Page 67 of Bitten By Desire
My chopsticks paused above the container. “That’s kind of what the definition of stealing is. You’re going to have to do better than that.”
“What did Bennett say when you asked to see inside the vaults?”
“That he wasn’t supposed to show me people’s safety deposit boxes.”
“You really think they have seven vaults filled with safety deposit boxes? This town isn’t very big, Emma.”
I knew that. And I was suspicious. But I didn’t know what Theo wanted from me. It seemed like he just wanted me to be miserable.
“He’s lying to you,” Theo said.
“Like you aren’t? You’re wearing brown contacts and pretending we didn’t hook up ten years ago.” I stabbed my chopsticks into the lo mein and pushed the container aside. “You’re hiding something just like Bennett is. You’re so concerned about him telling me the truth. Why don’t you give it a try.”
He didn’t reply to that. He just put his elbows on the table and leaned forward slightly. “You wouldn’t believe the truth if I told you.”
“Probably not. Because you’re the liar.”
The corner of his mouth ticked up. “You were uncomfortable around Bennett and his friend in that office. I could tell. You know that something isn’t quiteright there. Did you notice the cut on Bennett’s lip? Or the scar on his friend’s face?”
I swallowed hard.
“What could do that much damage?”
I had no idea.
“Whatever it is…it kind of seems like it would be capable of ripping off a human hand in a hay maze, yes?”
My heart raced faster and faster with every word. “Bennett had nothing to do with that.”
“It doesn’t mean one of his friends didn’t.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Bennett wasn’t a murderer. And he didn’t hang out with murderers. Honestly, that seemed a lot more fitting of Theo Gold. I hadn’t gotten a chance to look up whether there had been any incidents like the hay maze one back at his old campus.
“I think you do.”
I felt like I was going to be sick.
“He’s violent. Unpredictable. Deadly. And so are all of his friends.”
Yeah, I was definitely going to be sick. That cut on Bennett’s lip was deep. And the scar on Titan’s face? Theo was right…whatever had hurt them…it could have done the same damage at the Fall Festival. But it couldn’t have been one of Bennett’s friends. It just couldn’t have.
“And you’re no longer allowed to see him. Do I make myself clear?”
I just stared at him.
“He’ll hurt you next. Even if he doesn’t mean to. Break it off. Now.”
I absentmindedly touched the side of my neck. The only person that had ever threatened to hurt me was the man sitting across from me. And I remembered the way his lips had felt against my neck, bruising my skin.
His eyes darted to my hand that was pressed to the side of my neck. “I’m sure Bennett wouldn’t hurt you if he had any semblance of control. But he doesn’t. Text him and end it.”
“When I left the bank I told him we were done unless he told me what he was hiding. And honestly there was nothing to end. He wasn’t actually my boyfriend.” I barely knew him. Clearly.
Theo looked genuinely perplexed by my response. “You lied to me?”
Had no one ever told him a white lie before? “Technically Bennett fibbed about us dating first. I just went along with it.”
“Why?”
