Page 23 of Pretty Threats

I follow him into his bedroom. It’s a similar style to War’s but in a warmer color palette. With closer scrutiny, I’m sure the furniture must be from the same design line because of the way the wood is carved.

A glance at the king bed’s burgundy leather headboard reveals that at least it doesn’t have holes for chain restraints.

“What?” he asks.

I drag my gaze away from the bed. “Nothing. I guess you and War went furniture shopping together?”

“No,” he says with a small laugh. “Furniture came with the house. The bosses hired someone to decorate it, I guess.”

The bosses.

Everyone, even Marianne, has been vague about Killian’s new job. All she’s said is that he seems less reckless now that he’s working. He hasn’t been drag racing or getting into fights. She said she’s relieved.

I’ve been less sure about Killian’s work being a good thing. If everything were above board, why won’t anyone say exactly what he’s doing and who he works for? According to St. Seb’s and neighborhood gossip, two of Killian’s brothers are in the Irish Mafia. Now, he and his housemates are burning clothes in barrels in the middle of the night. And kidnapping me for witnessing it. That math adds up to one thing.

Killian takes something from the closet and rips off a white plastic garment cover. When he turns, he’s holding a long red sheath dress with a weird beige scarf around the neck. I step closer and freeze. It’s not a scarf. It’s a thong… and I recognize it.

The dress and the underwear are mine, but I never wore them. I’d bought the dress for a dance that Killian and I were going to low-key attend together, amongst a group of his friends. It would’ve been a kind of first date. Before the St. Seb’s dance however, the dark incident happened. After that, I was upset and furious. And scared of him. I packaged the dress and underwear into the return envelope and sent it back. Or thought I did.

Would I have noticed I never got a credit for the return? Probably not. My mind was so shattered around that time.

“Where did this come from?” I ask.

Killian starts to walk away without answering, but I grab his arm. He lets me stop him because he likes when I stand close.

“Killian, how are my clothes here?”

His expression doesn’t change. “It was in my closet when I packed my stuff to move. Found it when I unpacked.”

Liar.

“You’re lucky it was.” He tugs his arm free. “I’ve gotta shower.”

As he walks out, I stare after him. Killian wants me to think Marianne hung my dress in his closet by mistake and that it accidentally got packed along with his clothes? There’s no way that’s what happened. She would not have ripped open a sealed shipping envelope and hung my dress under plastic in his room. I don’t think she ever even saw this dress. I’d been planning a whole reveal moment for the outfit on homecoming night. Marianne and my dad didn’t know a thing about our plans to go to a dance together. They would’ve been against it.

If Killian has the dress, it’s because he intercepted it from the bin of outgoing mail.

All of the sudden, I’m struck by another realization. All those full bottles of products in the shower aren’t being used by another girl. There is no other girl. They’ve been waiting here for me.

It hits me then that the reason I’m taking the threat of being killed so lightly isn’t because of Killian’s past advice on staying calm, or an exaggerated state of denial. It’s the bone deep knowledge that Killian would never let that happen.

Because no one else is allowed to interfere with me in any way. Only him.

His being gone all summer means nothing. He was willing to be chained to a wall all night for one reason. He was guarding me.

The rest of the world falls away as my mind drills down to these facts. Despite all my fury and all my efforts to distance myself from him, on Killian’s end, things are the same as they ever were.

Even though, he’s never said it out loud, I think in his mind, I belong to him.

And I’m afraid the only way I’ll ever truly escape Killian is if one or both of us are dead.

13

KILLIAN

Idon’t usually wrap a towel around myself when I come out of the bathroom after showering, but today I do.

Raine’s carrying a “don’t touch me” vibe at the moment, and I don’t want a fight to erupt when things in the house are the way I want them—calm.

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