Page 133 of Dead Pretty

I’m hurt and angry. I don’t know what to do with these feelings … it’s too much.

I want …

I don’t know what I want.

I suddenly feel tired. Drained. Exhausted. I just want to go to sleep. Forget about all of this.

I drag my hands down from my face, feeling weary. “What do you want from me, Jack?”

His expression softens. “I don’t want anything from you, Audrey. No, that’s not true. I do want something from you … you. I want you.”

“You didn’t come here for me. You came here for your brother.”

“That is true. I came here because I wanted to find the person who had put my brother in jail. You were the only link I had to help make that happen. I just didn’t expect to …”

“What?” My laugh is bitter. “You didn’t expect to want to fuck me?”

“Love you,” he says. “I didn’t expect to fall in love with you.”

Those words pierce me harder and hurt so much more than anything else he’s said so far.

“You need to leave.”

“Audrey … please.”

“Leave!” I cry.

His shoulders slump. “I can’t.”

“Why? Because you think that I’m the key to your brother’s freedom? News flash: I’m not. I think he did it! And nothing you say can change my mind.”

I’m hurt and confused. Misery has lodged itself into my throat. “What are you going to do? Hold me hostage like Tobias did?”

Jack looks appalled. “No. Of course not. But I can’t leave you alone either.”

I open my mouth to speak, but Jack cuts me off, “It’s not safe for you here, Audrey. That picture was put in my wallet. I will swear on whatever you want me to, so you’ll believe me when I say that it’s not mine. Meaning someone put it there. Whether you believe that Tobias is guilty or not is irrelevant right now. Someone wanted you to know who I was—”

“Maybe a decent person who thought I had a right to know the truth.”

“Then, why access my private property and plant the picture in my wallet? Why not just give it to you? A decent person would do that. No, someone wanted you to find it. They wanted to drive us apart. Why? I’d say it was so you’d be alone.”

“I was alone for months before I even met you. Nothing happened.”

“Not true. Murders have happened. The guy at your work and his girlfriend. Those women who were killed before I even got here.”

I’m staring at him, unsure of what to say.

“The dead rat in your apartment.”

A cold feeling washes over me. “That was nothing.”

“You know it wasn’t. I don’t know what’s happening here. What the end game is. But I know it includes you. It always circles back to you.”

“It always circles back to you.”

“You’re not safe here, Audrey.”

“Maybe I’m not safe because of you. Or with you.” I’m so tired. I’m surprised I’m even still able to stand.