Page 92 of Until You Found Me

“I’m a thief,” she says seriously.

“We do what we gotta sometimes.”

“I’m afraid of what else I’ll find out about myself. About what else I’ve done.”

“I’m not.”

“I could have done horrible things, Logan. I could have thought about doing horrible things.”

He runs a soft thumb over her wrist. “Doesn’t matter, none of it. Couldn’t tell me anything that would change how I feel.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because I know you. Wouldn’t care if you stole candy from babies. I know what’s in your heart. That’s all I care about.”

“There are times when I thought about killing him while he slept,” she whispers suddenly, as if the police might hear her through the walls and across town.

“You shouldn’t feel bad about that, not after what he’s done.”

“That’s just it, I don’t. I feel terrible about those old ladies, but I only regret that I didn’t go through with whatever I planned when it comes to him. I remember…I remember plotting all the different ways I could do it, but I didn’t. Would she be alive if I did?” She slides him a sideways, wary glance. “What kind of person does any of this make me, Logan?”

That’s what she was afraid to tell him from her nightmares. That she almost killed her husband before he got the chance to try to kill her.

“If he pushed you that far, then I know you got there for agood reason.”

She goes quiet, her words tentative. “Are you afraid of me now?”

“Pfft. Terrified. You got any other crimes I should know about? Bank robbery? Forgery? Speeding?”

“Logan, I’m serious.”

“No,” he says firmly. “I’m not afraid of you. Not now, not ever.”

He can tell that she believes him, but then her face falls again. “You met with the vampires today, and none of this is helping. I’m gonna take the dog out. You try to nap, okay?”

“Okay.”

Unprompted, she takes the gun for safety and he desperately tries not to worry when she disappears out the door. Not to follow her and peek through the blinds to make sure no one snatches her into the woods.

She knows how to shoot.

There are cameras now.

The front gate is locked.

She’s right outside the door. She’ll be fine, she’ll be fine.

There’s a storm brewing just off the coast. The clouds begin to rupture and shake in the distance and he shudders, wondering if it’s a precursor for other dangers to come.

The phone startles him when it rings, but Carl’s name across the screen offers hope. He probably found out where Tessa lived, her husband’s name, or a news story about the fire, he must have. It’ll all make sense soon enough. Relief cascades in like a soothing wave, promising that every question they have will be answered before he even picks up the call…right before the gun goes off outside and Tessa calls out his name on the end of a scream.

Chapter 20

Tessa is using the dog as a crutch. Taking him outside is a chance to escape without escaping.

The need for space from Logan is a new feeling. It’s unwelcome and persistent, leaving her unsettled every time it happens. Every new memory grows the distance between them another inch. It’s self-imposed distance, but even so, it aches. It’s difficult to look at him the more she questions herself and the line blurs between the woman he knows and the one she used to be.

Little by little, she is losing track of herself again, and finding the words to explain that is impossible.

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