Chapter 11

CHAPTER 11

ETHAN

I must be a genius or maybe just a highly effective predator. How did Kayla miss it? She's beautiful and elegant but perhaps not as smart as me. Or maybe she's too close to it? Whatever the case, I saw it, and I followed my hunch. Throughout dinner, the friend, Maci, was sneaking looks at Lukas, and Lukas was trying too hard not to look at Maci.

It was like he was making a point of it. It would've been less suspicious if he'd looked at her and talked to her occasionally. His behavior just made it more obvious.

Kayla walks with me to the main gate. When the security lights flicker on, I think she looks magnificent. I find myself, for a second, wondering if I could somehow make this work, but I've gone too far already. She'd never forgive me. I've got to see this through.

Brushing the hair from her face, I lean forward, then stop myself with a heavy sigh. I'm letting her know that everything in me wants to kiss her, but, like the respectful SOB that I apparently am… "I can't kiss you in view of the house. That's the sort of line an honest man knows not to cross."

This lights her up. Guilt cuts into me. Instead of an ember, it's a sharp blade. It slices up my middle. For some reason, I hear the crash of glass shatter against the wall. I'm trying to be tough inside, cruel in my mind, and tell myself I'm a predator. Talk about Kayla like she doesn't matter. A good lay . Stuff like that. Hack my brain into hating her. I'm a sociopath, I tell myself—a psycho. I've got no feelings.

"I'll see you soon?" she murmurs.

"Yeah," I say, turning away, hoping I don't have to see her again.

If my plan works, maybe I can get rid of them and find a new path in life. I've never had much time to think about what a person like me would do. I've had a series of dead-end jobs after dropping out of high school, reading as much as possible, and trying to improve. Maybe, just maybe, I can have something new, something better.

Or have I already crossed too many lines? Am I too much of a monster?