Page 15 of Cruel Charming Psychos (Necessary Evils 2)

“Fine,” he mumbles. “I won’t save you.”

“I was attacked earlier-”

“Was it Nick?” He jumps to his feet and turns to face me. “Who attacked you, Addison?”

I look up to him, contemplating on bolting. “I don’t want you involved in this, so don’t make me regret telling you any of this.”

“If you don’t want me to react badly, then why are you telling me anything at all?”

I stand up to meet him at his level. “Because maybe if I tell you half of the shit that is going on, then maybe the smart part of you will get out of town before the shit hits the fan. I don’t know who attacked me, and maybe it’s better to not know.”

He eyes me suspiciously. “There’s more to the story, isn’t there?”

Okay, fine. Maybe he isn’t completely blinded by me. Maybe there’s a part of him that can see through me just as clearly as I can see through him. “I stole some disks from Nick’s father a little while back. Most of them are password protected so I haven’t been able to figure out what’s on them but there’s one tape he has that could ruin me.”

“The person that attacked you took them?” And then there’s a look of realization on his face, a look that’s torn between faint sadness and disbelief. “Wow,” he scoffs. “I just put the pieces together. Were you really going to accuse me of attacking you?”

“I’ve learned it’s better to never trust anyone fully.”

“Are you forgetting who you are talking to? You know I would go to the ends of the earth for you. I mean,hello,I came here from hundreds of miles away.”

“You have to admit that the timing is odd, not to mention the specifics on how you claim you found me.”

He stares me down, not taking the bait. “What’s on the tape?”

“I would rather just keep arguing about how you found me, to be honest.”

“Answer my question first,” he says firmly, a tone that’s completely out of character for him. He’s always so soft spoken and sweet.

Realizing that there’s no point in lying, I confess. “It’s a surveillance video of me stabbing his son. The only evidence that exists. Evidence that could have gotten me locked up in a split second, but the weird thing is that he never went to the police.”

“He’s hiding something.”

“No shit.”

“We have to get those tapes back.”

“I’m going to reiterate the sentiment,no shit.” I shake my head in disbelief. “You should be terrified of me by the way. You know I killed some boy all those years ago and you don’t even seem to care.”

“I know you, Addison.” He shrugs with apathy. I could be caught red-handed slaughtering an entire town, including all the children in it, and he’d turn a blind eye. “If it’s true, then there’s a reason why you did it. You’re not a killer.”

“The surveillance video says otherwise.”

He reaches for both of my hands and takes them into his own. “We’re going to get those tapes back, together.”

“For once in your life, I need you to listen to me.” I break away from him. “I need for you to let me protect you the way you always want to protect me. Leave this place and never come back.”

“I’m too damn stubborn for that, besides I can’t leave you.” He reaches for my hand again, but I bat him away. “I can’t be without you again.”

He reaches for my cheek and caresses it softly.

I cock my head away from his touch. “Please don’t do that.”

And then his lips are on mine. Clearly, he’s not listening to a word I say. I push him out of the way and bolt out the door, but he’s too stubborn to let me go that easy. I can hear his footsteps behind me as we race down the impossibly long hallway and by the time I reach the elevator, he’s right there.

We stand in silence as the elevator descends to the lobby, and when the doors swing open, he follows me out.

“You can’t run from all your problems, eventually they catch up to you.”

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