Page 67 of Unlocking Ruin

“What will you do with me after this is finished and I’m safe again?” I ask. I reach down and pick up the spoon, fidgeting with it as if it were a stress ball.

“You’ll never be safe from my desires; therefore, I need to keep you close.”

I roll my eyes.

“You think I’m joking.”

“No,” I say, letting out a dark sound akin to a laugh. “I think you’re serious, but there are likely a slew of women you’ve stalked. Where are they now, Steffen? Six feet under, in lifelong therapy, endlessly dating; trying to find a replacement for your cock?”

A smirk plays on his lips. “One name is on my list, and I’m looking at her.”

“Lucky me,” I articulate.

“You thought highly of your luck when my tongue was licking you.”

“Stop.” Chills run down my spine. “Don’t lie. Tell me!”

“The truth? I haven’t slept with a woman since I first saw you.”

I blink rapidly. “But you said that was years ago, when I first started college.”

With a shrug, he lifts one shoulder.

“Liar.”

“I prefer to call it patient.”

“Are you serious?”

He seizes the milk jug, catching my gaze with such a soft, gentle expression in his baby blues that my heart stutters. “Ask me questions,” he repeats. “Personal questions, Rylan.”

My eyes rake over his body. Was he really celibate for years?

He begins to pour the milk into the bowl; if I weren’t so dumbfounded, I’d make fun of him for pouring it before he put the cereal in.

“I’ve hooked up with people,” I blurt out.

Milk spills as his hand flinches. “Don’t remind me.”

“Why didn’t you stop me? Come out of the shadows?” I ask.

Just then the air conditioning clicks on, and a wave of cold wind flows out of the vent. The sensation makes me feel a little nauseous and dizzy.

“Who says I didn’t stop them? Did you ever fuck them twice?” He answers with no flicker of remorse.

Grabbing the napkin, he tosses it over the spill. Did he kill so easily, just wipe people away like he did the milk?

My heart sputters. Now that I think about it, I’ve always had one-night stands.

“Rylan, why must you think so little of me? No, I didn’t kill them. I’m not the monster.”

“What did you do?” My hand curls tightly around the spoon.

“I protected you.”

“Protected?”

“Yes. Those limp-dick assholes could never give your sweet pussy what it needs. I was protecting her from their feeble attempts to make her soaking wet.”