Page 106 of Pleasure & Prey: Vol. 2

Something is going on in Hayden Fields. Someone, obviously, is now targeting me like Lacey and our diner regular, though I don’t have any idea why or who it is. But running away isn’t the right option, especially since I can’t be sure if the person won’t just follow me to Akron.

But…

“What if people recognize you?” My words are soft compared to the sound of the engine, and now my eyes are closed because I don’t know if I want to see his expression. But to my surprise, Cass reaches out to smooth his hand over my hair, tucking it back behind my ear. “What if people⁠—”

“I’ve been coming back to Hayden Fields for years, sweetheart,” he reminds me softly. “But I will say it’s touching that you’re worried about me.”

Finally opening my eyes, I turn to glare flatly at him. “Worried about you?” I repeat with a snort. “You misunderstand. I’m worried about me and my reputation.”

His chuckle is music to my ears, and he flicks my cheek playfully. “What reputation? As the town’s favorite babysitter? Haven’t you heard what happens to well-known babysitters in Hayden Fields?” His humor never falters, and I open my eyes to look over at him.

“You’re so confusing when it comes to that,” I murmur hesitantly, unsure if this is a subject I’m okay with broaching at the moment. “I never know if I’m allowed to bring it up or I should pretend it never⁠—”

“There’s no pretending it never happened,” he replies, cutting me off smoothly as he pulls onto the street that connects to mine. “No denying it, or smoothing over it. Besides, do you think I haven’t killed anyone else in the years since then?”

His words hang in the air, and I don’t know how to respond to them. I tap my fingers on the console, nervousness making my stomach churn uncomfortably.

Fuck, I’d really never considered that as a possibility.

“Have you ever wanted to kill me?” I ask, hating how my words hang in the silence of the car.

He doesn’t answer. Not for a few seconds, anyway, and I can see him thinking about his words. The fact he doesn’t answer right away makes me nervous, and within moments, I’m fidgeting in my seat, fingers tapping against the console.

At least, until he covers my hand with his and presses it flat. “I was never going to kill you,” he murmurs. “I would never hurt you, Winnie. Maybe I didn’t understand my feelings for you back then. At least, not like I do now. But I would never hurt you. I’ve never considered it. I’d kill for you,” he adds with a small, impish grin.

He turns onto my street and I look up, a question on my lips…only for it to die in my mouth as I see the car parked in my driveway.

“Fuck,” I murmur. “Why the hell is mom here? Umm…” I blink rapidly, putting together a plan. “Maybe drop me off and park down the block? Just for now. I want to figure out what she’s doing. She’s not…I doubt she’s staying long.” He pulls to a stop in front of my house, but before I can get out, Cass grabs my shoulder, stopping me.

“You’re forgetting something,” he tells me, his gaze meeting my puzzled expression.

“What am I—” He drags me close to him, my elbow hitting the console, and presses his lips sweetly, possessively to mine. My body tenses for a moment before I relax into him, letting him coax me into a deeper kiss.

Fuck, he’s way better at this than he has any right to be.

With one quick nip to my lower lip he lets me pull away, grinning slightly as he takes in my flushed face and panting breaths as I just stare at him. “Oh, okay,” I say dumbly. “You’re totally right. I was forgetting. What was I⁠—”

“Out of the car, Winnie,” he chuckles. “Go see your mom while I find somewhere else to be in order to not look suspicious.” His fingers ghost along the back of my hand, making it harder to open the door and get out…or try to.

It’s hard to get out of a car without taking your seatbelt off, after all.

When I finally manage to disentangle myself from the belt’s stranglehold with Cass’s snickers audible in my ears, I close the door and stumble toward my house, trying to get myself together before my mom can see me.

God, she’d have words for me if she saw that.

Or…well, maybe not. Lou certainly would have questions and demands and want to talk all about it. She’d probably be able to get it out of me that it’s Cassian Byers in the car somehow. She’d bribe me with a milkshake, with cookies, with all the things necessary to get me to spill the details.

But mom isn’t really like that. At least, not with me. I push open the front door, head cocked as I listen for the sound of her existing. To my surprise, I hear the tv on in her bedroom, so I trudge up the stairs with the subtle hope and fear that maybe, just maybe, she’s decided to change her mind. That she’s going to stay here for longer than a few days.

That hope is dashed the moment I walk into her room and see the two suitcases laid out on her bed. Disappointment sears through me like a brand, but I push it as far from me as I can. There’s no point in being disappointed when I should’ve seen this coming. Especially now, only a few days before Halloween.

Mom can’t stand being in Hayden Fields around this time.

When my mother, who’s the spitting image of Lou, comes back into the room, but doesn’t notice me at first. She drops a pile of shirts in the bigger suitcase, brow furrowed in concentration, and it’s only when she turns to go back to her closet that she notices me with a surprised gasp.

“Winnifred!” she greets, one hand pressed to her chest. Her dark hair and eyes are so different from mine that we might as well not be related at all.

But maybe that’s part of the problem. I have all of my dad’s features. From my pale skin, to my light grey eyes, to my nearly platinum hair. I remind her too much of the man she loved, the man she turned a blind eye to when he was abusing me.