Page 49 of The Art of Being a Psychopath

Not here.

I was safe.

I had to be, right?

The warmth of Alex’s car made me realise how cold I’d actually been, and I pulled his jacket closer around me, taking a deep breath as his expensive aftershave consumed me.

He opened the driver’s door and climbed in, turning to look at me as I stared straight ahead.

“I’m sorry. I’m ruining your car seat. The leather’s getting wet,” I said, still shaking, despite the heated comfort.

He didn’t reply right away, just put his seatbelt on slowly. He wasn’t rushing himself to drive off, despite the honking horns that had created quite the cacophony on this small street.

Eventually, he put the car into gear, and stated, “I really couldn’t care less. It’s just a car, Emma. It doesn’t matter. What’s important is getting you off the street to somewhere warm and dry so you don’t get ill.”

I nodded, wringing my hands in my lap.

“Where do you want me to take you?” he asked, and I don’t know why, but I started to cry.

“I don’t know. I don’t have anywhere to go,” I whispered, and he reached across to place his hand on my knee.

“Please don’t cry,” he said kindly, then muttered, “I’ll fucking kill him for what he’s done to you today.”

“Kill who?” I asked, wiping my tears. Did he know what S.K.A.M. had done?

“Bloody Gold, that’s who. He’s an ungrateful, spineless twat and he needs dealing with. Bullies like him deserve their comeuppance.”

“I’d rather forget he ever existed and get on with my life,” I stated, knowing I meant Gold and S.K.A.M.

“He didn’t deserve you,” Alex replied, and reluctantly, he took his hand off my knee, but the warmth of his touch lingered and I couldn’t help but like it. A look, a touch, the feel of him so near made me feel a certain way. A way I hadn’t felt for a long time, maybe not ever. He made me feel alive, which was ironic, seeing as there was another man out there who wanted me dead.

“You can come back to mine for a while. We can sort something out.” Alex started to drive, and I went to protest, but thought better of it. Where else would I go? I couldn’t go home. I couldn’t go to Grace’s yet. I felt like such a fucking failure that I had no other options.

I wiped the last of my tears with the back of my hand, hating that I’d let everything get on top of me. I didn’t want to cry. That wasn’t who I was.

“How did you find me?” I sniffed, asking the question he’d avoided when he first arrived. The question that still burned doubt in the back of my mind.

He gave a heavy sigh, put both hands on the steering wheel, and let his head fall back onto the headrest.

“I might’ve pulled in a favour with someone I know in a certain mobile phone company. I asked him to track where your phone was.” He turned then to give me a fleeting glance before focusing forward and grimacing. “In my defence, I was worried about you, and I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“You know that could be classed as stalking?” I replied, digging through my handbag for a tissue.

“Is it stalking if it’s for your own good?”

CHAPTER

NINETEEN

ALEX

She was freezing when I picked her up, and from the way she sat in the car, rigid and on edge, I knew she wasn’t comfortable. But when she burst into tears, my heart fucking broke.

I wanted to stop the car and pull her over the console into my lap and hold her. She was trying to be strong, but I knew she was tired of fighting. I wanted to fight for her. To be there for her. She was so fucking independent, and I liked that, but I wished she’d let me in. Let me take some of the weight that was dragging her down. Every fibre of my being wanted to protect this girl, it had from the first moment I’d laid eyes on her, but I knew she wouldn’t let me. Not yet, anyway.

I leaned forward and turned the heating up to maximum. And as she calmed down, wiping the tears from her eyes, I started to talk.

I wasn’t sure she’d open up, especially after she’d accused me of stalking her, but I had to try.