Dead Pretty - Samantha Towle Page 0,70

is nothing in them to tell me anything. Not a hint of emotion.

Just blank. Empty.

Kind of like both of our souls.

“Where did you get this?”

“Your wallet.”

“That’s not possible. I never put this—”

“I don’t care!” I yell. “What I care about is how you know Tobias Ripley! Why you’re in a photograph with him and his mother!”

The silence that ensues is heavy. Like a weighted blanket covering my body. But there is no comfort with this. Just the feeling of entrapment and suffocation.

Jack drags a hand through his hair.

He can’t seem to look at me. It’s telling because Jack usually can’t keep his eyes off me.

“I am going to ask one last time. How. Do. You. Know. Tobias. Ripley?”

Finally, those eyes I believed I loved look into mine.

“I know Tobias because he’s my … brother.”

In my life, I have been hit, tied up, and held against my will. Had my skin cut open with a knife.

And none of those compare to the pain that I’m feeling right now.

Tobias is Jack’s brother.

I am gutted.

Like my stomach has been cut wide open with a blunt knife and my insides are spilling out all over the floor.

I wrap my arms around my stomach, trying to hold the hurt in. I’m afraid if I let go, it will start pouring out and never stop.

I always thought it would be Tobias who finally finished me off.

Turns out, it’s the brother who will do me in.

With an invisible blade.

“He’s your brother?” I don’t know how I manage to speak in this moment.

“Yes.”

The room tilts. The floor I’m standing on giving way beneath my feet.

I catch hold of the door to keep myself up.

Jack starts coming over to me.

“Don’t come near me!” I cry, putting a hand up between us.

He halts in his tracks, not coming any closer.

I press the heel of the hand not currently holding me up to my forehead, trying to gather my racing thoughts.

Lies. It was all lies. Every touch. Every word he said.

Everything was a goddamn lie. And I fell for it, like the idiot I am.

I just went in blindly. Trustingly. Letting my feelings for him lead me. I stopped listening to my own rules.

I deserve everything that is happening to me right now.

I stare across the room at him. “Ho-how … wh-why …” I don’t even know what I’m asking. What I actually want answers to.

Does it really matter?

No.

He’s Tobias’s brother, and that is all I need to know.

Which means, I need to get out of here. Away from him.

My keys to my apartment are in my bag. As are my rape alarm and mace.

Which is on the floor, next to the sofa. Behind where Jack is standing.

Fuck.

“Are you going to hurt me?”

He looks stunned. Like I’m the one who just dropped the mother of all bombs in here. “Of course not. No. I never could. Audrey—”

“I’m leaving,” I cut him off before he can say any more. “I am going to walk past you and get my bag. And then I’m leaving.”

“No. Audrey, please. We need to talk about this—”

“No!” A burst of anger flies out of me. “What I need to do is get far away from you.”

“You have to let me explain.”

“I don’t need to do a single thing! Except for get out of here.”

Jack stares at me for what feels like forever.

I can see guilt in his eyes. But that guilt means nothing.

Nothing.

Because I know he would do it to me all over again. Use me again like he has been doing.

He is only feeling guilty because he got caught.

Jesus. How long would he have kept lying to me? Sleeping with me?

I feel sick.

Jack turns away from me and picks up my bag from the floor.

I watch his every move, ready to attack or flee, whichever becomes necessary.

He takes a couple of steps toward me. I tense up.

Then, he stretches his arm out, holding my bag out to me.

I swallow hard. Forcing my feet to move, I quickly step forward, getting only as close to him as necessary. The man I could never seem to get close enough to, and now, I want to be as far away from him as humanly possible.

Reaching out, I snatch my bag from him and clutch it to my chest.

“Audrey, we have to talk. This isn’t right. That picture—”

“Stop talking!” I cry.

I can feel my eyes filling with his betrayal.

Heart pounding, I turn away from him, refusing to let him see my tears.

I’ve already opened the door, and I’m walking through