To make myself feel better. I’ve tried ending things for his sake, and I always end up fucking it up. I tell myself it’s gonna be a clean break, but then I look in those big brown eyes, and I say just enough to leave a sliver of possibility in his mind. Something to cling to, even though I have no fucking idea why he still cares. I wish I could say I trust myself to go in there and do it right this time, but I don’t. So I’m asking you.”
“I see,” Andrew said thoughtfully.
“You can say it. I know you’re thinking it.”
“And what am I thinking?”
“That I’m a coward.”
“I did think that,” Andrew said without hesitation. “All the in-between, wavering between telling him the truth and leaving him just in the dark enough to be in danger. For once, I’m actually starting to understand.”
“Understand what?”
“Why he loves you.”
Before Colt could respond, Andrew added, “I’ll take care of him. I can’t protect him from your kind, but I can protect him from finding out the truth.”
Colt nodded. “I’ll take care of the rest.”
“I believe you mean that. Let’s just hope you have what it takes to follow through.”
You and me both, thought Colt.
“What about Stephanie?” Andrew asked. “She’s still in the warehouse?”
“Yes. Roland has been keeping watch.”
“And you trust him?”
“I trust him to be honest, and I trust he’s not going to do anything to put his family in danger, so yeah. I trust him that far.”
“I suppose that’s as much as you can ask from a ghoul,” Andrew said bitterly. His gaze hardened. “You walk out that door and it’s over. You realize that, right? No changing your mind. No backing out and putting him back in danger. Either you come clean about everything right now, or you leave. Anything else, any attempt at backsliding, and I will tell him everything.”
“I’m not changing my mind,” Colt said, looking him up and down. “Friendly word of advice, Andrew--don’t threaten a ghoul. It never ends well.”
The other man smirked. “Now that sounds like a threat in itself.”
“Not a threat,” said Colt. “Just a reminder that I’m not the only kind of monster that’s out there.”
“No,” Andrew said in a somber tone. “You’re certainly not.”
Colt turned to leave before he really could go back. He didn’t want to think he was that weak, but when it came to Jason, his heart always had been a wild card. The only way he was going to be able to do this was by cutting him off completely. Making Jason hate him the way he would if he knew the full truth.
It was only fair. Their relationship was already based on a lie, and it seemed a fitting punishment that the end of it should be as well.
Chapter 26
Colt
As Colt walked into the warehouse, he couldn’t help but feel disgusted with himself. He could justify it, and he didn’t regret the decision he’d made to get Jason back, but he was still a kidnapper. He was a kidnapper, a murderer, and so many other things he’d promised himself he would never be when he first awakened.
Not that there was any going back now. She knew too much, and he knew what he had to do, but the fact that his victim was a monster like him didn’t make it any easier.
He unlocked the padlock outside the unit and double checked to make sure he was alone before going in. Roland had cameras set up all over the place and patrolled regularly, so Colt was sure he’d been noticed, but when he rolled up the interior door and found the space empty, all his guilt turned to dread.
“What the fuck?”
“Looking for something?”
Evelyn’s voice made his blood run cold. He turned around to find her leaning in the doorway, wearing a sleek black dress that hugged every curve. The woman was a walking snare, and the human men who’d fallen prey to her before the new laws went into effect had never stood a chance.
Colt might have found her attractive, if he could look at her face without thinking about how it was the last thing Chuck had ever seen.
At the moment, her appearance was unnerving for a different reason.
“Where is she?” he growled.
“Stephanie West?” she asked innocently. “The daughter of the Council member you sacrificed to your little changeling friend?”
Colt stared at her in disbelief as she slinked into the room like a cat.
“Oh, wipe that dopey look off your face, it doesn’t suit you,”