Page 237 of Under Her Skin
‘Jess. We don’t ever have to go back to that place, you know, I cansell…’
‘No,’ she interrupted, ‘no. That’s our home, that’s the place where we’ll make our family. I know it in mybones.’
Theo was tense. ‘I thought after you nearly died there. You were nearly murderedthere.’
Jess pulled his lips to hers then smiled up at him, her eyes soft. ‘It’s also the place where I survived. Where you saved me. He doesn’t get to take our home away fromus.’
Theo kissed her then was silent for a long time. She could feel the question hovering in theair.
‘Jess, it was Jules, wasn’tit?’
She stared at him for a long moment, tears filling her eyes. Then, slowly, shenodded.
‘I want to tell the police I’m positive, Theo, I do but I can’t remember anything.’ Her face crumpled and Theo kept his promise and held her while shesobbed.
The hospital was quiet,much later, the middle of the night when Jess woke. She saw Theo had gone down to get coffee, was relieved he was taking a break. The dark circles etched under his eyes, the pain in his eyes… it scaredher.
A headache screeched around her skull, and she tried to sleep but the pain in her head was too much. She turned in the bed and gasped. Jules, silent, watchful, sat forward from the shadows. Hesmiled.
‘How are you feeling, Jessica?’His voice was acaress.
‘What are you doing here?’ Her voice cracked and hesmiled.
He raised his hands, shrugging. ‘Well, there’s nowhere else I’d rather be, Jessica. Nowhere.’ Again that tone, intimate, tender. It scared her. She turned away, pretending to reach for the cup of water on her nightstand, wanting to grab the call button. She winced as the sudden movement jerked on the I.V. in her hand. Julesstood.
‘Allowme.’
He leaned across her and she caught his scent. As she breathed it in, a jolt, a rush of nausea, of terror. She gasped, a torrent of memories crashing back. Jules’s head snapped around and their eyes locked. In that moment, he realized sheknew.
‘Oh, Jessica, this would have been much easier if you’d just died when you were supposed to. Because now you’ve made it so much harder foreveryone.’
He stroked her face but she jerked away from his touch, ready to scream for help. He clamped his hand over hermouth.
‘Don’t scream. You know why you’ve made it harder? Because it won’t be just you I kill now, Jessica. I’ll kill everyone you care about. Then I’ll make Theo watch when I carve youup.’
Every cell in her body willed her to scream, scream for help, for Theo now, right now. But she believed Jules in that moment. In her eyes, in her broken, beaten mind, he had grown into a mythical creature, a daemon, an unstoppableforce.
Come back, Theo, please, I needyou.
Jules leanedin and kissed her gently on the mouth. She tried to pull away and his face grew hard, his smile cold, his eyesdead.
‘And then I’ll killhim.’
And he smiled. He picked up the call button, he pressed it and placed it back on hernightstand.
‘There now.’ Without warning, he clamped his hand over her mouth and pressed down hard on her belly. The pain was searing and she moaned inagony.
Jules smiled, released her, leaned in and kissed her gently on the mouth. She tried to pull away and his face grew hard, his smile cold, his eyesdead.
‘Get some sleep. I’ll come and see you again. I’ll always come to see you, Jess. I will finish what Istarted.’
The nurse came in. ‘Do you want a sedative,honey?’
Jules smiled at her. ‘I think she does. She was just saying she couldn’tsleep.’
Jess couldn’t speak. The nurse slipped a needle into her I.V. and she felt herself going under. Jules stroked herhair.
‘Sleep now, sweetheart, I’ll be here when youwake.’
