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“I don’t need it,” I cut him off, feeling my wide eyes and the way my heart stutters in my chest. “I don’t…want that.”

“Okay.” Jed looks down, then back up at me. “So you meant what you said, then? That you want me to convince you, instead of taking something he’d give you?”

Shit.Of course this is where we are, and my words have trapped me in this predicament better than any handcuffs ever could. Why hadn’t I been able to keep my mouth shut when Wren had been talking before?

Why had I said that? I could’ve said…literally anything but that, honestly.

“Can you?” my treacherous mouth asks, eyes flicking up to his blue ones.

“Can I what?” Jed tilts his head to the side, his hands at his side.

“Convince me?”

Chapter

Thirteen

He’s too close. Especially in the silence, Jed is too close for me to do anything except stare into his blue eyes and take one deep, almost-shuddering breath after another. Why had I said that? Why had I saidanyof that to Wren?

Because now that he’s gone, it’s like the buffer is gone from between us. I can’t do anything but look at him; focus onJed.When Wren was here, at least, he had some of Jed’s attention on him, so the chainsaw-killer couldn’t look at me like this and make me feel…

Well, I definitely don’t like thinking about how this makes me feel.

“You’ve obviously done a pretty good job of it already,” I point out, glancing down at the scant amount of space between us and taking a breath. “You told me why you did it, and Wren seems believable.” But neither of those things is why I feel less than terrified when I’m standing here with him so close, and I’m worried I’m not the only one who knows it.

At the very least, he doesn’t call me out on the not-quite-honesty of what I’d said. Instead, I see his hand move, his fingers twitching closer to me like he wants to touch some part of mebefore he aborts the movement and jams that hand into his pocket. The other still hangs at his side, and I wonder what he’s thinking.

As always, Jed is inscrutable. I couldn’t even fathom what goes on behind those eyes. I wouldn’t even know where to start. Especially when I look up from his hands and find him still looking at me. Gaze calculating and unsure. He doesn’t look as afraid of me running away as he had, at least. He looks at me less like a terrified deer and more like a person.

But I don’t know if that’s good or bad for me. My teeth sink into my bottom lip as I look right back into those blue eyes, and I can’t help self-consciously tucking a stray lock of hair behind my ear. He follows the movement, like he can’t help it, and his other hand comes up just enough for me to know he wants to do it himself.

“I’ll do anything to convince you that I’d never hurt you,” Jed murmurs, breaking the silence between us.

“Would you, if I were someone else?” I can’t help but ask, but now that the words are out, the question is one that I need answered. If I weren’t me. If he wasn’t attracted to me for some reason I definitely can’t fathom, would he still be so careful and be so adamant about not hurting me?

“Would I…?” His brows furrow and he glances down, then back up to my face. “Would Iwhat,if you were someone else?”

“Would you have hurt me? Would you have killed me, too?”

“No.” The answer is immediate, and followed by a shake of his head. Then, unexpectedly, his expression turns sheepish. He turns away from me, glancing at the floor as he continues. “But I…would’ve handled things differently.”

“How?” I’m already in this far. I definitely need to know what ‘differently’means.

A tiny, rueful smile hitches at his lips as his eyes dart back up to mine. And even that is enough to send butterflies intoflight between my ribs. Just a look from him shouldn’t do it, and my fingers tighten on the sofa’s cushioned back behind me. Yet again, I wonder how it’s fair for a serial killer to look and act like him, when he seems to be anything but.

“I would’ve called Wren and told him to come over before you were awake. He would’ve done the convincing. Made offers, whatever. Instead of me trying to convince you and being honest about what had happened.” He tilts his head as he speaks, and yet again I wish I could tell what he was thinking.

“Then…why do it differently with me?” This time I know the answer. At least somewhat. He likes something about me, though it can’t be any of the things I see when I look in the mirror. Maybe it’s my winning personality and penchant for dad jokes.

Maybe he needs new headshots.

This time he tilts his chin forward, eyes sharpening as they stay on mine. “You’re really asking?” He seems somewhat surprised, if I’m reading him even close to right. Especially when his brows climb toward his hair that’s still as tousled as it had been when he’d messed with it earlier. A big part of me wants to reach up to run my fingers through it, so I tighten my grip even harder on the sofa to remind myself that is not an option.

“I’m really asking,” I reply, quieter than I mean to be. My heart pounds in my chest as he just…looksat me. And from the corner of my eye I see his hand leave his pocket, fingers curling into his palm. “Will you really tell me?”

“If you need to hear it.” His voice is suddenly lower, rougher, and my stomach jolts as I realize I might have gotten myself into something that I’m not so ready for. “Though I figured Wren was pretty clear when he was here.” I think back to Wren’s words. About his surprise at Jed cooking for me, and suddenly I can’t meet Jed’s gaze. I look anywhere but at him, which is difficult when he’s this close to me.

“I’m not a very good roommate,” I mutter, trying to relieve some of the tension of the situation. I can feel my heart beating in my throat, just as intent on this conversation as the rest of me. Every single inch of my body feels like it’s on alert, and I feel like I’m stuck in limbo, waiting for whatever he’s going to say or do. “I took your bed.”