Page 158 of I Never Stopped Loving You

He pulls my face to his and kisses me desperately. As if he’s trying to pour the truth into me through a single kiss alone.

He pulls away resting his forehead against mine with his eyes closed. He takes a deep breath before pulling away to look into my eyes.

“Do you understand now, Little Rabbit? It’s always been you.”

CHAPTER 70

NOAH

THREE YEARS AGO

“Here. Put this on,” I tell Monty as I hand him a black ski mask.

It's not like we coulda stopped at a Spirit Halloween with a prisoner in the truck just to grab Monty his own mask. He looks at it before looking back at me.

“Do I really have to wear this?” he asks.

“Yeah. And make sure you don't use my real name in front of James. Alex I don’t give a fuck about because that fucker is dying today but if James is awake we need codenames,” I tell him as I open the secret panel leading to the staircase.

“Aight, you be Maverick, and I'll be Goose,” he says, tugging the ski mask on.

“What is it with you and birds?” I laugh as I pull on my skull mask.

“What do you mean?” he asks as he grabs my bag off the ground and I grab Alex, tossing him over my shoulder.

“I mean, earlier you called me Rubber Ducky. Now you're Goose. And who's Maverick?”

“Jesus, Noah,” Monty laughs. “Haven't you ever watched Top Gun?”

“Is it horror?”

“No,” he says, scoffing.

“Add it to the list of movies I haven't seen.”

“Dear God. Okay. After this, we're having a movie marathon one of these nights. Deal, Maverick?” he says as he follows me down the steps.

“Deal, Goose. Now remember, no real names,” I tell him, stopping at the bottom of the steps and looking back at him.

“10-4, Rubber Ducky,” he says with a goofy salute.

How the fuck is this the same guy who hacked into multiple government accounts and three police stations? He never told me why he did it, but I guess that's a story for when I'm not carrying an unconscious body into my labyrinth.

“This place is kinda cool, but also fucking creepy,” Monty says as we make our way through the paths.

“Thanks. It's the whole reason I bought the place.”

“Welcome back, Killer. Ah, you brought another soul to join me in hell? How fun,” James says sarcastically.

I left his blindfold off the entire time I was gone. I thought we were going to be gone longer so sadly, the lights didn't fuck with his internal clock like I wanted them to.

“And who's this? Your new boyfriend?” James Parker asks, looking past me to where Monty is standing against the wall.

“Keep your fucking mouth shut, Parker,” I command as I toss Alex down into the chair next to James and begin restraining him.

He's still knocked out, so his body keeps swaying. Monty comes over quickly and grabs Alex's shoulders steadying him.

“But I'm lonely and you always kill my new friends before I even get to know them. It's boring," James whines.