Page 73 of Hide and Seek
He furrows his brow and tilts his head to the side. “Huh?”
“Have you ever heard of antisocial personality disorder?”
He nods slowly, then his eyes widen realization seems to dawn on him.
“Do you understand how it works?”
He nods again, but there’s something under his initial surprise that looks suspiciously like interest. “I’m not an expert or anything, but I’m pretty sure I know the basics.” He lifts his hand but quickly drops it again.
“Go ahead,” I tell him. “Look it up.”
“How did you know I was about to do that?” He pulls his phone out of his pocket and unlocks it.
“Your hand,” I tell him. “You reached for your phone and stopped yourself.”
“You caught that, huh?” He grins and looks down at his phone as he types something on the screen.
“I’m pretty observant.”
He snort-laughs. “Said the stalker.”
I stay quiet as he focuses on whatever is on his screen, his eyes moving as he reads.
When he looks up, his expression is curious, not frightened or wary like I expected. “So you were diagnosed with this, and it’s not one of those self-diagnosis things that people do?”
“I was diagnosed,” I tell him. “But it’s not on any of my records or medical files.”
“I’m guessing that was by design?”
“My family felt it was best to keep that off record.”
“Makes sense,” he muses. “So, would you be considered a psychopath or a sociopath?”
“A psychopath,” I say. “But I’ve never really fit into either one of those.”
“Really?” He glances at his phone again. “Were you born like this, or is it because of trauma or something like that?”
“I was born like this. My upbringing was anything but traumatic, which is one of the reasons I don’t really fit into either definition. And I’m not the only one in my family who’s like this, so it’s most likely genetic with us.”
“Huh,” he says, his expression thoughtful. “If I ask who else in your family is like you, would you tell me?”
“My brother.”
He puts his phone on the bed and leans back on his hands. “That’s interesting.”
“Interesting?” I can’t keep the amusement out of my voice. “Most people would be freaking out in your position.”
“I mean, you’re not wrong.” He shoots the camera a lopsided grin. “But considering you’re stalking me, and I’m talking to you through the camera you planted in my room after I watched you take down three thugs like it was a game, I’m really not that shocked.”
“You’re not afraid of me?”
“No.” He uncrosses his legs and lets them hang over the side of the bed. “I was, but not anymore.”
“Why not?”
One thing that has always fascinated me about Myles is his lack of fear response toward me or anything I’ve done to him. He always seems more interested than afraid, even back before he knew for sure I was watching him. And the way he so easily accepted what I just told him proves he’s different.
Which makes him even more interesting.
