a view, but whatever he held, she couldn’t see it.

“Like you don’t know.” The venom in his words trickled over Blue’s body. The hatred oozed out of him as he turned his back to her and stepped into the darker portion of the room.

“I don’t!” Blue insisted. “I don’t have a clue about anything he does. I wasn’t even aware he was married.”

The truth poured from her as freely as the tears down her cheeks.

“He betrayed me too. I-I-I—” she stammered.

She knew what to say, or what she thought would be a good thing to bring up, but the words wouldn’t come out.

Sniffling. Her life was on the line. “I hate him.”

He’d crouched, barely in the basement’s light. When Blue had lied, telling him she hated Mooky, Dylan turned and peered at her.

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