Page 46 of Locke 2

And he would either flee or tell me I was crazy.

Or maybe both.

I held my breath, preparing to have my heart torn to pieces.

Twenty-TwO

Kali

Locke didn’t flee or call me crazy.

Instead, his face remained stony, but his eyes flickered about my face. He took my words into consideration, but whether he was budging on this, I couldn’t tell.

Finally, he straightened, towering over me. I felt very little, but my presence felt big. I had opened a wound, told him a big part of me I’d never uttered to another soul. I’d expected to feel vulnerable and judged, but those feelings didn’t come. Instead, a huge weight lifted from my shoulders, like it’d been pushing me down for so long.

It felt good to say Aurora’s name out loud. It felt freeing to let him know she was standing in this room—this unreal form of her—because now she wasn’t just stuck with me, but with him, too.

“Get back in bed,” he finally said.

The last thing I wanted was for him to go. “Don’t leave me, Locke.”

“I won’t leave,” he said, and then quietly added, “I never left, Kali.”

What did he mean by that? My brows pinched together as I stared up at him, trying to discern this mercurial man. “If I get into bed, where will you be?”

He looked away. “Around.”

“Locke.”

“What is it, Kali?”

“Lay with me.”

He stilled. “I’m not tired.”

“So?”

He cocked his head to the side. “So, you must want more than to lay with me.”

My lips flinched. “You used to read my diary, Locke. If I wanted you to do more than lay with me, I’d say ‘fuck me’ instead.”

He wasn’t amused. His voice came out in warning. “If I got into bed with you, Kali, we would do more than lay. You would wind up beneath me, and I wouldn’t take no for an answer. If you’re prepared for that ruin, invite me into your bed again.”

“Invite you so that you can fuck me again without giving me a choice?”

“That’s one way of looking at it.”

I raised a brow. “You’re still twisted, Locke.”

“Yet you continue to hold the power.”

He was right.

I could tell him to go away, and he wouldn’t use me to his liking. My chest dipped as a slow breath released from my lungs. I considered his warning, knowing fully well what would happen if I handed the power over to him. He would lose himself to me again, and I had a feeling it would be much worse this time around.

Like before, we were falling deep and fast.

But unlike before, he was not going to let me walk away.

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