Page 108 of Twisted Little Game

The world is still moving around me in slow motion.

I realize with complete certainty that I’m with someone who is unlike anyone I’ve ever met before.

I don’t even know if I can say I’m falling for him, now.

I already fell.

I thought I knew badass people at my last school. Guys who acted tough. Had a few tattoos, maybe came from bad parts of the city.

They were nothing like Roman Petrov.

There is a depth of feeling inside him that I’ve never known in anyone else. He’s like an iceberg, and everything beneath is laced in just as much beauty as tragedy.

His face was nothing but pure, cold calculation as he moved through the property, holding his gun in front of him in a controlled way like he was in a fucking movie. And even now as he does one last loop around the house with Rayne and Hunter, I can’t take my eyes off of him.

The muscles of his back and torso tense up as he rounds each corner carefully, and I watch the ink on his skin shift as he moves.

Or maybe it’s that I can’t fucking handle what I’m feeling right now.

Would Roman truly kill someone for me?

I know he’s done it before.

Know he’s capable of it.

But I don’t want him to have to do it. I don’t know how to merge that version of Roman with the incredible, tender man who just kissed the tears from my cheeks, right in front of his friends.

I stay close to him as he and the other guys do a final search around the outside of the house, scouring the backyard, the sides, and the front gardens.

There’s no trace of anything suspicious.

Back inside, Roman grabs a laptop from the front room and brings it onto one of the long, dark red couches beside the fireplace.

When I sit down, I feel like I’m watching all of this from somewhere outside my body.

I stare blankly at the laptop as it comes to life, the black screen turning blue, then starting the system. Roman’s hand lands at the small of my back, and he keeps it there.

Rayne and Hunter are on the other nearby sofa, talking to each other quietly. Roman’s hand slides over my lower back until he’s wrapping his arm around my waist, pulling me closer toward him on the cushion.

“You’re shaking again,” he says in a low tone.

“Yeah. Sorry. I’m not even that scared, I just I can’t stop⁠—”

I exhale, finally looking away from the laptop screen to meet his eyes. I lean over, resting my head on his shoulder when the room starts to feel like it’s spinning.

What does he feel, when he looks at me now? Is he aware that I’m falling in fucking deep?

We look at the camera footage over and over for the next half an hour.

Rayne and Hunter come over and huddle by us, watching the replay. In the video, the guy comes to the front door. He’s wearing glasses. He smiles at Rayne, then just waves, walking off down the street.

He looks completely innocent.

Roman searches through footage from the rest of the day, trying and failing to see any other instance of this guy on camera.

Eventually, Weston and Sev saunter over too and ask what we’re looking at. Hunter gives them a short version of the story.

“I think I’ve seen that guy,” Weston says, leaning over and squinting at the laptop. “Yeah. Definitely. He’s in my biology lab class this semester. Really fucking nice guy.”