Page 4 of Whips and Chains
He opened his eyes, and they were filled with remorse. “I know. I know, okay! You don’t need to fucking look at me with all that damn judgment in your stupidly pretty eyes.” He peered at me, moving in closer. “I can see why Whip keeps staring into them, you know. They’re insanely green.”
I shoved him off me. “Focus, would you?”
He sighed. “I’m fucked in the head, okay? Is that what you want to hear? I can’t be alone with women because every time I am, all I can think about is killing them.”
Red-hot anger coursed through me. “You knew this and you let yourself be alone with Violet? You could have hurt her!”
“Don’t you think I know that? I already hate myself, Levi! You don’t have to worry about that. I’m never going to be alone with her again.”
His expression was filled with so much remorse it was practically palpable. But I didn’t have time to baby his feelings. I stormed up the stairs, X following close behind, until I got to Violet’s apartment. I grabbed the door handle, but it was locked. I did a quick scout around for a spare key hidden in the light fixture or the dying potted plant at the end of the hallway, but there was nothing.
X watched me, and when I shook my head, he lifted one foot and kicked in the door.
The lock sprang free so easily we both winced. She may as well have left it wide open. A toddler could have broken that lock.
But worrying about Violet’s apartment security, or lack thereof, was the least of my current concerns. I stormed inside, calling out just in case she and Toby had returned, but the apartment was empty.
“Levi.”
I stuck my head back out into the open-plan living/kitchen area, to X holding out a note. One that looked exactly like the letters I’d been sending her. He already had his burner phone out and up to his ear, calling someone.
I took the note from his fingers, Whip’s voice faintly answering X’s call in the background.
Words are easy, ink runs free,
But face-to-face, we fall, we flee.
Maybe letters are our space,
A quiet world, our own escape.
But one last time, let’s break the rule,
Meet me where the night is cool.
No crowds, no noise, just you and me,
A place where no one else will see.
We’ll start again, the way we should,
And if we don’t, then it was good.
Come alone, come when it’s late,
I’ll be waiting. Don’t be late.
There was an address at the bottom. I snapped my gaze up to meet X’s. “I didn’t write this. This seems like it’s from me, but it isn’t.”
I stared down at the note. Had she thought this was from me? Admittedly, it was the same type of paper and the same sort of font I’d been using to write her letters on Hawk’s computer.
Had she slipped away from X so she could meet me and try again?
A stupid part of my heart flickered with the tiniest glimmer of hope.
But it was snuffed out just as fast.
Because if this letter wasn’t from me, then it was most definitely from the person targeting us.
