What if he’ll be pissed that I didn’t wait for him to tell me the truth himself?
What if he calls me a thief for stealing his keys?
Stupid, Lilith. Such a disappointment. You can’t get anything right, can you?
My mother’s insults hurl themselves at me one after the other. Each one is a slap in the face. A kick in the ribs.
I flinch as I remember the venom in her voice. The hate in her eyes.
“You have nothing to apologize for. Not now. Not ever. I love every part of you.”
The memory of Alaric’s words is the balm for my deepest, most painful wounds.
His devotion is a reminder that he won’t lose his shit over this. Won’t slap or shame me.
He’ll understand.
Everything will go according to plan.
Clickand the lock gives in. The handle bends under my shaky palm.
“Mmm!”
Fraser. He’s too loud, and the fucking door is open.
Hell no.
Before I so much as glance around the room, I rush into Alaric’s storage unit and shut the door behind me without bothering to lock it. Why should I? The whole point is for him to storm in here in a matter of minutes.
“Mmm!” His prisoner pulls me out of my thoughts, looking as pathetic as ever.
He’s in nothing but a soiled pair of boxers, the stench sharper now that I’m in this room instead of the adjacent one. The stitches from a few days ago are still raw, yet there’s no pus, and the skin around each one seems pretty healthy overall. Even the wound on his forehead seems to have healed.
Thanks to the best physician ever, Dr. Lockwood.
“Mmm!”
I should say something. Ridicule him like Alaric does. Tell him he’s earned this.
A million taunts sit on the tip of my tongue. Especially since I feel like I’ve known him for a while.
In a way, I have.
Thing is, he’s Alaric’s project. He’s the one who went through the trouble of kidnapping him. He’s the one who owns this space, this version of a man cave.
Until he says so, I have no right to his captives.
Besides, Fraser doesn’t interest me.
The notebook does, and my time to go through it is running out.
Ignoring Fraser, I edge closer to the table where it sits, open and waiting for me.
I’m almost there, within reach, and I gulp. It’s like my body can sense what a huge moment this is.
“Mmm!”
I take the last two steps that bring me to the notebook.