“Kota, do you really think I’d leave after learning what’s actually going on? It’s more important than ever for me to be here. Whatever you need from me, just ask. Rides. Money. Lies.” He licks his lush mouth, and I find myself feeling supremely uncomfortable all over again.
I want to talk to Maxine so badly that it hurts. I hate that this crap is keeping her boyfriend here with me, instead of in Oregon with her where he belongs. And I hate that I’m attracted to him even though I don’t want to be, even though I love Parrish, and I’m crushing on Chasm, and I would never betray my sister like that.
“So you’re not going to tell anyone?” I clarify for the hundredth time, glancing down the hall to make sure there’s no sign of Kimber or Ben, Tess or Paul. Luckily, we’re at the very end, past the staircase, with a straight view from one end of the upstairs to the other. It wouldn’t be easy to sneak up on us.
“Based on everything you told me last night and what I saw on that video, no.” X sounds frustrated, almost trapped. I can understand that. It’s how I feel, too. It’s like, all I’d have to do is show one of those videos to the FBI and the manhunt would be on.
But no matter how fast they moved, how good they are, how much tech and people power and weaponry they put into their search, it wouldn’t be enough to save Parrish. He would die, and maybe the Slayer would be caught, but it isn’t worth it.
The life of someone you love is worth the weight of the world.
It presents a bit of a moral conundrum, right? How many people will the Slayer kill while I’m trying to save Parrish? I’m essentially trading all of those lives for his, aren’t I?
I’m still going to do it. Whether it’s right or wrong, I’ve made my choice.
“Do you really believe Parrish is here?” X asks, studying my face as I bite my lower lip in thought. Again. Imitating him. Gah. “In the Seattle area, I mean?”
“Sometimes, to solve puzzles you have to start with an assumption or else you get lost in possibilities,” I reply, crossing my arms and leaning my back against the wall. “If the Seattle Slayer is truly committed to this game, there’ll be a solution. Otherwise, what’s the point? He could clearly kill Parrish any time he wants. There has to be a meaning to all this. If there’s not, and we’re just running around like headless chickens, then … there was never a way to save him in the first place.” I exhale past the hot tight feeling in my chest and stand up straight. “So … we play to win. We assume that at some point we’ll win.”
“Oh, we’ll win,” X says, getting a bit of that arrogant, cocky asshole persona of his that makes me feel prickly. “Now that I’m in the game.”
He takes off down the hall and I watch him go, trying to convince myself that having him around is a good idea. Maybe, for Parrish’s sake, it is. But for mine? Well, I’m not so sure about that just yet.
Once I’m dressed in my uniform, I head back downstairs to find Tess and Paul embroiled in a hushed conversation with a pair of women that I don’t recognize. The four of them glance my way, and I freeze, hands clenched around the handle of my book bag.
“Um, hi?” I say, as if it’s a question.
“Maxx is taking you to school today,” Tess tells me, her voice tight and strained, but her makeup flawless. She’s pushing through, but I imagine that if Parrish stays missing for much longer, she’s going to break and there’ll be no coming back from the edge of psychosis.
If I don’t manage to save Parrish, then Tess is also lost.
Kimber is broken. Ben, Amelia, and Henry grow up bathed in trauma. Chasm will never be the same again; Maxx will be devastated.
I … well, I don’t know what I’ll do. Carry on, I suppose, but I’ll never be the same again. Losing Parrish would be like losing a limb. You can figure out how to get along without it, can even thrive and prosper without it, but that doesn’t mean your life will ever look the way you originally imagined it.
“And Dakota,” Tess continues, giving me a sharp stare. “No deviations from the plan today. No search party. And especially no Chasm.”
I just stare back at her, wondering what the hell I’m going to have to do to break through that shell. Last night was so promising and now we’re back to this? Chasm is hurting so damn bad. Who cares if we actually did have sex? He doesn’t deserve to be ostracized from what is, essentially, his family, too.
It occurs to me in that moment that if Tess is this upset with me and Chasm, how is she going to feel when she finds out that it was actually me and Parrish instead? Maybe telling her isn’t a good idea at all. If—no, no when—I get Parrish back, we’ll have to talk it over.
“Okay,” I reply, trying to keep my voice as neutral as possible. As annoying as Tess is sometimes, I also know the amount of stress and pressure she’s under right now. I’ll save my protests for later.
Kimber and Maxx come down the stairs one after the other, and the three of us slip quietly into the garage.
“Those women are from the FBI,” Maxx says, opening both the front and back passenger doors for me and Kimber.
