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I know why I haven’t seen it before. It’s so well hidden within all the other ones, you don’t notice it if you don’t know where it is. It’s like that with a lot of his tattoos. It takes time and attention to discern them.
“Jamie…” His voice is full of guilt. It’s covered in it, dripping remorse all over his tongue. That’s how I know I’m dead right.
He works for Samuel.
He starts babbling explanations, but I don’t listen to him. I grab his clothes and throw them at him. I don’t want to show how scared I suddenly am, and I cover it with anger. “You lied to me! Get out. Get out of my house!”
He starts putting them on, saying how he loves me and wouldn’t hurt me, but my ears are ringing in fear and anger. I almost miss the moment he grabs his phone and shoots a quick text.
“Is that your partner in crime you’re texting?” I bark out a hysterical laugh. Did he really just do that?
I’m not sure how long passes while I take our pictures, the gifts, the cute post-it notes he’d leave in my notebooks, his hoodies he had lent me…everything. I should talk it out with him, I should check if maybe I’m misunderstanding. But maybe this is exactly what I wanted. Maybe this is my reason to push him away.
“Jamie, you need to let me explain, please…”
“No! How can you let me apologize and beg you for forgiveness for the wrong I’ve done when you’ve actually been lying to me all this time! You’re an impostor! You’re a criminal. I should have known. I should have known the first time I confronted you about it that you were lying.”
“I’m not an impostor, I was waiting for the right time–”
“Oh please,” I rage. “There’s no ‘right time’ for coming clean. The sooner the better.”
“Like you cheating on me? Was that as soon as possible? Did you call me yesterday crying because you were dying to tell me you were being a slut for someone else?”
My mouth falls slack. Partly because he’s right, mainly because his voice has turned a shade which until now had only been reserved for Dimitri, when he attacked me. Now that it’s aimed at me, I can’t help the terror from spreading through my veins.
He takes a step toward me, making me take one back. His body is hard, muscles tensing below the shirt he hasn’t had time to button up.
Is he going to hit me? I don’t even know who he is, if he’s violent…dangerous.
“Do you know him? Jake.”
“What?”
“Jake, the guy from yesterday, from school. You saw him, you talked to him outside the car. What did you say to him?”
“Oh,” he smiles wickedly. “The guy you cheated on me with.”
“Stop trying to change the topic, Nathan. You have the same tattoo as Samuel Thomas, you work for him. Jake has that tattoo too. Do. You. Know. Him?” I insist through gritted teeth.
I don’t have time to find out. The bell rings loud in the house, cutting through the tension and making me jolt in surprise.
I jump on the occasion and go past him, moving toward the bedroom door.
“Just leave,” I say in a shaky voice, looking at the door handle instead of him.
I go through the short hallway, and hurry to the front door. I can barely believe my eyes when I open the door.
“Jamie?” The look of shock on Rose’s face tells me she had no idea whose door she was ringing.
“What…” I whisper confused as I see Sam close behind her.
She’s about to turn around when she notices something behind me. Her face completely falls, her eyes widen behind her thin, gold glasses, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen such disbelief in anyone’s eyes before.
“What the…” she begins but the words stay stuck in her throat.
“Happy birthday, Ozy.”
I turn around, recognizing Nathan’s voice. When my gaze lands on him, he’s nothing like the sweet guy I know. His eyes are dark, and his face hardened, anger and hatred emanating from him.
