Page 51 of ILY
“With a bullet?” I demand.
He swallows thickly. “Only if I had to.”
I glower at him. Who the fuck does this guy think he is, anyway? I don’t hang out with people who ownguns. “Well, fuck you, then. That is terrible and not romantic at all. I shall not be offering up my ass to you after that proclamation.”
Those words make Thorne sigh, scrubbing a hand over his face. “Yeah, don’t blame you. I really don’t deserve your ass.” He hesitates and then adds, “In my defense, I really did think Michael was a human. Everything pointed to him being one.”
“I said groundhog multiple times. What the hell did you think I meant?”
“A human you had stored away underground.”
That makes a snort leave me, and before I can stop it, a wheezy laugh exits my throat. I can’t stop it, my belly aching, tears streaming from my eyes. “You—” I gasp and then giggle. “You thought I had a human underground.” I swipe at my eyes and slap at my leg. “That is fucking ridiculous. Have you met me?”
Thorne’s lips twitch slightly. “I did think it was highly unlikely, but still.”
“Oh my god. Are you, like, a cop or something?”
He shrugs. “Not…exactly.”
“What are you, then? DOE, DOJ, oh mygod, are you CIA?”
He shrugs again and then fingerspells something quickly. Thankfully, I’m a fucking good interpreter, and I catch it right away.
“FB Fucking I! Oh my god, no way. Jesus. And here you were, thinking I was some kind of criminal, and you wanted tohave anal sex with me!” Realization dawns on me, and I point at him. “You were going to fuck my ass tonight, and you had no qualms about it.”
His eyebrows rise. “Was I?”
“You absolutely were. I had it all planned. But I fell asleep, so it was derailed a little, but you were going to fuck a criminal. That has to be against some kind of department code.”
He rolls his lips between his teeth and shrugs. “Maybe.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake. I’m going back to bed. The zucchini is gone, there’s no helping it now, and honestly, I hope I can go back to bed and wake up realizing this was all a dream and you aren’t some kind of law enforcement officer trying to arrest me. I want my goddamn stalker back, Thorne. I want the man who was showing up at my place at odd hours for blowjobs and cuddles.”
I stomp past Thorne, who follows me, but I hold up a hand, making him come to a stop. “You need to go home.” He swallows and looks slightly despondent, and something inside of me twists. “I was duped and emotionally tormented. By my aunt, by Michael, and now you. I just…need a minute to think.”
He nods, and I continue moving forward, up the porch steps and into the house. The door shuts behind me, and I can’t help but turn around and see Thorne just standing in the middle of the garden in my borrowed sweats and no shirt, unsure of what to do now.
“Fuck,” I murmur, not able to tear my gaze away from him. I just stand and watch him for long minutes.
“Fucking hell,” I murmur, and then, before my heart can soften and invite him back inside, I stalk to the door and lock it.
He still doesn’t move, and I stomp up to bed. It’s there that I see the food he made me. And the water he brought up. It’s all so sweet. Except, is it really sweet? Did he ever like me, or was he just trying to get me to incriminate myself?
I mean, he did think I had a literal man locked up in a basement somewhere.
Although he didn’t arrest me for attempting to buy TNT, but…no. It’s obvious that he was trying to build a case against me. This isn’t real. The feelings I’ve been developing over the last week are fake.
A lie.
A goddamn ruse.
So why, when I lie down and catch his scent on my pillow, does my gut tell me that there is so much more to this than I’m willing to believe?
I don’t sleep. Who the fuck could sleep when they find out the super-hot stalker they’re boning is with the FBI, trying to catch them in a murder?
Fuck.
My head is a complete mess, and I’m struggling to remember what the hell happened last night. I’d woken up to my groundhog camera alarm, feeling confident that with his hearing aids off, it wouldn’t bother Thorne.
