Page 68 of Pretty Poisoned

"Do you now?"

"Yep."

"What thing did you tell him?" River asks.

"Nothing," I say. "Apparently, we're looking forward, so it doesn't matter."

"She told me her origin story," Luca says, pulling me into his lap. "Or part of it, at least."

"Oh, you mean what landed her here on the…what did Brady call it?" Hazel asks.

Rhett laughs. "Oh, it was…the fucking rolling island of misfit toys or some shit."

"That was it."

"I don't think you're a misfit toy," Luca says into my ear.

"River says you break all of your toys."

"You seem to be holding up okay," he says. "Don't leave me, Teagan."

"Would you cry if I died?"

"I'll cry like a fucking baby if you go home."

"Luca, are you giving her enough space? You know you can't…" River starts, trailing off.

"I did what you said," he tells her. "I gave her space. She came to me."

She gives him the side-eye, then looks at me.

"I did," I tell her. "I want him."

"Don't go home tonight," he says. "Let's go out somewhere…alone. You look so pretty."

"How? Won't people recognize you?"

"Nah," he says. "I'll wear my coat."

He's charming as fuck.

He shaved earlier, too. I place my hand on the side of his now-smooth face and miss the stubble already. He's got a backwardhat on, and his tattoos are just barely visible at the neckline of his hoodie.

He almost looks like a normal twenty-two-year-old guy. Except I saw him that night in the woods, and I know exactly what he is. The arms wrapped around me now are the same ones that held me back while Layla bled out in the backyard. The green eyes looking into mine are the same ones that belong to the man I thought was going to kill me when I ran away from him in the woods but forced me to my knees instead.

Declan told me his origin story, too.

Still, he's the perfect trap—the perfect monster.

But maybe I'm the perfect trap for him, too, and I can make him better. It'll be…romantic.

"Hey," he says. "Are you going to answer me? What are you thinking about?"

"I'm wondering if I can fuck the crazy out of you."

He laughs. "God damn. You are black licorice, aren't you? You're going to kill me."

Not if you kill me first.

---