Page 6 of Cruel Charming Psychos (Necessary Evils 2)

“It’s because you’re stupid,” she says as she attempts to straighten herself up.

But I push her back again, this time harder than before. She lands against the dresser hard enough that it forces the furniture to bump against the oversized mirror, shattering it. I take one last look at her before rushing for the front door and swinging it open.

But I’m stopped dead in my tracks.

There’s a man at the door and it’s not Nick.

He’s tall, kind of lanky, and dressed in tight black jeans with an oversized black shirt. He has black studs in his ears and a hooped ring in his nose. There’s a chain necklace dangling over the front of his shirt and his hair is dark and tussled, shuffled forward over his forehead.

“Addison,” he says lowly, his lips curling into a relieved smile.

I make sure to close the door behind me before saying a word. “Asher… What the fuck are you doing here?”

He shoves his hands into the pockets of his jeans, innocent-but no, he’s fucking not. “I’m wondering why the girl that told me she loved me vanished in the middle of the night.”

ChapterFour

ADDISON

“You absolutely cannot be here,” I stammer as I pull the door closed behind me.

His lips wrinkle into a sly grin, like he thinks his sudden arrival is cute or something. “And yet here I am standing right in front of you.”

I push him backwards and point to his black sedan. “You need to get back in your car and go back home.”

He shakes his head defiantly. “I just drove seven hundred miles to see you, so forgive me if I’m not quick to take orders from you.” His eyes search the motel behind me. “Why are you staying in a dump like this? Seriously, Addison, this place looks like more run down than the Bates Motel.”

For always making a concerted effort to not be like everyone else, Asher sure has a way of riding in on a high horse. It’s like he dresses the way he does, wears his hair the way he does, walks the way he does, all in an effort to stand out from the crowd. That’s what initially drew me to him. He was different from all the other guys, but at his core, he’s just the same. He thinks with his heart, but his heart is connected to his dick just like every other man.

“Do you remember how you would always ask me questions and I would never answer them? That was for a reason.” I narrow my gaze on him. “You don’t know anything about me.”

I cock my head over my shoulder to find Mother snooping through drawn curtains with a lit cigarette hanging from her mouth. I angle myself a little to the left to try and block his view of her, but I’m pretty sure he has already seen her. He’s probably putting all the pieces together in his head as we speak.

“I know that this isn’t you. I know that you’re one of the smartest girls I have ever met. I know that you have a tendency to shut people out, but you should also know by now that I don’t give up.” He closes the distance between us, stepping towards me. Too close. “So listen to me when I tell you that I’m not going home without you.” He reaches for my hand, but I pull away. “Do you have any idea how hard it was to find you?”

“That’s usually the point.” I cock my head upwards to meet his gaze. “People who don’t want to be found don’t make it easy.”

“You abandoned your life in the middle of the night. I just woke up and you were gone. I don’t know why you left, but your life back home is ready for you to come back.”

He reaches for me again, but I retreat. “I can’t go back there.”

“Jesus Christ, Addison. You had one semester left. What could possibly be worth sacrificing that?”

I can’t answer his question because he’s right. I wanted away from this place so damn bad that I left in the middle of the night to start a new life. History has a way of repeating itself. I’m always running from something. I had a life in Carolina, not a good one, but it was a life of my own, and I was doing damn good in school comparatively.

As for Asher, I never loved him, even though I told him those exact words all the time. Over and over again, I told him that I loved him because it was easier than telling him the truth–that I was only with him because sometimes I needed a warm body at night to fight away the coldness of my heart. I used him in every way someone could use someone and figured that once he realized that I was gone without saying a word that he would come to the logical conclusion.

I guess I was wrong, because Asher’s logical conclusion was to chase me halfway across the country. Good guys always finish last, so the fact that he always seems to come out on top must mean that he’s not such a nice guy after all. Regardless, I need to get him away from this motel first, and then out of this city.

“Look, we can’t have this conversation here.”

“Then where do you want to have it?”

* * *

We both drove separately to a place I hope we won’t be seen together, at least not by the people I need to keep him hidden from. I pulled over at a diner overlooking the sea. It’s not a popular spot, reserved for the locals born onmyside of town. The Callaways wouldn’t ever even look in the direction of this run-down joint where you can still order a full breakfast for under ten dollars.

We get a booth in the back corner, seated away from the only other people in the diner. Two older men, grey hair and most likely retired, sit at the counter chatting with the line cook that’s dressed in a gaudy yellow and red apron.

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