A Love So Deadly Read Online Free PDF Page A

back pocket a moment later and glance back to tell Gabe, but he’s already across the room at the attic stairs.
    “I’m going to find bleach and something for you to wear. We’ll have to burn your tee shirt along with the rest of it. It got blood on it while you were fighting Pitt.”
    I glance down, blinking in surprise. “I forgot I was naked.”
    “You’re probably in shock,” Gabe says. “Just get yourself free and wait here. I’ll be right back.”
    “Look for a recording device while you’re down there,” I say, already reaching down to unlock my bruised ankle. “Pitt was recording everything the past twenty minutes or so. I’m not sure what I said, but it was probably incriminating. We have to destroy it. And probably his hard drive while we’re at it.”
    Gabe nods. “All right. Hang tight.”
    I unlock my ankle as Gabe thumps down the stairs and spring to my feet, making use of my newfound freedom to pad across the attic and rip the camera from its place in the rafters. I smash it to pieces on the floor, slamming it into the boards until it shatters to bits, shocked to discover how okay I am with being naked right now. I don’t feel vulnerable the way I did when Pitt was ordering me to strip. I feel powerful, primal, ready to tear my enemy to pieces, bury the bones, and put this night behind me.
    Maybe Gabe is right, and I am in shock, maybe not, I only know that when Gabe returns, and we start cleaning up the blood and mess, my hands get steadier. I don’t tremble as I throw on a plain white tee shirt and a pair of men’s khaki shorts, rolling the waistband over until the fabric is tight enough to stay on my hips. I move calmly from one task to another, and in ten minutes Gabe and I have everything in the house cleaned up, a suicide note emailed to the school from Pitt’s account, and Pitt’s body positioned on the mattress.
    “I’m going to soak the mattress and make it look like he dropped the lighter,” Gabe says, pressing a soft kiss to my forehead before beginning to spray the kerosene we found in Pitt’s garage over the body. “Run down to the garage and wipe down the inside of the trunk with the bleach cloth. Make sure you look for any stray blond hairs. If the fire department gets the fire contained before it reaches the garage, we don’t want them to find any evidence that you were ever here.”
    “Meet me in two minutes, or I’m coming back up,” I say, still worried about him, though he’s been acting fine since he recovered.
    “No, you head into the woods,” Gabe says. “The police could be here any minute.”
    “That’s why I’ll be back up to check on you,” I say, heading for the stairs, ignoring his protest that making sure I’m not caught is the top priority.
    I don’t want to lose my freedom, but I don’t want to lose Gabe, either. He’s necessary to my existence, even more so after tonight. He may have been part of the reason I was almost killed, but he also saved me. He’s brought danger into my world, but he’s also brought joy and passion and life.
    I was only half alive before I met Gabe. I know that now. I was a shadow of my true self, going through the motions, spending my life responding instead of acting.
    Now, I don’t put out fires, I help light them, and I won’t go back, not even for the kids. Maybe that makes me an awful person, as much as killing Pitt or stealing or anything else, but I can’t help it. It’s true. I won’t give up Gabe, not for safety or love or family. He is a part of me, and I will never let him go.
    By the time the police sirens pierce the still, humid air, the attic and the roof of Pitt’s house are burning brightly enough to light up the night sky and Gabe and I are through the woods to the abandoned chat dump where he parked the Beamer.
    I start around to the passenger’s side, but he stops me with a hand on my arm and drops the keys into my hand.
    “Just in case,” he whispers. “I just got you back, I’m