“I’m sorry, Haven,” I whisper against her skin. “I’m so fucking sorry.”
The words are as empty as the hollow where my heart used to be.
Worthless.
Just like me.
I melt back into the shadows as the security cart rounds the corner, its headlights cutting through the rain. The guard spots her immediately, jumping from the cart with a shout. I watch from as close as I dare as he checks her pulse, calls for backup, wraps her in an emergency blanket from his kit.
She’ll be safe now.
Away from Rooke.
Away from me.
I slip away through the darkness, the weight of the phone in my pocket a constant reminder of another failure.
Of my corruption.
Of the sickness inside me I can’t seem to flush out, no matter how much I drink or smoke.
I should delete the video. Destroy the evidence of what I’ve become.
But I know I won’t.
I might be a monster…but so is Rooke.
And if I stand a chance of protecting Haven from him, I’m going to need all the ammunition I can get.
Even if it’s a bomb strapped to my fucking chest.
Chapter 37
Haven
A phone chimes beside me, blaring out a pop song about an ex-lover and a long list of names. The sudden noise jolts me like an electric shock, yanking me out of...nothingness.
Where the fuck am I?
My hands twitch, and I look down, watching disembodied as I pick at the remnants of the glittery pink nail polish left on my fingernails. There are flakes of it all over my desk, like I’ve been doing this for a while without realizing.
I lay my hands flat, blinking hard as I try to orient myself.
Wooden desk beneath my hands.
Fluorescent lights overhead.
The low murmur of voices around me.
“Shit!” Melissa hisses beside me, scrambling to silence her phone.
A familiar voice cuts through the haze. “If you’re done interrupting my class, Miss Parker?”
“Sorry, Sir,” Melissa calls out.
My head bobs on a loose neck as I turn to look at who she’s speaking to. But the figure up ahead is little more than a blur. Myeyes want to close again. I think they do, because a swell of noise forces them open again.
A white glow fills my vision. I see objects, but they’re just flickering silhouettes in the bright fog.
