Experiment in Terror 06 Into the Hollow Read Online Free Page A

until you get on your feet. It can be a place for you to stay in the interim. Or longer, you know, if you wanted to.”
    I looked away from him, my eyes widening, heartrate speeding up. This was all kinds of right and wrong. Especially wrong. So much wrong.
    “Perry?”
    I shook my head and struggled for words. “I don’t know what to say.”
    “Saying yes would be a start.”
    “I need to think about this…”
    “Please, don’t think long.” His voice had dropped another register and was laced with a kind of urgency that made my skin feel tight.
    He reached over and grabbed my hand and I let him. I looked down at it, at his long, strong fingers wrapping around mine, feeling like his hand was different in some way. But that was crazy. It wasn’t. He was still cocky, self-assured Dex…asking me something I never, ever dreamed possible.
    I knew my choices but I didn’t have to like them. If I went with Dex, I knew I’d be safe. But would my heart? How could I ever trust him again? How could I think that living with him, even as his roommate, even for a short while, wouldn’t be emotionally damaging in some way? After everything that had happened to me, I was sick of my heart being stomped on and would do whatever I could to prevent that situation from happening again.
    But then there was Maximus. He was less messy for my emotional well-being. But let’s face it, it’s not like there was nothing between us. I had sex with the man. Several times. And no, I wasn’t really in my right mind when I did it, but it still happened. It still made things awkward. It still put another well-hung elephant in the room. Not to mention that I didn’t really trust Maximus. Sure he bailed out Dex, but that only made me question why? At times he seemed to be my greatest supporter yet he could rat me out to my parents in a heartbeat. I just didn’t know where I stood – with either of them.
    Dex squeezed my hand hard, bringing me back to earth.
    “Don’t you dare move in with Maximus,” he warned, his eyes shining dangerously.
    “What?” I exclaimed. Could he hear me thinking? “Why did you say that?”
    “Because that’s your only other option, unless you have a million bucks hidden in your barista tip-jar.”
    “I could go with Rebecca,” I told him, not knowing if that would work either.
    He shook his head. “She and Em are having some problems. Otherwise I’d suggest it.”
    I narrowed my eyes thoughtfully. “Would you really?”
    He sighed and let go of my hand. “Look, I know things are kind of awkward right now.”
    I scoffed.
    “OK, fine, really fucking awkward. I know that. And I know we have a lot to talk about-”
    “We have nothing to talk about,” I shot in.
    His nostrils flared and he was trying hard to compose himself. “Fine. I guess we have nothing to talk about either. But for one second can you just accept the fact that despite what has happened between us, I still care about you. More than you’d probably want me to care about you. And that I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure you’re going to be OK. I know I failed many times before…but you just have to believe me when I tell you I’m going to do everything I can now to make things right.”
    I studied him carefully, trying to ignore the sincerity in his words. He was buzzing with a sort of energy that I associated with our sexual encounters. I didn’t know what it was, there was nothing really sexual about what he was saying or the way he was acting toward me. But it was there all the same. It was a buzzing, vibrant aura that represented sex and power and something else I couldn’t put my finger on.
    “There’s something different about you,” I said, squinting at him.
    If he seemed annoyed at my avoidance of the topic, he didn’t show it.
    “There’s something different about you,” he replied. “But you’re a woman and you change every five minutes.”
    I frowned. “Is that it?”
    He returned the look.