Page 30 of Madness & Mayhem

He nods. “Luckily my father pulled his fucking strings and I only got eighteen months.”

Eighteen months.

So he was gone a year and a half. Maybe a little more, maybe a little less.

But he still didn’t come back. For over a year.

“If you left to protect me, but you got out of prison over a year ago. Why didn’t you come back once the guy was taken care of? The guy was gone. There was no reason for you to stay away.”

He watches me, saying nothing. He looks so relaxed and powerful as he lays there, his legs slightly spread on the beanbag, his arms relaxed over the sides. He’s full of blood, his hair a mess, his dark clothes rumpled and bloodied.

My insides grow warm, my fingers brushing against the wooden floor as I stare at him.

Brush, brush.

Brush, brush.

I wait for the moment my fingers catch a sliver, but the moment never comes. I almost want it, so it can take away the unease and worry in my chest.

Give me pain in my limbs and relieve it in my heart.

“There was no need for me to come back, Lakyn.”

I exhale a shaky breath, staring at him.

Me. I was the reason.

He shakes his head, as if he can read my thoughts. “Coming back was never part of the plan, Lakyn. I was never planning to come back to Hellcrest Heights. Not ever.”

“You didn’t want to come back? For me?” I whisper.

His eyes darken. “I stayed away for you, Lakyn. After you kill someone, you become a different person. A darker person. I didn’t want to infect you.” He takes a deep breath. “You were better off without me.”

My heart gallops, speeding toward the edge of the cliff. I’m ready to jump off. Ready to meet my fate because I know it would be less painful than listening to Reign rip my heart apart with his bare hands.

“Why did you come back then, huh?” I ask him, unwanted tears springing to my eyes. “If you never planned to come back, why did you? Why become a serial murderer? Why come after me?”

His jaw clenches, his gaze turning cold. It drops the temperature in the room, and I feel frigid from my skin to my veins.

“My father called me, and he had another job for me to do.”

My brow furrows. “Why would you continue listening to him? Helping him? He put you in jail, essentially.”

He shrugs. “Because my father is as fucked up as I am, and one day, he will die and I will take everything he’s ever built.”

I let out a shaky breath, knowing Reign is dark on the inside, but never knowing how abysmal he really is. “Tell me, Reign. I can handle it.”

His head tilts slightly. “I can assure you, Lakyn, you cannot.”

I bite the inside of my cheek, so hard I can feel the skin split, a puncture straight through the skin until the fresh tangy blood reaches my tongue. “Why did you want to hurt me?”

A wave of darkness crackles through his sight. “Because you were fucking Zane.”

My mouth pops open. “How would you know that before you even came home?”

His head rocks from side to side. “Does that matter?”

I lean forward, my nails pressing against the wooden planks. “Of course, it fucking matters! Why would you come home because I slept—very briefly, by the way—with some random stranger from school a couple times.”