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She gives me a scandalous grin. “Stop what?”
“Being horny all the damn time. All you think about is sex.”
She shrugs. “And you don’t think about it at all.”
I raise my eyebrows. “That’s not true. I’m just picky.” I realize the reason behind my pickiness is because my nameless monster ruined the experience for me. Losing my virginity to him meant everything to me. It was a high I never thought I’d experience again. The idea of being intimate with someone else was painful, so I chose not to have sex again. Simple as that.
She whips around a corner much too fast, considering we are in a residential area. “Well, I think he’s hot. I’m personally not into the hot nerd goth vibe, but I could see you with him. And girl, you really need a good healthy dose of dick. Plus, if he’s a genius like everyone says he is, imagine what kinds of things he could do between the sheets.”
I huff a breath and lean back in the seat.
She tilts her head and says softly, “I wish you were sexual, Summer. You have to give people a chance.”
I am sexual. I’m just turned on by things I shouldn’t be. Things I can never verbalize that make my toes curl.
“You’re insufferable, but you know that,” I tell her.
Dani looks at me and frowns, but doesn’t push the subject, even though I can tell she wants to call me out on my bullshit.
My phone vibrates again, and I turn my gaze downward to a new message.
SF: Are you still there, or did I lose you?
I type out a quick response to him.
Summer: Impatient much? Please stop messaging me.
There…I said it.
We pull into the parking lot of campus and my stomach drops when he sends me a link. My eyes narrow as I click on it, and the news link of the missing girl comes up on my screen.
The blonde girl from the news today.
My doppelgänger.
SF: You better play nice with me, Summer.
I let out a small gasp, but keep my phone hidden and quickly recover before Dani notices. Even though my face has gone completely white.
Summer: This is enough evidence to incriminate you.
SF: You won’t tell anyone, because you never did. You need my help. I’m the only one who can protect you from him.
Him? Who is he talking about? He’s the one doing this to me.
SF: See you at the party.
My palms break out in a cold sweat. This entire conversation played out differently from how I imagined it would go. The tone of these texts is very much how I’d picture Lincoln speaking, but this is not how I remember my nameless monster. This is not the man in my dreams.
Despite his mask, his raw emotions always found a way into my heart. The person on the other end of this line is far more calculating and logical—I’d say he’s almost soulless.
CHAPTER
SEVEN
SUMMER
My body is frozen during my hour-long English-lit class as we study Shakespeare. The chill underpinning my bones is penetrating, and it’s not from getting caught in the icy rain with Dani as we bolted across campus speckled with the endless brick gardens and gargoyles. It’s because I am finally realizing how much danger I’m in.
