Page 63 of Forget Me Not

“But you just got here, and we have so much to talk about.” The confidence in his tone is unnerving to say the least.

At some point between crossing the room and those slow and steady breaths getting lodged in my lungs, I begin fuming. My hand swings out then flies back, landing my open palm on his face. “Are you trying to ruin my life?” I shout. “Murder, Alaric! Really? You killed that poor boy, and for what?”

“Thatboywas anything but poor.” He cradles his wounded cheek in his palm, but the smile on his face never falters. “I did it for you.”

“For me?” My voice rises even louder. “He used me to try and get a few laughs from his friends. Maybe it hurt my feelings a little bit, but I’ve dealt with worse. I handled the situation just fine on my own. You had no business—”

Suddenly, he springs off the bed, anger now crippling his features. “When you ran to the bathroom and cried on thefuckingfloor, it became my business.”

“You don’t get to dictate other people’s lives just to fit your own agenda, Alaric.” I grip the sides of my head, feeling like I’m going to combust with rage. “This is fucking insane!”

“I don’t understand why you’re so upset about this. You said you hope he dies a slow and painful death. I was simply giving you what you wanted.”

My head draws back quickly, palms sweating profoundly. “Are you serious right now? I said that out of hurt and anger. I didn’t actually want the kid dead. He was just a kid, Alaric.”

“I tailed that kid for a week and watched him try to take advantage of girls, do drug deals on the side outside his school, then go home to the woods to torture animals. I did you and the world a fucking favor."

"Maybe he just needed help. Just because I say something out of anger doesn't mean I want it to come to reality!"

Casually, he lifts one shoulder in a half shrug and his mouth curves downward in a scowl. "I guess you should make yourself more clear next time.”

There are so many things I want to say and do to this man. I’m half tempted to dig a bigger hole with that jacket so I can curl Alaric’s dead body up and bury him with it. Then again, burying him alive sounds pretty satisfying too.

My voice drops a few octaves, my defensiveness wearing thin. “Why are you here? What do you want from me?”

“I’m here for you. To protect you and love you as long as I live. Every time I watched you struggle, I got closer, but I knew better than to come in and save you because you never needed a white knight.”

“And I don’t need one now. I’ll never love you, Alaric. Ever. So if you think for a second that you’re going to manipulate this entire situation and I’m going to fall head over heels for you, you’re wrong.”

“If I’m manipulating you, it’s only because I see everything you can become. I know your potential, Rhea. But let me make one thing clear, I could have taken you long ago and forced you to live a life with me, but I allowed you to spread your wings first.”

“Bullshit. I was just too fast for you. I saw you everywhere, and each time I did, I ran somewhere else. You may have always found me, but I was two steps ahead of you, knowing you’d come eventually.”

“Did you know I’d come here to Lockhaven?”

“I knew it was a possibility, but I assumed since my father was dead, you didn’t need to.”

“This isn’t about your father. At least, not anymore. Yes, there was a time when I agreed to help him find you, but that reasoning ended the minute I laid eyes on you. I’m here because I could no longer stand the distance between your heart and mine.”

“So you want a life with me? What?” I chortle. “You want me to marry you?”

“Eventually, yes.”

“Well, I hate to break it to you, Mr. Banks, but that’s never going to happen.”

He digs his fingers into the pocket of his jeans and pulls out his phone, a sense of assurance radiating from him. Tapping away at the screen with purpose, he then looks up, a smug smile on his face. “I beg to differ. It’s going to happen, and much sooner than you think.”

Holding his phone in the air, he shows me a picture he took—of me burying Nick’s jacket.

Each swipe of his thumb against the screen has my heart pounding faster.He scrolls through them all, dozens of them.

Mouth hung open in disbelief, I stumble backward until my legs hit the edge of the bed. I sit down abruptly, feeling like I might pass out. My breathing comes in shallow gasps and my words are nothing but a strained whisper. "You followed me?"

Alaric sits down beside me, a picture of me still on display on his phone in his hand. “Don’t you know by now, baby? I’m always following you.”

His hand moves to my upper thigh and while I see that it’s there, I’m too stunned to react. I swallow hard as I turn to look at him. “What do you plan to do with those?”

He clicks a button on the side of the phone, turning it off before stretching back and stuffing the phone in his pocket. “You don’t have to worry, Rhea. Your secret is safe with me, as long as you do everything I ask of you. It’s that easy.”

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