Page 82 of Bitten By Desire
“Like being able to discern if someone is evil?”
Bennett nodded. “Exactly. The pen is supposed to burn anyone who touches it that is…unholy.”
“So it’s a religious thing?”
He shook his head. “No, not really. Titan was just curious about all of this at first. Especially artifacts from his ancestors. And then my friends and I were all curious about it. Not because of the powers they’re supposed to possess. But because we quickly realized how dangerous some of these artifacts would be in the wrong hands. So we curate things from all over the world. And keep them locked in the vaults in the bank for safe keeping.”
So that’s what was in the vaults? In the back of my head I was a little worried it was more freezers. But leaning into superstitions about weird artifacts was pretty strange too.
“Theo Gold took one of them from us.”
“Wait.” I shook my head. “When I spoke to Theo earlier, he told me thatyoustole something fromhim.”
“That’s a lie.” He pressed his lips together. “Well, kind of.”
“Kind of?”
“It belongs to us,” Bennett said. “Rightfully. Theo stole it. And ten years ago, we took it back from him. And I guess he followed us to this town to steal it back from us.”
“Ten years ago?” Why was everything in my life about ten years ago? I swallowed hard. This did all make sense. Theo had tried to get me to see in the vaults. Hewas probably hoping I’d get a look at whatever the stolen item was. To make sure they still had it or something.
“Yeah, ten years ago almost to the date. We followed him to some college town one fall. He was keeping it in this creepy old mansion in the middle of nowhere.”
Oh my God.
“We snuck in during a party for some soccer team and stole it back.”
There was no way…
“We didn’t even run into him. He must have been off doing something.”
He was busy doing me.“We know that house.” I turned to Zoey. “Do you think that’s the same one where we first met Theo?”
“Was it in the woods by the Wildcats campus?” Zoey asked. She pointed to the Wildcats sweatshirt I was still wearing.
“Yeah,” Bennett said. He lowered his eyebrows as he stared at the sweatshirt. “Wait, were you two there?”
Zoey nodded. “Seriously, how is that possible that we were all there that night?”
“So that’s the night Theo took advantage of you?” Bennett clenched his jaw. “I could have saved you.”
I didn’t need to be saved. I’d loved every second. I shook my head. I couldn’t believe he was there that night.
“But why wereyouthere that night?” Zoey asked.
“We’d been trying to find him for a while,” Bennett said. “And we chose that night to steal it back for a reason. Because there was a party. It was easy to blend in to the crowd.”
She shook her head. “That’s insane. It’s a shame that Emma didn’t meet you that night instead of Theo.”
I opened my mouth and closed it again.
“Yeah,” Bennett said. “That would have changed everything.”
I shook my head. I didn’t regret that night ten years ago. And I was happy at this table right here right now with him. Maybe it had all worked out for the best. Bennett was a guy I could count on. Believe in.Wait one second.“I’m sorry, I’m so confused. You told me you didn’t know Theo Gold.”
“I didn’t know he’d followed us here.”
That doesn’t answer my question…
