Page 18 of Creep

“You could say that.”

“Did you meet with Briggs?” Theo asked. He was probably more eager than I was about this one. I didn’t blame him.

“Not yet. He wants to keep everything anonymous.”

Theo cracked a small smile at that. “Stupid fucker. How anonymous could he get, considering we’ve been watching him for years?”

I didn’t answer him, just took another sip, my eyes on the flames as my mind battled with the memories from the past.

Playing with fire was dangerous.

Mostly because of how uncontrollable it was.

Fire was destructive and hot and had wreaked enough damage in my life to leave scars behind. Something Theo knew all about. Something I knew all about.

My hand automatically moved over to rub against my side, where the small script of numbers had been tattooed on my skin when I was nothing more than a defenseless nine-year-old boy. Theo had been even younger. I couldn’t protect us then, but things were different now. It took a while—years—to find the answers we were looking for, but now that we had them, I wasn’t going to let past grievances go.

Fuck being a bigger person.

I took in Theo’s side profile. He had always been the silent type. While I raged on at the world for all the injustice we faced, expressing myself in a very physical way, Theo seemed to take it all in, pushing it deep down in the depth of darkness, where he put all the shitty and depraved things we’d been through, never to be revisited.

It wasn’t a mere coincidence that we ended up in the same foster home after losing our moms the same way.

It also wasn’t a mere coincidence that we shared the same bastard father. That we had his dirty blood running through our veins. Perhaps that was why we were so fucked-up.

I would have felt bad for bringing Lia into this fucked-up world of ours had she not already been so deeply entrenched in it. Even if she didn’t know it yet.

I tightened my grip around the paper cup as I watched the last of the remains burn away.

“You take care of this?” I asked.

Theo nodded. “Yeah. Go do what you gotta do. Let me know if you need backup.”

I grunted my response. This wasn’t the time to go on the offense. Right now, I needed to gather as much information as I could to take down an entire organization.

* * *

I stoodin the dark woods, taking in the sight of my girl standing in the middle and looking up at the moon.

What the hell was she doing?

She nearly caught me here the other night. Had she walked a little further into the woods, she might have found me. So if she knew I was out here watching her, why was she standing in the thick of it alone after the coffee shop had closed up and no one was around?

Was my girl trying to be brave or just being stupid and reckless with her safety?

My fists clenched tightly at the thought.

Had there been anyone else but me out here, she could have been hurt, and no one would be around to hear her scream.

I shook my head.

What was I going to do with her?

“Am I alone?” she asked. The tone of her voice told me she knew the answer already.

She wasn’t alone. Could she feel my eyes on her? Feel the draw between us, as if there was an invisible string attached to each of our chests, slowly pulling us into each other? Or was it only me? Or was I just being romantic?

She let out a small sigh, fog billowing in front of her face from the cold.

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