Page 10 of Pretty Vile

I approach slowly, raking my eyes over the photos.

“It’s like she was watching us every minute of every day.” She reaches out to brush her finger over a photo of her and Kai on a dance floor. I’m guessing that’s from their date night. I stare at the photo, noticing for the first time how relaxed Emilia’s smile is as she stares up at Kai. To an outsider, they look like two people lost in one another, oblivious to everyone around them. Hell, even to me, they look like that. The whole dating thing was supposed to be a ruse, but the passionate way they are staring into one another’s eyes looks anything but fake.

“Not a single moment was left untarnished.” There’s a melancholy in her voice that bothers me and makes me want to rip every goddamn photo from the wall if only to make her feel better, but I refrain—barely. Kai will want to see everything exactly as it was before we take it all down.

I watch as she slowly moves along each of the walls. I’m unsure why she looks like she’s trying to commit every photo to memory. She’s in most of them. They’re her memories. Still, I stand and silently watch her as she systematically makes her way around the room, until the pounding of footsteps reaches my ears, followed a second later by Hawk’s panicked, “Em?”

At the sound of his voice, she spins toward him. The same smile she wore in that photo lights up her face, even as fresh tears form in her eyes. She’s rushing toward him before he even hits the bottom step, diving into his open arms.

There’s no hesitancy in his embrace. His arms envelop her, and he buries his face in her hair like he half expected to never see her again.I guess my attempt to drive a wedge between them was unsuccessful.Everything about the moment is private and intimate and charged with so much emotion that I can practically taste it on my tongue. I shouldn’t be intruding, and yet, I can’t look away.

It bothers me that it’s so much easier for him. How he was able to simply forgive her. Then again, Hawk doesn’t carry the same demons I do. He hasn’t had to endure what I have and wasn’t crushed the same way I was. Back in high school, Emilia was just a hole to stick his dick. Although, how he couldn’t see the potential that I could is beyond me. How he didn’t just completely lose his freaking mind after that threesome renders me dumbfounded. Didn’t he feel what I did? That sense of rightness? Like the three of us could do that every night for the rest of our lives and be happy?

I knew the second she took my bait and ran toward Hawk—toward her deepest, darkest desires—that I would always want more of her.

But apparently, I was the only one.

Hawk saw it as just sex, and Emilia… Well, I don’t know what Emilia thought of it all, but she obviously wasn’t on the same page as me.

Now look at how the tables have turned. He’s realized what I knew all those years ago, and somehow he’s ended up with the girl. Meanwhile, I’m stuck out in the cold, bitter and alone, watching from afar as they rekindle what they once had and deepen that connection.

Talk about life fucking you up the ass—and not in a good way.

I watch as an intrigued and forgotten bystander while he pulls her in for a breathtaking kiss that rivals one of a man who survived the battle of Normandy and made it home alive would have given his lover. Definitely not intended for a public audience, but here I am, soaking up every second as though it’s my lips she’s kissing.

“Are you okay?” he asks when they finally break apart.

“I’m fine,” she assures him, her hand on his chest. “But Hawk, it’s—”

The thud, thud, thud of nearing footsteps cut through her words as Kai makes his presence known. Legs, followed a moment later by his torso and head, appearing as he descends into the bunker. His eyes immediately find Emilia, raking over her before his shoulders relax.

She steps out of Hawk’s arms and moves toward him, but instead of the comforting embrace she received from Hawk, Kai’s arms remain at his side as his expression fluctuates between concern and relief.Interesting.

“Are you okay?” he asks, his voice coming out stiff and emotionless.

His tenor makes Emilia stop in her tracks. A flash of something that looks like confusion passes across her face so quickly that I almost wonder if I imagined it. “Y-yeah.”

He does another scan of her body, clearly searching for injuries despite his posture remaining aloof. "Good," he says sharply before shifting his focus to the room. I watch as he steps closer to the photos taped to the wall, although my attention steers back to Emilia and the way she follows him with her eyes, trying to understand his detached demeanor. Have to say, I’m confused myself. I half expected him to confess his undying love as soon as we found her.

Any idiot with half a brain must realize he has feelings for the girl. Even before I looked at the photos on the wall, I knew he liked her. I don’t know if it started because they spent so much time alone in the house together, bonding over trying to catch her stalker, or if it was the fake dating—that sure as fuck doesn’t look fake anymore—but he started falling for her.

So why is he now keeping her at arm’s length? And, more importantly, why do I care?

I don’t, obviously. I’m just intrigued by whatever is going on.

Yeah, sure you are.

Ugh, I really need to stop having conversations with myself.

Hawk moves forward to inspect the walls as well, before Kai takes out his phone and starts taking pictures of all of it. When he’s done, he orders, “Take it all down, but don’t get rid of the photos. I want to look at them in better lighting.”

“Why?” Emilia asks, her arms once again wrapped around her waist. “They’re photos of us. Can’t we just burn them? It feels like a violation to know they exist.”

"There might be useful clues in them," Kai explains, his focus remaining pointedly on the wall. "We can destroy them once I’ve had a chance to analyze them."

“Oh, okay,” Emilia says in a small voice.

Evidently done inspecting the walls, Kai finally turns to face her, his expression unreadable. “So, who is it?”

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