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"Get out of here," she whispered "If I ever see you again, I will kill you Then draft so I can do it again"

But his sreider "Not without you Coht Jack would fill her up, infuse her with feelings of warth She couldn’t move when he pushed hiot closer, and she backed up a step, but only a step Eyes closed, she felt the wind off the bay shift her hair when he tucked it behind her ear He was real She hadn’t killed hiht," he whispered as he leaned in, kissing her so softly it sent a shiver through her "You reh Remember the hotel? The last time we made love?"

Her shoulders eased as his arht He smelled of his aftershave, and she knew exactly how his stubble would feel Her rising hand shook, and her chest clenched when she touched his jaw He was houilt, the sha, and he held it all, a return to when she was strong

"I gave you everything, treated you like the deadly princess you are," he whispered, his fingers easing her tension away as they ran under her ear to the base of her neck, re her body of the feel of him "You’ll never find that fro back Everything You won’t need talis of being cared for, loved It would be so easy

Stop! a tiny part of her screa under the wave of content So tired …

"Peri!" a distant voice called, and Jack stiffened

"Son of a bitch," heto look

Peri’s heart pounded as guilt and self-loathing poured over her, ? Silas He was running, but so far away

"Babe?"

Peri’s resolve to leave him returned in a cold wash of reality "I can’t do this"

His hand ran across her cheekbone, slipping down to hold her shoulder "I know," he whispered, and then she gasped when the gun in his hand went off, the slug thuasped, her fall arrested by Jack as he held her to him Her chest exploded into pain, and she couldn’t breathe as he eased her down She blinked, looking at the gun in his hand and seeing the smoke drift idly fro her name, but she couldn’t look away from Jack "You shother to the cold pavement like a lover His eyes were trained on her, and she saw not the cold calculation of aheartache "It will be our secret, okay? I’ll just tell Bill you said yes and that you got shot by accident afterward"

"Why?" she said, staring at the sky "Why!"