Page 8 of Saint

“So, what now then?” I rub my hands over my arms, streaking my white sweater red. “Am I next?”

It’s probably a bad idea to tempt a killer, but I can’t help it. After all, if I had been smart, I would have run the moment Liam fell to the ground, but I didn’t.

“Next?” Saint’s voice drops an octave as he reaches for my chin, gripping it harder this time.

“Are you going to kill me?” Fear lodges in my throat. “Am I next?”

“Would you like to be?”

I try to shake my head, but his tight grasp limits me. “No.”

“Then stand.”

For a man of few words, each one lands like a hammer. They knock me in the chest and send goosebumps prickling my flesh.

I climb to my feet, and he doesn’t let me go. Instead, he steps over Liam’s body to bring us closer, his grip on my chin tightening.

Even on this cool night, the heat of him radiates. Hate and rage and violence all bleeding out. He’s taller than I realized when I first saw him walking on the side of the road, and my neck arches painfully as he angles my chin and forces me to look up at him.

“Why would I kill you, Violet?” Saint asks, smearing his thumb up and over my lip.

The coppery scent of blood storms my nostrils, and once more, I’m overwhelmed by that flutter I felt when Ispotted him on the side of the road. My stomach spins at his touch, but it isn’t fear. It’s something rippling through my core, and it’s wrong on every level.

“Why wouldn’t you? You killed Liam.”

“I had my reasons.”

“Like what?” He just met us, so I don’t know what those reasons could be.

“Violet.” He practically growls my name as his grip on my jaw loosens.

Saint’s fingers trail down my throat as he starts to slowly walk in a circle around me. He pauses behind me, standing with his chest pressed to my back so I feel every inhale through the expansion of his chest. His fingers tighten around the column of my throat, and he pulls my body to him.

Saint dips his chin, his mask brushing my ear.

“Why would I kill you when I’d rather see that spirit he was trying to temper? Why snuff you out when I’d ratherwatch you burn?”

I’m not sure how to interpret his words or the fact that it has my blood running molten hot.

“Do you want that, Violet?” His voice is nearly a whisper, and I hate how it throbs all the way in my core. “After all, I set you free. I gave you the greatest gift.”

“By killing my boyfriend?”

“You’re welcome.”

“I wasn’t thanking you.”

His fingers clench my throat. “Careful, Violet, I like to tame skittish creatures. And you owe me now.”

“I don’t even know who you are.”

“That isn’t important.”

“Why not?”

“So many questions when you aren’t ready for the answers.” His index finger presses where my pulse meets my throat. “Feel that? Your wild mind races as fast as your heart. Too scared to admit you’ve been living in a cage. But I’ll set you free, starting with him.”

Saint grips the back of my hair and forces me to look at the ground. At where Liam’s body is bleeding out on the concrete.

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