Page 51 of Taking

“Doubtful.”

I pulled back again, hating the coolness licking over my bare skin after being cradled against his warmth for so long. Flutters woke in my belly over the possibility that he agreed with me. “Why do you say that?” I asked with a soft voice.

“Because I’m pretty sure he killed his last wife too.”

20

Gideon

I let Addilyn digest that statement for a few seconds, her brow furrowed as she studied my face. “What makes you think he killed her?”

“He had a thing for my younger stepsister, and her mom found out.”

She stared, blinking. “I-I wasn’t the first?”

“I don’t know if he ever really got his hands on her. She and her mom died of carbon monoxide poisoning while we were both conveniently out of town. I never called bullshit, but we’d shared enough knowing looks—and I can read Lloyd like a goddamn book.”

“You can read everyone like a damn book,” she muttered.

I snorted. Used to.

Somehow, he’d used my anger to manipulate me into believing his lies. That fact pissed me the hell off.

Addilyn’s gaze dropped to my lips, bringing me back to the present.

She was thinking about kissing me rather than the fucked up shit I’d just revealed. My ego preened a bit, enough to lessen my annoyance, but we weren’t done with our sharing.

Especially the other shit I’d been able to read about those closest to her.

“Jenny was always jealous of you.”

Addilyn’s attention snapped up to my eyes.

“It’s true,” I continued. “She wanted Devon. Wanted me—and we both were hard for her best friend.”

“She hurt me,” Addilyn said, her voice husky and sexy as fuck from all the tears. “More emotionally than Lloyd ever could.”

“What happened after I got locked up?”

Addilyn settled against me again, and my arms slid around her, my chin resting atop her head. “She came to the house to ask forgiveness, not that I would ever give it to her. We ended up fighting. I haven’t talked to her since.”

“What about school?”

“I finished out the year from home. That kept me on hand for Lloyd—”

“Fucker,” I muttered, but she went on as though I hadn’t interrupted.

“—but by fall, I looked forward to escaping the house for seven hours a day. I traded one hell for another, but at least no one touched me in school. No one spoke to me though. Devon and Jenny ended up dating for awhile, and fuck, did that ever sting.”

My insides riled up. “You were upset he went out with her?”

She snorted a sarcastic laugh. “Absolutely not! Just embarrassed as hell. I wanted to sink into the floor every time I encountered them in the hallway.”

“Did either of them talk to you again?”

“No.”

I wasn’t upset over that fact, but I sure as fuck hated the way she’d suffered. My insides clenched at how she must have shuffled through the hallways, books clasped to her chest, her focus on the floor. I couldn’t imagine the anxiety she’d faced. The pain of having to live that shit over and over every goddamn day.

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