Keep Me: A HERO Novella Read Online Free PDF Page A

the light even more special.”
    “You’re poetic in the morning.”
    She giggles. When I smile back at her, her eyebrows furrow. “We could stay, Calvin. In some weird way, it feels like home.”
    “You aren’t serious?”
    She nods, flattening her hand over my chest. My eyes close, and I think I even growl; it feels so good to have her fingers in my chest hair, skin on skin. “We’re not staying here.”
    “Don’t you want to?”
    “No. I’ll find us something else. I don’t want you living here, remembering.”
    “But it’s so beautiful, and it’s your home. It belonged to your parents. You said your dad helped build it.”
    I glare at her. “I don’t care. This is a ridiculous discussion to even have.”
    She gets up on an elbow, and her eyes meet mine. “Are you sure you want all this? Maybe it’s too soon. Maybe you should stay here, and when the timing is right, I can move in.”
    My hand wraps around the back of her neck, and I pull her to me. “When I find a new place, I want you there with me. The mansion is in the past, and, anyway, it’s too far from the gallery.”
    “You made the commute, though.”
    “That’s different.”
    “Oh.” She glances down. With obvious hesitation, she asks, “Calvin?”
    “Yes, Sparrow.”
    “Was it the K-36 that made you sterile?”
    Her question catches me off guard, but I watch her, waiting until she looks up at me again. “Yes.”
    “Does that mean you won’t be anymore?”
    “I don’t know.”
    She bites her bottom lip. “I take birth control anyway.”
    “Probably better that way, don’t you think?”
    She nods, looking away again, but only briefly. “Do you miss it? Hero?”
    I swallow and shake my head. I don’t want to admit to her that I do. Hero is ingrained in me; it’s the fabric I’m made of. I didn’t know until I took off the mask. I didn’t even want the title, but now I don’t know what I am without it. I have no doubt that my decision was the right one, but just because the K-36 is wearing off doesn’t mean I’ve changed. I still have the desire to bring justice to those who deserve it—sometimes in the cruelest way possible. I still harbor dark urges to control, possess, kill. My strength may have lessened, but I remain powerful and exact from years of fighting and training.
    I worry about the small sparrow in my hands. No, stopping the injections hasn’t changed me; I’m still selfish, hugging her so tightly that I might end up crushing her.
     

“I think I’m ready to talk about my time in captivity.”
    “That’s great news, Cataline.”
    “Please, Dr. Adams. Just call me Cat.”
    “I’m sorry. I forget. Go ahead.”
    “How do I do this?”
    “During our consultation, you mentioned your time was spent in a mansion. Why don’t you start with your first day there? What was it like?”
    “I woke up in a strange bed. The room was huge and beautiful, but I was confused. An older man introduced himself as the butler. Eventually I calmed down, and he gave me a tour. It was—is enormous. Everything anybody could ever want.”
    “What about your captor?”
    “I didn’t know who he was for a long time. I hated that. I wanted to talk to the person in charge, but I couldn’t. When I finally met him, he wouldn’t give me any answers, which made it worse. I never knew if I was going to live or die, or even the reason I was there.”
    “Who was he?”
    “He was,” I pause to contemplate which words could possibly describe Calvin accurately. “He was a strong man with a bad temper. And very handsome too.”
    “Handsome?” he asks.
    “Yes. I’d met him before and was attracted to him. I’d even wished he would talk to me or just acknowledge me for that matter.”
    “How had you met him before?”
    “I’d rather not say.”
    “It’s important to be honest.”
    “I won’t tell you his identity.”
    “You say he was ill-tempered. Did he ever hurt you?”
    “No. Not seriously. But there were other