Page 67 of Scaredy Cat
“Are you happy now?” Gloria asks, moving to stand in front of her whining brother. They aren’t so scary when they’re the ones being humiliated, though it’s hard for me to appreciateanything at all. “He’s in a kennel. Justleave.No one’s going to stop you?—”
“I’m almost happy,” my stalker interrupts smoothly. “I just need one more thing from you, Gloria. One little, tiny thing.”
Glancing up at him, I can’t tell what he’s thinking. Not one bit. But he shifts the knife to one hand and reaches the other out. “I just want a promise. I just want you to pinkie promise you won’t post about her. You won’t mention her. You won’t let her name cross your lips ever again.”
I can tell immediately she’s not taking it seriously. Her head tilts to the side, and a grin twists on her lips. “Yeah, I?—”
“A pinkie promise,” Shiloh interrupts, and extends his gloved pinkie. The childishness of the gesture surprises me. He’s never had a penchant for this kind of thing, at least not from what I’ve seen. And I’m bemused that he’s making her do it. Is it some kind of humiliation for her?
Gloria seems to be thinking the same. She hesitates, then rolls her eyes and walks forward, her own hand out. “Sure,” she tells Shiloh flatly. “Whatever, buddy. I pinkie promise?—”
I barely see the knife come up. But a second later, Gloria screams and stumbles back with her hand clutched to her chest and her eyes wide. Blood wells, dripping like a sieve from her hands, no matter how hard she tries to staunch it. “Y-you?—”
“Like I said,” Shiloh purrs, holding up her pinkie finger and twisting it to look at it in the dim light of the room. “Just one little thing.”
I should be horrified as I look at her shaking with hate and fear and pain in her eyes. She stands there unsteady, like she might fall, but Shiloh just pockets her fucking finger and sheathes his blade. “You should leave now,” he tells her. “Get out of my sight before I decide to take another.”
Gloria hesitates, looking down at her caged brother. But she makes the right decision and takes off at a jog down the hallway, while Craig screams at her to come back and let him out.
“Want me to kick him?” There’s a hint of playfulness in Shiloh’s voice as he looks down at me, and I give him a small smile, then nod. He walks away from me, and rattles the cage with one boot. “Shut up, Craig.” He sighs when Craig’s curses are directed at him. “Or I’ll take your finger too.”
That shuts him up.
I get up carefully, feeling shaky on my legs, but before I can even take a step, Shiloh sweeps me up into his arms, carrying me bridal style out of the workshop and into the cornfield beyond. We’ve only gone a few yards when he reaches into his pocket and chucks Gloria’s pinkie finger into the field. “I don’t actually want it,” he confides in me. “But I don’t want her to get it back, either.”
I’m so tired that I settle against him, though normally I’d want to walk. I’d want to prove that I’m fine, that?—
“How did you even know I was here?” I ask, though I don’t get an answer from under the wolf mask. “Shiloh?” His arms tighten around me, pulling me closer to his chest. “Are you mad?”
“Yeah,” Shiloh assures me in a soft growl. “Yeah, I’m pretty mad, Persy, you know why?” Moments later I’m on the ground, feet planted among the cornstalks, and he’s gripping my face in both hands, holding me up to face him.
“I’m mad because you didn’t tell me,” he growls. “Because you were stupid. Because…fuck.”He reaches up with one hand and tears off the mask, his eyes dark with concern. “Because theyhurt you,and it’s really hard to stop myself from going back there right now and tearing them apart for you right now.” His eyes flick downward to my lips, where my breaths are coming in open-mouthed pants.
“Don’t kiss me,” I murmur. “I threw up like thirty minutes ago right before I was waterboarded. It’s gross, and I don’t want to gross you out?—”
“I don’t care,” he murmurs, and drags me forward onto the balls of my feet to crush his lips to mine with a possessive, desperate growl.
28
The silenceof the drive back in Shiloh’s truck is enough to make me pick up the habit of grinding my teeth, even though it’s not something I’ve ever done before. I’m tired, my nose hurts, and my reflection in the side-view mirror is unflattering as hell. To prevent myself from making criticisms of my fucked-up state, I close my eyes and let out a long, heavy breath.
“Are you sure your friend won’t mind getting my car later?” I ask in a hoarse, tired voice.
Shiloh’s gloved hands cause the steering wheel to creak under his grip. The knife is in the console between us, still stained with Gloria’s blood. It’s like a beacon, like it emanates some kind of aura that won’t allow me to forget it’s there, even though he tossed the knife there so casually once I was in the truck with my seatbelt on and tightened to Shiloh’s satisfaction.
“Yes.” That’s all he says. Nothing else breaks the silence or the darkness, and I drift off even though I’m pretty sure he’s mad as hell and will never want to talk to me again.
Iliedto him after all.
I deserve whatever consequences I get.
Arms pull me against a muscular chest, and my eyes open halfway, just enough to see the black coat Shiloh’s wearing overhis matching shirt and jeans. I’m not quite awake enough to notice much more, but when my door opens, Arugula’s fierce meows and scolding are quick to rouse me.
“You tell her, Arugula,” Shiloh murmurs, striding into my house and somehow managing to lock the door behind him, judging by the click I hear a second after the heavy door slides shut. “Tell her she doesn’t know how to look after herself, and that she’s way too good at getting into trouble. She’s just the worst.” His cooing, teasing words still hurt, but he doesn’t put me down.
The steady rhythm of his steps continues, though I’m too busy staring at his perfect jaw to notice. He really is gorgeous in just about every way imaginable, like a mix of all my favorite physical traits rolled into one perfect stalker.
He’s never going to want to talk to me again,a sly little voice reminds me, sounding like a snake in the back of my mind.You lied to him.
