Page 52 of Cruel Crypts

Knox was silent for so long that I eventually forced myself to raise my head and meet his gaze. His expression was unreadable, but he didn’t seem angry.

“Please say something,” I whispered.

He shook his head. “I need time to process.”

“I understand.” It was time for me to leave. Drawing back from him, I began to lift myself out of the bed.

His voice stopped me. “Where do you think you’re going?”

I glanced back at him. “I thought you wanted time to process.”

“That doesn’t mean you get to leave. You stay here until I say it’s time for you to leave.”

Some of the heaviness lifted from me. He still wanted me here, despite everything I’d just told him. Carefully lowering myself back down, I stayed a safe distance away, unsure whether he wanted me near him, until he huffed and tugged me into him again.

“It was me who sent you that text telling you that I knew your secret. And in reply to one of your other questions from our little game that night, yes, I did enjoy kissing you. Very fucking much.”

“I already knew that. You’ve kissed me a lot lately.” I met his eyes, and his gaze softened. Reaching out, he traced his finger across my lips.

“I’d do it all day if I could, and that’s one of the problems I have.” He paused, scrubbing his hand over his face. “Since you gave me an apology, I guess I owe you one for the shit I did to you.”

I gave him a small smile. “I have to say, I definitely prefer this Knox Ashcroft to the one I first met. I can now understand why you have so many girls simping over you.” With a sigh, I added, “I guess I’ve joined your collection of groupies.”

“No you fucking haven’t.” The growl was back in his tone, and I loved it. “You’re way better than those girls, baby. You’re in a league of your own.”

As soon as he’d spoken, he groaned. “What the actual fuck am I saying?” he muttered to himself. “If Ro and Tris could hear some of the shit I’ve said to you tonight, they’d probably disown me.”

“No, they wouldn’t. I bet they say all kinds of sickly sweet things to the girls they’re into,” I assured him, confident that I was right.

“No way. They wouldn’t, and not only that…I can’t picture either of them with a girl long enough to get to that point.”

“Well, maybe that will change. You never know what’s going to happen in the future.”

“For fuck’s sake!”

I startled at his sudden exclamation. “What’s wrong?”

He shot me an impatient look as if I should magically know what he was thinking. “We’re talking like you’re my fucking girlfriend. And you’re—we’re not—”

“I know. But…maybe if things had been different, if we’d met under different circumstances, maybe one day I might have had a chance to be your girlfriend,” I said quietly.

Closing his eyes, he let his head fall back against the pillow with a sigh. “Yeah. Maybe.”

34

ELENA

There comes a point in your life when you realise that your parents don’t always know best. After this, you might get to another point where you have to actively go up against them, to stand up for your own beliefs. I’d spent the rest of the week mulling everything over in my head, but I could now admit that I’d known for a long time, deep down, that what my mother had planned to do was wrong, and I had to put a stop to it. Not because I was beginning to have serious feelings for Knox but because it was the right thing to do. Looking back on everything, it was patently clear that I’d let anger and grief cloud my judgement. I should never, ever have gone along with my mother in the first place.

That ended today.

I was going to speak to her tonight, as soon as my driving test was over, and if she refused to stop looking for ways to hurt the Ashcrofts, I was going to tell them everything.

I hadn’t even had time to worry about my driving test because my thoughts were preoccupied with everything else, but now, here I was, about to start. I’d been given special permission to leave the school early, and despite the fact that Knox and I were still avoiding each other in school, he’d taken me completely by surprise when he’d cornered me around the back of Hatherley Hall to give me a good luck kiss, right before I was about to leave. A kiss that had somehow ended up with me sucking his dick and then him returning the favour with his incredibly talented tongue. I couldn’t believe we’d done that on school grounds, but he’d assured me he knew all the blind spots the cameras didn’t reach.

We were still wary around each other—him, especially, as he had every reason to be. He knew that I hadn’t told him everything. I still wished things were different, but I couldn’t change the past, only the future. And I had to prepare myself for the fact that I wouldn’t have much longer with him. Whether my mum agreed to drop her vendetta or not, we’d be leaving. Even if, best-case scenario, she did agree with me and also agreed that we’d stay here to finish up my school year, that would be where Knox and I ended, even if we did carry on messing around with each other in the meantime. He was going off to university, where he’d be training to be a lawyer and hanging out with other people from his social sphere. I had nothing to offer him.

“Ready?” The driving test examiner’s voice pulled me from my thoughts, and I gave a shaky nod, turning all my focus to the test. Soon, I’d find out if my hours of driving practice had paid off.

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