“Why not?” I fling myself on my bed and stare up at the ceiling fan, spinning in slow, lazy circles. “Look, Penelope, I know he’s dangerous, okay? I’m not stupid. But he’s—” I fumble around for the right word and eventually settle on Oliver’s. “He’s nice.”
“Hunters are notnice,” Penelope hisses. “My sister, I love her, but she’s notnice.”
“She saved us from that creep back in Miami.” I sit up, my heart racing. “And, like, you stay with her all the time. You’re staying with her right now. And she’s never hurt you?—”
“But she could,” Penelope snaps.
My chest tightens.
“I can’t talk about this shit over the phone,” Penelope says. “But if she doesn’t—doesn’twork outregularly, then she’ll go crazy. I wouldn’t be safe then.”
My skin prickles, suddenly cold with fear. Even the warmth of the sun doesn’t seem like enough. “What do you mean?”
“I mean she would lose control,” Penelope says. “And I’m hersister. She actually does care about me. But I would still be in danger. This fucking dude—you don’t know him. For all you know, him fucking you is part of his, uh, workout plan.”
The fear spikes, quickening my heartbeat. I think of Theo staring at me in the woods, all his attention fixed straight on me, like I was the most important thing in the world. Then I think of the way he fucked me. Like he was stabbing me.
Which is also exactly how I’ve always wanted to be fucked. Like I’m being killed.
“He broke into your house,” Penelope says. “You’d never seen him before, and he still?—”
“He knew about me,” I say. “From this kid next door. Oliver. Oliver’s friends with him.”
“Jesus fuck, Chloe.”
“He definitely wouldn’t hurt Oliver.” Saying it out, I believe it, too. “I saw them together this morning. He treats Oliver better than Oliver’s parents treat him, I’m pretty sure. Big dad energy.”
“Bigdadenergy?” Penelope sputters. “Do you hear yourself right now?”
“Yeah. He’s protective.” I shrug. “Look, I’m not gonna deny that this might be—dangerous for me. But not for Oliver. I feel pretty sure about that.”
“Pretty sure?”
“Very sure.” I take a deep breath to steady myself. “I know it sounds crazy, okay? And I’m not saying I’m not scared of him?—”
“No, because that’s his whole god damn appeal, isn’t it?”
I open my mouth, wanting to deny it. But I can’t. She’s right.
“Knew it.” Penelope sighs. “He’s a predator, Chloe. Like, literally. Like the way a wolf is a predator. He’s not—” Her voice tightens. “He’s not human,” she says softly. “And he sees you as prey. That’s the appeal ofyoutohim.”
I know damn well Penelope’s trying to scare me, but everything she’s saying just quickens my blood a little bit more. The stings of pain around my breasts, on my throat, on the places where Theo bit me, suddenly start to throb like my still-aching clit. Prey. What’s prey but a focused target? All my life, I’ve gotten passed over by men. In high school, I never got dates to dances. My first year of college, before I met Abi and Penelope, I’d go out clubbing with my dorm mate and some of her friends, and I’d always get left sitting alone in the booth, sipping on a Coke because I didn’t even have a fake ID to get a real drink. All for what? To maybe go home with some guy who couldn’t even give me what I needed?
But when Theo Shorn found me on his property, he looked at me like nothing else in the world mattered.
So yeah. Maybe I like being prey.
Not that I can say any of this to Penelope. I’m not sure I want to say it to anyone.
“Chloe?” Penelope’s voice drags me back to my sunny bedroom. “Are you listening to me?”
“Yeah, yeah. He’s a wolf, I’m little red riding hood.”
“This isn’t a joke.” Her voice is dead serious. “I really think Callie and I need to come visit. Keep you safe.”
“What does Callie think about that?”
Penelope doesn’t say anything.
