Page 5 of Fear Me Not

Blake scowls at him. “You’re not helping, Levi. She wasn’t out in the snow for that long.”

“No, but she was also in a car accident. She hit her head. She might have swelling or bleeding on the brain, and you’re acting like a fucking blanket and some warm cocoa will fix everything.”

I look between them, wishing I had something useful to add, but also wishing the two of them would just leave me alone with her. I understand Levi’s concerns, but I don’t think she’s got anything wrong with her like that. To me, she just looks like she’s in a very deep sleep.

Not that she’s going to die.

Or that she’s already dead.

If she was already dead, the hotel would know about it. We’d feel the change as another soul joined it.

“I still think we should try.” Levi continues to try to press.

Our father huffs out a breath of frustration. “And if you don’t make it? If you get her in the car and it goes off the side of the mountain, then you’ll be the one who will be responsible for her death. Her best chance is to stay warm, right here.”

As though agreeing with him, Aspen lets out a tiny moan, her pretty lips parting.

Instantly, the three of us surround her, forgetting the fight between us, all our attention focused on how she’s doing.

“Pen?” Blake says, lightly touching her cheek with the backs of his fingers. “Can you hear me, sweet girl? You’re safe now.”

I tense at that. Is she safe now? Plenty would argue she’s not, and I doubt she’d agree she is. She’d been trying to get away from us, and we brought her back.

She knows I’m a killer.

Will she be frightened of me now? Will she hate me for killing that son of a bitch who tried to rape her? The thought is like a fist around my heart, clenching tighter. I’m used to people being frightened of me. I’m used to them hating me. That’s why I prefer to stay hidden in the dark here. But I hadn’t thought she’d be one of them.

Others might have been scared of the dolls I made her, but she kept hers next to her bed, to watch over her at night, just like I’d been.

Emotion swells up inside me, and I clench my fists at my sides. I fight the urge to pummel them into the sides of my head, to punish myself for what I’ve done.

Bad, bad, bad.

I don’t want to leave Aspen when she’s so vulnerable, but perhaps now is exactly the time when I should. Can I trust my father and brother with her? They have more control over their emotions than I do.

I let out a growl, a low rumble through my chest, and give my head a shake.

I catch Levi and Blake shooting me concerned glances. I ignore them. After all, I’m not what’s important. She is.

Gritting my teeth, I stalk from the room.

4

LEVI

I watch my brother storm out of the drawing room.

He’s on the verge of losing it, and I wonder if I should go after him, try to talk him down from the ledge.

“Leave him,” our father says as though reading my thoughts.

“I don’t want him doing something stupid.”

“Since when have either of us been able to prevent Dov doing something stupid?” Blake glances at Aspen. “I think that ship has already sailed.”

He’s talking about Dov killing Tobias.

“If Dov hadn’t done it,” I say, “I would have. The son of a bitch is dead, but every time I think of him trying to stick his cock inside her, while she begged him to stop, I want to kill him all over again.”