“Uh…am I just talking to myself here?”
“Actually, you’re talking to me, the psycho,” Lorelei answered with a grin.
Silence filled the space and I scratched the back of my neck, feeling extremely uncomfortable.
“So, tell me why you needed to call and get him out of here?” Lorelei asked.
“What?” Robert chuckled. “That’s not—I didn’t do that.”
“Is your leg broken?”
He laughed slightly. “Oh, that? No, you’ve got it all wrong. That’s just something we do to each other from time to time. Like a prank.”
“Uh-huh. And the whole getting away from the hottie thing?”
“Well…he…didn’t want to be around you anymore…because you’re too hot.”
She nodded as she scrolled through my phone. “So, he sent you an SOS?”
“Andrew, if you’re actually fucking there, now would be a good time for you to step in and say something,” Robert said irritatedly.
“Yes, Andrew, why don’t you tell me why five minutes ago you were ready to maul me and now you can’t wait to get away from me?”
“Yeah, I think I’m gonna let you handle this one,” Robert said.
“No, wait!” I shouted, but he had already hung up. I sighed and hung my head, but not for long. I felt her hand on my arm and flinched away, afraid she was working her way to my neck. I knew from a little research that I had done that it took approximately one thousand pounds of torque to break someone’s neck in a hanging. Now, I wasn’t exactly sure how that translated to person to person neck-breaking, but it sounded scary as fuck. I’d seen her wield an axe. It was possible. Then again, if she wasn’t strong enough, she could just fracture my neck. I might end up as a vegetable for the rest of my life, never being able to talk or move, but knowing what was going on around me.
Was that right? I think I had that wrong. If you were in a vegetative state, there probably wasn’t any brain activity, so then, not only would I not be able to speak or move, but I wouldn’t be able to think. I’d just be laying there. Until someone decided to pull the plug, that is. But knowing my family, they would wait it out, sure that I would pull out some miracle. Hell, we waited for seven years, sure that Josh would return at any moment. And he did! And that’s what they would expect of me. Christ, I was screwed.
“So, are you going to tell me what that was about?” Lorelei asked, dragging me out of my thoughts.
“Uh…”
She sighed and flopped down on the couch. “You’re getting cold feet, aren’t you?”
“Yes! Good!” I practically shouted, glad she gave me an out. When her face turned down, I realized that sounded just a tad too enthusiastic. “Uh…I mean, I’m glad that you get it. I was freaking out big time and…look, I just need some time.” To figure out how to handle the fact that I now know you’re a killer.
“I figured this might happen. I’ve never connected with someone like this before.”
“Even your husband,” I said, trying to prove a point.
She shook her head, swiping at a very visible tear that fell from her eye. “Not even then. I’m sorry, I’m not trying to make you uncomfortable, but it’s been a long time since I’ve had this with someone. It’s just taken me by surprise.”
That’s because you kill everyone before you have the chance to have a connection.
“Look, I just need a few days to wrap my head around this.”
She smiled slightly and nodded. “Well, then this comes at a good time. I have to go home for a few days. That should give us both some time to figure out what we want.”
I took her hand, even though I was fucking terrified. “When are you leaving?”
“Tomorrow morning.”
“Then I’ll see you when you get back.”
She leaned in to kiss me, but I quickly stood, grabbing my shoes and socks. I didn’t even bother to put them on as I headed toward the door. I just slid them on at the door and turned to her with a quick wave. I was gonna miss those legs, and those eyes, and pretty much every other part of her body. But if it came down to seeing that body one last time or having a life, I’d choose life. Especially now that I heard from her own mouth that she was a killer.
As I drove home from Lorelei’s, I smacked myself in the head. I was so fucking stupid. Look at her hometown…that’s what had been suggested to me weeks ago. Why hadn’t I done that? Oh, yeah. Because I was too busy thinking about getting my dick wet.
I pulled up to the curb outside the tattoo shop and darted up to my apartment. I flung the door open, ignoring Sofia as she asked me if I wanted dinner. I slammed the door to my bedroom, pulling out my investigative reports that I had created and then grabbed my laptop. I searched through everything Barty had given me about the town, but I didn’t find anything, other than the fact that the town was dirt poor.
The catalyst to everything seemed to stem from around the time her mother died. I looked into everything that was happening in the area at the time, and the only thing I came up with was that the mine had shut down. That was the main source of employment for the area. It made sense. Soon after, the town started to die off, and people looked elsewhere for work. But how did her mother’s death fit into all of that? Had her father already become abusive?
Frustrated with finding no answers, I sat back on my bed and tried to find out what the common denominator was. The father was an abusive drunk. The mother had been killed by Lorelei.
