Page 1 of Tell Me You Like It

PROLOGUE

Lux – One year ago.

Noneof this was supposed to happen.

As I stand in the middle of the room, moonlight creeping in through the large windows to my right, I watch as the shadows dance across his angular face.

How have I been so blind?

If I’d only made another choice, I wouldn’t be standing here now, trembling, wondering if this is how it all ends.

Fear grips me by the throat as I stare, unblinking, at the face in front of me. Just hours ago, I was happy. Confident with the decision I’d made. But now…now, I’m not so sure. I should have handled it differently.

It’s terrifying if you think about it. In a heartbeat, the flicker of a moment,everythingcan be ripped away from you. Your entire life altered beyond salvation. Mutilated beyond recognition.

I should have seen it coming.

There were signs. Red flags that I ignored.

I desperately wanted it to be different this time. For thefirst time in my life, I felt like I couldtrulytrust someone. So yeah, maybe I turned a blind eye to more things than I should have. I trusted the wrong person—again—and now I’m paying the price.

“Come here,” he says calmly.Toocalmly.

I shake my head. It’s the first brave thing I’ve done since this whole thing began. “No. You need to leave.”

He steps forward into the patch of moonlight that’s pooling on the carpet. The silvery light shifts across his angular face, making it look harsh. But it’s what I see in pale eyes that fills me with fear.

Love.

Not the love you read about in fairytales. This love is dark and malformed. Selfish. It’s the kind of love that consumes itself from within, like a sickness. It feeds on trust, and thrives on pain, until there’s nothing but a cracked, and hollow heart left behind.

When I don’t comply with his command, he steps forward again, closing the short distance between us. I swallow, frozen in place, too afraid to move. But as my gaze flicks up to meet his, I realize I’m staring into the eyes of a monster. In the reflection of those pale eyes, all I see is a yawing void of darkness…

And the cold, unbending certainty of death…

CHAPTER ONE

Lux

Sometimes I feel cursed.

Okay, well, not cursed exactly. But I’ve had my share of challenges in the nineteen years I’ve been on this planet. Well-meaning people–usually adults– have always told me to be thankful for my hardships. It makes you stronger. More capable. Independent.

I wish all that were true.

Really, the events that have shaped my life just settle like silt inside me, tainting every thought, every action. Until I’m convinced misfortune has been braided into my DNA.

Generational trauma, isn’t that what they call it?

I dig my toes into the wet sand and look out at the Pacific Ocean. It’s hard to feel cursed here, though. Malibu is a magical place, soaked in sunshine, with a surprising small-town feel. But its best quality is how far it is from Fresno. From home. From the events of last year.

The sharp wind whips through my hair and stings my cheeks. My best friend, Bree, and I wandered down to the beach hours ago after we’d unpacked our boxes, and set up our dorm rooms.

Bree called me crazy when I waded into the frigid water, dunking my head under the salty waves like some kind of baptism. Maybe itwasa type of cleansing. The ghosts of my past washing away with the tide.

If only forgetting were so easy.

“Hey, look what I found!”

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