Page 8 of Cruel Charming Psychos (Necessary Evils 2)

He eyes me suspiciously, which isn’t the reaction I expected. “No, you’re not.”

I’m reminded that somehow my mother has a sixth sense that I’m pregnant, even if I’m only pretending. I would never tell her the truth, whether I was pregnant or not. As for Asher, he can see right through my bullshit, or maybe it’s just wishful thinking. Maybe it’s his way of refusing to accept that whatever fictional life we had together was a lie.

“Do you think I’m lying about that too?” I question him.

“I think you’re playing some kind of game.” He points to my stomach and circles his finger in the air. “You don’t have that pregnancy glow; you know what I mean? There’s no life inside of you. It’s like you’re dead in the eyes.”

“Do you have any more compliments you want to throw my way before I permanently close the door on us?”

He chuckles under his breath. “I’ll be seeing you around.”

“Just leave, Asher,” I grind out, begging him to listen to me for once in his life.

“I’m not leaving without you, so get used to seeing me around.”

“It’s for your own good.”

“Are you going to kill me too?” he asks in such a bullshit tone that I get the sense that he thinks it’s funny. It’s perverse though.

“That boy deserved to die. He was a monster. You’re just a clueless idiot who doesn’t understand how to takenofor an answer.”

“Then I have nothing to worry about.” He shrugs with complete apathy. “I’m going to figure out why you’re lying about being pregnant, though.”

“Please…” I take his hand firmly, “Just leave this alone. I’m begging you.”

He breaks away from my touch with a huff, knowing full well that I’m trying to control him with the touch of my hand. “If you don’t want to save yourself, then I’ll just have to do it for you.”

And then he’s gone. I pray silently that it’s for good, but I Know I won’t be so lucky. He’s already said as much. It’s just one more fire I’m going to have to put out. I watch him as he walks to his car, and I hate that I consider the fact that he could get into an accident on the way to wherever he’s going. It would solve one of my many problems, but Asher doesn’t deserve that.

ChapterFive

NICK

I know it’s borderline unethical to track someone’s phone without their permission. Scratch that. I know that it’s very unethical. Some would call it abusive to track the person I’mseeingwithout their permission, but I also think saying that Addison and I are dating is a complete fucking stretch.

There is no trust. I mean, how could there be? She spent all summer lying about if she killed my brother and then why she killed my brother. Finally learning the truth doesn’t erase the mistrust. Maybe someday I will trust her. Maybe someday I can stop watching her every move, but that can’t happen until she gives me a reason to trust her.

So yeah, I have a tracker on her phone. I also have one on her car too, for good measure. And the trackers are both pinging at the same place, a diner that sits alone near the deserted shores of the beach.

I pull into the gravel parking lot of the diner and park in between two cars. I have no lie prepared in case I’m caught here but something tells me that she’s not going to believe that I came all the way out here to grab a bite to eat. So hopefully I can just find out what the hell she’s doing here and then get out of the way before I get caught and have to explain why I’m here.

I pull my sunglasses over my eyes, recline my seat, and drop my head so that it rests just above the window. I have to squint to get a good look inside the dirty windows of the diner, but she doesn’t appear to be inside. I know she’s here though because her car is parked just to the right of me, right around the corner. I look to the left to see a man dressed in all black walking away from the side of the diner and that’s when I see her, standing behind him, watching as he flees.

My throat tenses, the same with my fist. The burden of rage threatens to consume me, a fit of jealousy I didn’t know I had in me. It just serves to prove that she absolutely cannot be trusted under any circumstances. I reach for my phone and take a quick photo of the man as he passes by my car. It’s not the best photo in the world, but it should be enough to dig up some very basic information on the guy.

While a part of me wants to get out of the car and confront Addison, I know it’s for the best if I keep this close to my chest. If I confront her right now, she will just lie until she’s blue in the face. It’s better if I confront her only after knowing who he is.

Then her gaze falls upon me, her eyes rolling into the back of her head.

I’ve been caught. She’s been caught. We’ve both caught each other which can only mean one thing. This conversation we are about to have will resolve absolutely nothing. We will simply refuse to take accountability for our actions and instead will use each other’s misbehavior as a means of deflection. I’m rubber, you’re glue, that kind of shit.

She crosses her arms as if she’s waiting for me to confront her. No time like the present, I suppose. I swallow my pride as I climb out of the car, closing the door behind me. As I approach, she turns and begins walking towards the beach. I would think she’s trying to run away from me, but she’s walking slow, her hair blowing in the wind.

“Do you mind telling me what the hell that was about?” I question as she keeps walking down a ramp that leads to the beach. “I’m serious, Addison. There has to be some trust between us.”

Once she reaches the shoreline, she turns to me. “He was just some weird guy trying to talk to me about bullshit.”

I can’t roll my eyes any harder without losing them to my skull. “I know you well enough to know that you’re the kind of girl that absolutely refuses to give men the time of day, especially men you don’t know. I’m going to ask you again, how do you know him?”

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