She looks up at me and smiles. “I noticed,” she whispers. “You always kept me safe in school. Never let anyone near me.”
“Well, that was also because I wanted you for myself.”
Her jaw drops, like that never occurred to her.
“Why you so shocked? You know this.”
She shakes her head. “I don’t know what I know anymore.”
Who knows what the fuck that’s supposed to mean. “Tell me what happened now.”
“I told you when you were in the hospital.”
“You mean right before you cut and ran?”
“I didn’t know what else to do.”
“Well, I was high as fuck on painkillers, so tell me again.”
She looks so fucking miserable. I feel like shit for doing this to her now. But we gotta move past this stage. Move past whatever this is, so we can get back to the good stuff. No, not just the sex—although thatisa fucking blast, but everything.
“I don’t know…before graduation, I started getting these texts and emails. Whoever it was said he knew stuff about…my dad. About my family. I ignored them at first, thought it was someone screwing around. Then he sent a picture of Karina, and she looked so much like me…I finally answered him.”
Finally. I’m finally getting the missing pieces of this puzzle. But I still need more info from her. “It was definitely a dude? You don’t think it was Karina?”
“Hell, no. I don’t even thinksheknew about me at the time.”
“Okay, go on.”
Her lip curls, and she puffs out an irritated breath. “He promised to bring my sister so we could meet.”
“Did he want money?”
“No. At least he never asked for any.”
That’s just fuckin’ weird. No one does shit for free. Unless this person had some sort of personal connection to the girls, it makes no sense.
“Babe, think hard. Who else would know about her and would want you two to meet?”
She’s silent while she considers my question. Taking my request seriously. “Well, not my dad, that’s for sure. Dante’s the one who forced him into telling me.”
“Christ, your dad’s a coward,” I grumble. “So that’s it. You went to meet some guy whosaidhe was bringing your sister?”
Her puzzled expression is cute as fuck and I want to kiss the fuck out of her. “Yes.”
“You know how dangerous that was? What if he’d been a psycho rapist?”
She lifts her shoulders in a helpless shrug. “I didn’t consider that until later.”
“You had me so fucking fucked up, I thought you were cheating on me.”
“What?” Her voice echoes loud in the quiet bedroom. “I’d never—”
“Well, you were being secretive and weird. Taking off in the middle of the night. Getting texts and leaving the room. Hiding your phone.”
“That’s why you followed me?”
“Fuck yeah. Good thing I did.”
