Page 52 of Unmasking Her Shadow

I drop my head, ashamed. The rush of so many emotions shattered me, and I couldn’t sort through them in that moment. I felt it all so deeply. Like a punch to the gut and a kick to the heart. She didn’t deserve to be cut off like that, but I needed space. I still do.

“I’m fine,” I tell him, but then it hits me. “You knew, didn’t you? This whole time you knew she was stalking me and fucking me without me knowing her identity?”

“Well, yeah, but without most of the details. Gross. It’s Ki. I don’t want to imagine her sexcapades in high definition.”

Anger and embarrassment surge through. “Thanks for stopping by, but I need to be alone right now.” He stops me from shutting my door, and Nyx growls.

“Have you eaten?”

“Not your problem.”

“Let me make you something to eat, and then I’ll leave.”

I glare at him, but I am hungry and don’t feel like cooking right now. I just want to go back to my bed. These two had this tremendous secret over my head this entire time. I feel like an idiot.

“Fine,” I grumble calling for Nyx to follow me back to bed. Obviously she cares if she sent her right hand to come check on me, but she needs to do better than that. She has a lot to make up for.

I send her a message before disappearing under the covers.

Yellow.

Nyx’s soft rumble of warning wakes me back up when Ryker walks in carrying a plate and glass.

“No need to do all that now,” he tells her, placing both down on my nightstand. The plate holds a mountain of scrambled eggs, hash browns, and toast, leaving no empty spaces, and the glass is full to the brim with orange juice.

I sit up and chug half the glass of juice before I say anything. “Thank you.”

He sits down on the end of the bed and rests his elbows on his knees. “She’s in love with you, Sam. I know she went about this the wrong way, kind of, but she did it the Sam way. She knew what you needed, and she gave it to you. Against my wishes and complaints, she would never let you go. I didn’t want her getting her heartbroken, but from what she’s told me and what I’ve seen, you are in love with her too.”

I take in everything he says. “I just need time to process everything. It’s hard not to feel manipulated.”

“Before you, she had never done anything to this extreme before. You were her first obsession, her first hunt, her first time hiding her identity…all of it. She did it for you, and in turn realized all your desires were hers too. You unlocked another side of her as well. Eat and then talk to her…please.” He doesn’t give me a chance to respond before he exits my bedroom. I grab the plate filled with entirely too much food and my phone.

Kioni: I’m so sorry I hurt you. Take all the time you need. I’m not going anywhere.

I stare at her message. She didn’t even try reaching out to me until I took back red. No matter what, I’ve always been in control. Partially anyway.

Kioni: Please eat.

I glance around, wondering where the hell the camera is. There has to be one in here. I can only imagine all the embarrassing shit I’ve done that she’s witnessed. Well, she stayed despite it all, so there’s that. I take a dramatically large bite of food, and my phone dings.

Kioni: Good girl. Be mad at me all you want, but don’t neglect yourself.

Me: We need to talk about boundaries.

Kioni: We are long past that, don’t you think?

I guess I get both sides of Ki still. My deranged stalker and my protective girlfriend.

Me: I’m still mad at you.

Kioni: As you should be, but I promise I’ll make it up to you. I have to go, baby. No more red. Please. Come back to green.

Me: No more red.

Of course there’s no more red. She almost drowned me before, and I practically said thank you afterwards. She shot me with an arrow. Okay, okay, grazed me with an arrow. Drugged me, kidnapped me, put a fucking shock collar around my neck…I didn’t call red then so why would I now that I know who Shadow is? I was just momentarily distraught and caught off guard. To everyone else, she is a walking red flag. But to me she is so fucking green. But I’m not telling her that right now because she needs to stew in her fuckery for a bit longer for making me feel like a moron. Like when they both tried to convince me I was gifted a finger cake instead of an actual finger. I bet they laughed after they left my house. Assholes. It also makes sense why I fell for Kioni so fast. My body must have known it was her all along. My brain just wasn’t on the same page. Damn demon pussy crossing all of my wires.

Even though I called off work already, I text Ben and tell him I’ll be in to take care of my afternoon appointments. I’ve cried and beaten myself up enough last night and this morning to last a lifetime. If I stay here, that is all I’ll do, and that’s no fun. I eat as much as I can and give the rest to Nyx, tidy up my house, and then toss my hair up and put on a loose dress. Makeup is a no-go today. The dim lighting will hide my tired, bare features well enough.