want you doing something dangerous that can ruin your life.” He sighed and kissed her cheek. “I want you to stay my sweet Kylie.” His lips tickled her cheek as he kept talking. “My beautiful, sweet, innocent Little Hood. My Kylie. Let Than take care of Lorelei. He’s a complicated guy, but he wants to solve this for you. He’ll get you your vengeance.”
Kylie wasn’t sure how well she would be able to follow his advice. All she could envision right now was a thousand gruesome deaths for her stepmother—all by her hand. Maybe it was just the entire day making her think as stupidly as Janie and Ryder, but she wanted everyone to pay for hurting her.
“Baby?”
She startled, looking up at him as she realized how lost in her murderous thoughts she had become.
He shook his head. “Hood, please try to think everything through. I’m really trying to be calm, too. I want to hurt everyone who’s hurt you. But it’s not going to make things better. I’m only seeing how much there is to lose now I have you. So please let us handle this.”
“You want to handle this for me?”
He shrugged. “I want to take care of you. I can only do that if I know you’re going to be there when this is all over. I promise you’ll get justice for your parents.” He looked around at the woods. “It’s getting dark. You need to go before Kevin comes.”
“I’m always out here in the dark.”
“You come to the woods at night?”
“I like the dark. It’s peaceful. This is usually how I come home from school.”
He frowned, scanning the trees. “It’s too dangerous. And it’s a long-ass way to walk from school.”
“It’s the longest way home,” she whispered.
Logan looked back at her, his dark eyes chilling her as whatever emotion he felt settled in him. “You want to stay in the dark? For as long as possible?”
She thought over his words as she looked at their surroundings. It was dark here. She never seemed to notice it before, but she realized now that she was in a very dark place—not just the woods, but inside herself, too.
Logan caressed her cheek with his thumb, and this time, she felt magic. “You don’t have to walk in the dark anymore.”
She returned her distracted gaze to him, sighing at the way his dark eyes trailed all over her face—like he couldn’t get enough of her—like he craved her, loved her. “Just walk with me.”
He cupped her cheeks like she was a delicate piece of glass. “Through the darkest nights, Hood.”
Ten
Dad
With her heart aching, she cast a final look toward the woods. It was all she needed to help bring the tears that would prove her heart had been broken, and while it was, it wasn’t because her first boyfriend used her and threw her away. This pain was longing to have her happily ever after with the man, her man-boy, who still hid in the shadows, watching her before she entered true darkness.
“Kylie?”
Whirling around, she gasped upon seeing Lorelei holding the door open. Her stepmother looked a lot different than she normally did. She looked tired—she looked guilty and desperate.
Good.
“What do you want?” Kylie couldn’t keep her hatred out of the simple question, nor could she stop herself from glaring into the eyes of who she believed was her parents’ murderer.
Lorelei’s expression didn’t change, she simply stared at the tears that still covered Kylie’s cheeks. “Why are you crying?”
“Like you care.” She scoffed and shoved her way inside, knocking Lorelei’s shoulder as she attempted to flee to her room.
“I know what you did.”
Kylie froze. How had Lorelei seen Logan?
“Why did you post those photos for the world to see?”
She nearly breathed out with relief, but her fury returned, holding her in place as she contemplated what to do.
“You never learn, do you?” Lorelei walked toward her. “And on top of this, you let him take advantage of you.”
“I never had sex with him,” she said quietly, wondering if Lorelei was talking about the supposed rape. “The recording wasn’t me.”
A sort of smile almost appeared on Lorelei’s lips. “Are you sure he didn’t force you?”
Blinding pain shot through Kylie’s head. “I’m sure.”
“Well, I suppose you’d be shouting about it if he had.” Lorelei’s words were dripping with disdain as she added, “Though I think you’d still only care about him using you to win his ex back.”
“I bet it makes you so happy, doesn’t it?” Kylie glared at her stepmother’s dispassionate