Page 28 of Lovely Violent Things

“You better get back to Agent Hernandez,” I warn without slowing my pace. “Rain can weaken the signal to the ankle monitor.”

“You want me to explain the scapegoat theory for the Harbinger crime scene.” He effectively switches tactics. “I can’t do that if you don’t trust me, Halen.”

I huff a derisive laugh. “You mean, trust the monster who used a high-profile case to leverage his revenge?”

“Here you are using rational deduction to your detriment once again.” He stomps through a puddle and curses. “Dammit. Look at me, Halen.”

I whirl around. “Fine. Let’s break it down,” I say. “No more games. No more manipulation. No more existential meanderings or vague philosophical quotes. Just cold, hard facts.”

He waits for me to continue, his black suit soaked, making him blend into the darkening night. The falling rain frames his silhouette with an unearthly glow, the hazy stars his own personal backdrop. I hate the fiery ache that claws at my chest at the beautiful sight of him.

“You used the case, people, actualvictimsto get me to perform a ritual under the guise of solving a crime. All so you could fuck me. To play some warped mind game with me. But that wasn’t enough.”

“I’m flattered you think I’m that diabolical.”

“It wasn’t enough to use the victims as a piece on your gameboard, but you had to frame me in the process. You planted the rope evidence at the crime scene. And I let you do it. I gave you the means to hurt me.” I bite down on my lip hard. “You should’ve just stabbed me, Kallum.”

Anger tightens his jaw. “You have it all figured out.”

I shrug a shoulder. “It’s not hard to put together.”

He swipes his tongue over his bottom lip, a dangerous glint flashing amid the flinty shadows of his eyes. “Then I’m about to make your pretty little head spin.”

I plant my hands on my hips, thoroughly drenched, desperate for the way he makes me feel to turn as numb as my frozen skin.

“You won’t be charged with any murder,” he says, not denying any of my other accusations. “After you reported Landry’s attack, you were taken to the hospital. You couldn’t have killed anyone and staged a crime scene, Halen. You’renotthe one being framed.”

“Then who the hell is being framed here?” I demand. I blink past the rain, my thoughts a tangled web Kallum has spun around me, sank his fangs into me so deeply, I almost crave the pain. At least that I know I can handle.

“The scapegoat,” he says.

I groan my frustration. “Alibi or not, my reputation will be damaged.More. Best case scenario, Alister will accuse me of contaminating a crime scene.” A pang of guilt resonates in my chest. “Shit. Maybe I did. I don’t know. I could’ve transferred fibers from my bag, from my tools.”

“You didn’t contaminate the scene.”

The way he says this, so assuredly, drives a sliver of apprehension beneath my ribs.

“But your allegations of me?” He takes a determined step forward. “Revenge is a weak motive. I could’ve walked out of Briar any time I wanted. Dr. Torres wouldn’t have been difficult to manipulate to that end. My very expensive lawyer could’ve appealed. Hell, I have enough money and connections to have you fired from every future position—”

“That’s not how your twisted mind works—”

“I stayed there because of you. I waited patiently foryou.”

“So you could fuck me, or fuck me over? Or maybe fucking me was just the icing on your payback cake.”

His hand fists at his side. “I love fucking you, Halen. I’ll fuck you ten different dirty, demeaning ways right now that will make you scream my name and plead to let you come. But sex doesn’t start with the act itself.” He takes another deliberate step toward me. “It’s heated glances and charged near touches. It’s cruel words and fiery tempers. It’s instant chemical attraction across a quad when you make that first real connection, when you feel the center of gravity shift…and you know nothing will ever be the same again.”

I swallow past the burning ache in my throat, my breath too ragged to voice any denial.

Kallum stops, keeping a safe distance between us. “We’ve been making love since day one.”

I hate the way my body reacts to his claim, the way my blood burns my veins, my bones ache as if I’m fighting an unrelenting current pulling me toward him.

“So don’t cheapen what I’ve sacrificed to prove myself to you, to keep you safe,” he says, his tone a solemn affirmation. “If you think I suffered six months in a mental institution for a piece of ass, then you’re the one who needs her head examined.”

I hold his intense gaze through the downpour. Racked with shivers, my lips numb and the weight of his words crushing me, I struggle to drag in a full breath.

“I want you,” he says, as relentless as the storm. “All of you. Your sexy as fuck body that drives me right out of my goddamn senses. Your intellectual mind, rational and logical to a frightening degree, but so fucking brilliant everyone else around you pales miserably by comparison. Your beautifully broken soul, so immersed in anguish it chokes me—” he swallows hard “—but I relish the pain. I’m begging for it, because the sweetest taste of you soothes the burn, and it’s fucking euphoric.”

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