Page 68 of Bitten By Desire
Because I’m scared of you.“Because he made me feel safe.”
Theo leaned forward even more. “Is that what you crave, Emma? Safety?”
I nodded. I wouldn’t have thought that’s something I needed from a relationship. But yes. I liked the feeling of being protected.
“I can offer you that.”
Was he asking me out?
“But don’t for one second mistake Bennett’s warmth for safety. Once a snake, always a snake, Emma.”
I froze. He’d said those exact words to me before. Ten years ago. About my cheating ex.Once a snake, always a snake.
And it was like he knew he’d slipped up. Because he immediately leaned back and cleared his throat. “I have a meeting. Take some pictures. And I’ll see you tonight.” He stood up and left.
Tonight? Where? When? What the hell just happened?
Chapter 20
Monday
Theo Gold was a lying ass. I stormed into Zoey’s house. She was sitting on the couch scrolling on her phone.
“He’s trying to poison me against Bennett. Buthe’sthe poison.” I handed her my phone.
“I’m sorry, who are we talking about? And why do you have so many missed calls from Bennett?”
“Read the article I found.” I couldn’t handle Bennett right now. I could only deal with one lying jerk at a time.
Zoey looked back down at my phone. “Oh my God.” Her eyes grew round as she kept reading. “Someone disappeared at that university ten years ago?”
“That same fall that we ran into Callum Walsh. And not just that same fall. She was reported missing the day after that party we went to.”
“What the hell?”
“And she was never found again. Poof. Gone. Theo GoldisCallum Walsh. And he’s a freaking lying, murderous, womanizer!”
“I thought we agreed that Theo Gold wasn’t Callum Walsh?”
“No,youagreed. I agreed to nothing. And I’m going to prove it. He’s at a meeting right now and I’m going to sneak into his house and find the evidence I need for you to believe me.” I grabbed my phone back.
“What? Emma, you almost got arrested last time you tried the whole breaking and entering thing.”
“Almost is the key word there.” How many times did we need to go over this? “And that’s because I was poking around an abandoned creepy house. This time I’m going to be poking around a really nice house.”
“You do realize that’s way more suspicious?”
“But no crime ever happens in this town, remember? You leave your front door unlocked. Maybe he does too. And who’s going to report me if they can’t see me?” I pulled on a black hoodie.
“Girl, it’s the middle of the day.”
“It’s raining. It’s dark enough.”
She sighed and stood up. “Fine.” She grabbed an umbrella that was sitting next to the door. “Let’s do this.”
“You’re coming with me?”
“Yes, so that when Officer Davis shows up I can flirt our way out of whatever is about to happen.”
