Page 129 of Creep

I had hoped…

Even I could hear how naïve that sounded.

“Lia, come out and eat.”

I shook my head and bit the inside of my cheek, refusing to answer him.

He knocked again. Beneath the crack of the door, I could see the shadow of his boots. Did he think I would come out and do as he asked simply because he asked it?

For the first time all morning, I wasn’t feeling fear or hopelessness but anger.

I acted without thinking, throwing the phone in my hand at the door. It made a loud sound, the glass shattering on impact before falling to the floor.

There was silence on Mael’s side. A part of me expected him to break down the door and yell at me or worse, but all I heard was a small sigh.

Then, “I’ll leave breakfast by your door. Come grab the plate. I’ll be outside the cabin. Don’t even think about running away from me again, kitten. I’ll find you.”

I shuddered at his words. They were said softly enough, but I could hear the darkness in them, the threat.

Footsteps receded. I waited until I heard the front door open and close before I sprang out of bed. I cracked the bedroom door open and looked out to the living area. Everything appeared as it had before last night, almost as if I had imagined the entire thing.

There was no questionable smell, no stain, no mess, no nothing.

He was good.

It wasn’t the first time he had killed. That much had been obvious over the methodical way he had moved. I swallowed. How did I get mixed up in this?

A sound coming from outside the cabin had me bending down to grab the tray of food, and I quickly moved back into the room, closing and locking the door behind me.

I looked down at the simple omelet on my plate.

My hunger came in full force. I didn’t want to eat anything made by Mael, but I also knew I needed to preserve my energy. And when I got my chance, I would run.

* * *

I closedmy eyes tightly when I heard the door to the bedroom open.

I knew the lock wouldn’t have kept him away.

I fuckingknewthat.

I still hoped he would somehow respect this one small boundary I had set between us because now I was scared, and I didn’t know what to do.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this.

I wasn’t supposed to be scared of the man I cared about. I wasn’t supposed to be scared of the man I had, at one point, envisioned a future with.

But I was scared now.

I flinched when I felt him crawl into bed with me, which gave away the fact that I was awake.

He didn’t touch me.

That was good. I thought I might just lose it then if I felt his hands on me.

Instead, he lay down on one side of the bed, and I was on the other. I opened my eyes. There was barely enough light for me to see anything, but I could make out the outline of his body. He was lying on his back, looking up at the ceiling.

I tried to force my heart to calm down.

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