Page 21 of Wicked Promises

I startle her. She nearly jumps out of her skin, and my heart gives a nasty thump.

Her face is bruised. A few butterfly bandages are taped over stitches across her forehead—that gash was the source of a lot of blood. She probably has more injuries, but those are the only visible ones.

That, and her expression.

I step toward her, and she steps back.

That’s not how this normally goes.

“You don’t think I had anything to do with this, do you?”

Her eyes widen, then skip to the window. I can’t help but notice it’s locked. A message if I ever saw one. I want to howl. Instead, I keep approaching. Her back bumps against thebookshelf—the very same one I found the spying figure on—and she freezes.

I relish the heat of her body, but I don’t touch her. I stop just a hair’s breadth away and meet her dark eyes. There are hours unaccounted for after the accident, and I would kill to give them back to her.

I force myself not to trace her jaw. To inhale the scent of her shampoo—because even that is off, tainted by the antiseptic smell of the hospital.

She’s breathing heavy, like me being in her room has stolen her oxygen.

This isn’t you, I almost say. This girl is scared—but she doesn’t need to be scared ofme.

“Are you angry?” she blurts out.

“Furious,” I whisper. “But not at you.”

I give in to temptation and drag my finger across her lower lip. It’s split, a little swollen, but she doesn’t move when I press, parting her pretty mouth.

Her tongue darts out, touching my thumb, and I grin. I’m getting harder by the second, but I think Margo knows what she does to me.

It’s so fucking good to see her.

“I thought you might be happy to see me.” I stroke her hair. I want to kiss her, but she seems scared. I don’t know why she’d be scared of me. “You okay, baby?”

A ridiculous question to ask, given the circumstances.

“Caleb…” She trembles, but she reaches out and steadies herself on me. “I’m so far from okay, I don’t know what to do.”

I can’t read her expression, but she seems terrified.

“Tell me,” I demand. “Let me make it better.”

She sucks in a breath, then blurts out, “My memories came back.”

And all the things I was trying to keep from her are suddenly… not so hidden.

Fuck.

Chapter 6

Margo

Past

Caleb and I were playing hide and seek, which required me to be extra quiet. I tiptoed through the house, planning on balling up under the sink in the kitchen. It would take himforeverto find me, and I’d be victorious.

We weren’t supposed to be here, though. Lydia—Mrs. Asher—had taken us to the park, but she dropped us off about an hour ago and told us to play in Caleb’s room until she got back. There were only so many things we could do in his room, and he was sick of me touching his Legos. The puzzles were built. I wasn’t allowed to play his violent video games, so that was out.

We were used to being let loose, and eventually, Caleb caved.