“I mean, you made it sound nice. I’d agree to live a lot of places that weren’t that crappy apartment or the trailer park. Both of which I couldn’t go outside of unless we were sneaking around.”
Xanny’s face falls. She stares at me for a long moment. “You have Stockholm syndrome,” she says like the revelation just hit her. “I really have to get you out of here.”
I take a step back from her.
“Zoey.” Her brows pull together.
“If you try to force me to leave, I’ll fight you.”
Her eyes widen, hurt ghosting across them before she tamps it down. “Do you hear yourself right now?”
“Do you ever hear me? Or listen to me?”
“Think about it, Zoey. You’re freaked out because I haven’t come home. You know some creep has been stalking me, so I’m sure your mind is going crazy with what might have happened to me. So you go to that club. Not only do you watch someone die, you almost die yourself. Then this handsome man—”
“Watch it,” I growl, sounding a bit like Bentley. She rolls her eyes.
“This man saves you. You get back to our place, and it’s trashed, but you manage to find Bentley, and Leone brings you back here.” She waves her hands toward the house. “Where he spoils you and the furry devil.”
An image of Bentley wearing devil horns for Halloween pops into my head. That would be adorable. I could be the angel. Leone could be the grim reaper.
“All that sounds great.” I thought she was trying to talk me into leaving. Now she’s giving me a list of reasons as to why I should stay. I suppose it’s not a great time to suggest Xanny be a ghost.
“All that sounds like one of your books you love so much. The ones you always gush to me about and say one day you’ll find your hero. It’s not real, Zoey. He’s not a hero. Sure, he saved you, but he’s one of the bad guys.”
“I don’t know what you want me to do, Xanny. We’re at a crossroads here. What would prove to you that I really want to be here?”
“Come with me.” She holds her hand up when I start to say no instantly. “For a month. You and me. The trip we could never have but now we can.”
“I don’t know.”
“Two weeks,” she tries again. I feel terrible that I don’t want to go. At least not without Leone.
“You’ll just leave Lenny?” I point behind me where I know he’s lurking somewhere.
“He’s over there.” Xanny points in another direction. “And what does that even mean?”
“You know what it means.”
“Not a clue.” She makes her face have the most bored expression. I’m not buying it. I might not know how to read people, and I might be a touch gullible and naïve like she thinks, but I can read her.
That’s why I take a step back from her. She might have had a hurt expression on her face, but we both know she’s thought about kidnapping me herself. Which is a crazy idea that could get her hurt. Leone would come for me and would never stop until he found me. I don’t think he’d hurt her out of love for me, but something could go wrong. She could even end up hurting him, and then I’d have to hurt her because she instigated it. No, I would like to choose the “nobody gets hurt” option.
“I’m not willing to risk going out beyond the gates of my home with this psycho still hunting us. I know you said he won’t find us, but I can’t be too sure. I’d love to spend time with you on a beach.”
“So if he’s out of the picture you’d go?”
“Ahh, yeah.” I nod.
“Without Leone?”
“No.”
“Ahhh!” She throws her hands in the air.
“I know who Leone is, Xanny. That he lives in the gray area of life. Same as you,” I point out. She’s no angel, so I’m not sure why she’s being so judgmental. “I even think if I asked him if we could leave here and all of us go live on this beach, he’d do it. Because he loves me and all my weird quirks. You said it yourself. He’s handsome and rich. He could have anyone, but he wants me. He’s obsessed with me!” Now I throw my hands up in the air.
“I’m not going to win this one with you.”