Page 14 of Beg Me Angel

Chapter Four

Vera

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Can I trust him?

I want to trust him.

Sipping the broth off the spoon, Pax sat in the chair across from me, watching me, strumming his thumb against his jaw as his eyes licked my body.

There was something about his eyes that made it hard for me to look directly at him. I wasn't used to having a man—a real man—look at me the way he was. His eyes would linger on my face, every so often drifting to my legs and chest.

It warmed me on the inside, making my stomach flip and twist as the hot soup slipped down the back of my throat. I could feel all my nerves,each and every one,as they sparked to life, sending a torrent of butterflies through my belly.

Maybe I was over-thinking that look, that wonder that sat in the back of his stare.

Maybe he just wants to know who you are.

You're a stranger in his world, why wouldn't he be curious?

I should have had the same curiosity that he seemed to have. I didn't know him, I didn't know if he was a serial killer or some crazed loner who had spent way too much time alone, and had flipped a switch.

If anything I should fear him, not long for the look in his eyes and tremble from the buzzing air between us.

He could let any wariness he had about me go, I wasn't hiding some dark secret, I wasn't pretending that I could barely remember anything from before I woke up.

The truth was, I was just a regular girl before all this. I was in college, I lived at home with my mom and had a dog named Bruto. I was a twenty-one year old girl with the same problems and issues as any other girl my age.

My younger brother was a royal pain in my ass, school consumed most of my time, work sucked, and my life felt like it was set on repeat. Everyday I got up and did the same things, there was nothing about me that was out of the ordinary or unusual.

I had a best friend and sometimes we got into trouble, but it was never anything serious; not like this. My life was normal.

Was normal.

The thought made me cringe as a sadness crept in and stabbed my heart.

Now. . . Now there was no doubt in my mind that my life had just spiraled down a road I shouldn't have been on. I had taken a left when I needed to take a right, I had warped into some fictional story like Alice in Wonderland and I had the Mad Hatter sitting across from me, expecting an answer to his riddle.

But how I ended up in this hole was beyond me.

There were no answers, even Pax couldn't give me one thing to cling to. I was covered in patches of dirt, I felt gross and grimy, my body hurt from top to bottom. Sara was nowhere to be found and that rocked me.

Was she out there somewhere in his woods, cold and alone, searching for me?

Where's Sara?

Is she alright?

She's fine, I'm sure she's fine.

I couldn't allow myself to think like that. If I started that tumble of thoughts, I knew there would be no calming me down. The anxiety would eat me alive.

“I have a question.” Slurping another steaming spoonful of soup, I forced my eyes to steady on his.

Pax's lip twitched at the corner, curving down into a knowing frown. “You can ask me anything, I just can't guarantee an answer.”

Arching a brow, my eyes darted back to the safety of the bowl. “You said you didn't see anyone else when you found me, but did you see a car or jacket—fuck, footprints in the dirt, anything?”

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