Came Back Haunted (Experiment in Terror #10) - Karina Halle Page 0,7

glimpse of the black, fathomless void beyond. The same pull I got earlier is back, tugging at me, like all my molecules are loose inside me, being vacuumed into the abyss.

“No,” I say quickly, turning around so my back is to him and the house. My fists are balled up, nails digging into my palms, sweat mixing with my wet hair at the base of my neck. “It was just in my head. There was no one there.”

“You sure about that?”

I nod but I don’t turn around. I don’t dare turn around. I feel Atlas’ eyes burning into my back as I go down the steps and to the curb where Putt-Putt is resting. I grab my helmet and slip it on, just as another text from Dex beeps in my pocket. I’m mad as hell at him for talking to Atlas behind my back, but right now I just want to get home where I feel safe.

I get on my bike and ride off down the street. It takes all my willpower not to look over my shoulder at the house. It takes a bit before I feel the darkness at my back weaken.

It’s not far of a ride to the apartment, but even though the rain has stopped, I’m so cold I’m shaking. I park the bike in the garage underneath the building and then I’m in the elevator, trying to get my emotions under control. I take a deep breath, trying to expand my chest like my spin instructor tells me to do all the time.

I’m almost at the door when it flings open and Dex is staring at me, wide-eyed, worried, and breathless.

“Where the fuck have you been?!”

I just raise my hand to shut him up and slip past him into the apartment. “I took a detour.”

He shuts the door behind us and looks me over, shaking his head. “Look at you. You’re soaked. Why didn’t you wait for me to pick you up? I texted you.”

“I know,” I tell him, peeling off the leather jacket which is sticking to my gray sweater underneath. Ugh, so uncomfortable. “I didn’t get your text until I was almost home.”

He takes the jacket from me and hangs it up, then grabs my hands, holding them as his eyes search the corners of my face. “Are you okay?” He pauses. “For a moment I thought you really did run off with her.”

I can’t help but roll my eyes. Every single time I come back from seeing Dr. Leivo, he asks if I’m about to divorce him and run off with my hot psychologist.

It’s then that I remember I’m kind of mad at him.

I take my hands out of his and gather my wet hair behind me, quickly putting it in a loose braid. “Why didn’t you tell me that you’ve been in contact with Atlas Poe?”

Dex is pretty good at lying when he’s had time to prepare for it. When I first met him, I felt like I was just unearthing lie after carefully crafted lie. But when he’s caught on the spot, I can see through him pretty well.

He stares at me, the dark brown of his irises glinting in surprise. His mouth opens for a moment before the words come out. “How did you know?”

“I’ll tell you how I know once you tell me why you kept that from me.”

He nods and slowly runs his hand over the thick stubble on his jaw, a beard-in-progress. “Because I didn’t have an answer for him. I wanted to talk to you about it.”

“Talk about what exactly?”

I walk over to the couch where Fat Rabbit is having his afternoon snooze, and sit down, unlacing my combat boots. I glance up at Dex, who is still standing by the door, his brain working overtime. For fuck’s sake, if I wanted to I could try and get the answers from him. I’d just rather not.

As if he heard me, he walks over to me and crouches down, his fingers wrapping over mine, pushing them aside. He starts to unlace my boots for me.

“I told you I wanted us to go back, right?” he says, glancing up at me, his dark brows set low. “With the camera. You agreed to it. Said it didn’t feel right taking the money for what little we did. So obviously I got in touch with him through Harry.”

“Uh huh. And then?”

He finishes one boot and then pulls it off my foot before starting on the next. “And then