“How do you know that?” I ask, and he gives me a tight, sad smile.
“They were at the press conference,” he explains as Kimber leans forward, putting one hand on the back of my seat.
“The one that you missed,” she hisses at me, her voice thick with hatred. Uh-oh. Goose bumps prickle across my skin, but I know better than to react. Based on everything she’s seen, it makes sense that her hatred of me would double, triple, quadruple. If I were actually behaving the way I am of my own volition, I’d deserve every ounce of it. “Nice subscriber count by the way. I’m sure you’ll make a lovely influencer.”
“I’m not trying to be an influencer, Kimber,” I explain, checking my notifications. There are so many that it’s overwhelming, but I’m convinced that if given enough time, the collective resources of the internet can solve nearly any mystery.
Has anyone else noticed that all of the Slayer’s victims are from privileged families? Like, is this some sort of class warfare thing?
I pause and think about that for a minute. I know more than I ever cared to about the other victims thanks to that annoying Emerald City Murder Podcast that the boys like to listen to. Could I use the other victims to gather clues? Is there something there that I’m missing?
“Then why did you bail to make a shitty video? Was there a point to that? Did you actually think a bunch of TikTokers and Twitch fanboys were going to solve a kidnapping?”
“Kimber, lay off, okay?” Maxx says after climbing in. He turns around to look at her with a decidedly ‘big brother’ sort of expression on his face. Does he have younger siblings? I know about his older sister, but that’s about it. We’re almost strangers, if I’m being honest with myself. “Dakota is suffering, too.”
“How so?” she snaps, her voice a derisive slice to my heart. Her words shouldn’t bother me, but they do. They really fucking do. I’ve been telling myself all along that I don’t care if anyone in this family likes me, but that day at Blockbuster, I realized what a goddamn liar I really am.
I care.
Too much.
“You never liked Parrish. You convinced me for a minute there that you actually did care, but everything you’ve done since then has proven that you don’t. You probably want him dead so that you can profit off of his—”
“I love Parrish, too!” I snap at her, whirling around angrily in my seat, my phone clenched so tightly in my fingers that they hurt. “I care about him just as much as you do, if not more.”
Crap.
I shouldn’t have said that. I really shouldn’t have said that.
“Kimber, I’m—”
“Oh my god,” she whispers, her eyes getting wide as something occurs to her. “You’re … you have a crush on him. On your own stepbrother.” She pauses for a minute as we stare at each other. I should deny her words vehemently, laugh and snort and shake my head. Instead, I just find myself paralyzed beneath her stare. “Does Tess kno
w?”
“That’s enough of that, Kimber,” X says, keeping his voice soft. “You’re both hurting, and taking that pain out on each other feels like it helps now, but you’ll regret it later. When Parrish gets back, he’ll be pissed at you both.”
“He isn’t coming back,” Kimber says, her voice this strained, sad, broken thing. The rage is still there, but it simmers underneath, barely contained by melancholy. One small thing and it’ll tip over, flood the world with righteous ire. “Nobody believes that. He’s gone, Maxx. He’s dead.”
She drops her face in her hands, and my heart breaks. I want to comfort her, but she won’t want that, not from me.
Instead, we all sit in silence as X backs us out of the driveway and takes a deep breath before braving the gate and the ever-increasing crowd of reporters. There are ten times as many as there were when I first got here.
This is so much worse though. They’re here because they smell blood. Parrish’s blood.
I do my best to ignore them, thankful for the police presence near the gate. They’re here because a couple of reporters already tried to scale the fence. Fun stuff. Did I mention that Tess has also hired a private security team to patrol the property? They’re all muscular, dressed in black, and sporting FHS logos—I take it that stands for Fort Humboldt Security.
Interesting.
I focus on my phone, looking up the previous victims of the Slayer to see if there are any clues that I might’ve missed. I start by grabbing a map of the city and putting little dots on the places where the bodies were found. In movies, there’s always a pattern of some sort. In this case, it looks like a jumbled mess of nonsense.
I frown and study the locations.
A park, an old train station, the dumpster of a Seattle restaurant, a foreclosed home, an empty field. No rhyme or reason there.
Once we’ve pulled up to the school, Maxx and I wait for Kimber to disembark and then turn to each other.
“Pretty sure I’m on school pick up and drop off duty for you and Kimber for the foreseeable future,” X explains, and I nod, studying him. He’s the all-American guy, that’s for sure. Handsome, athletic, charismatic, intelligent. Having him on our side is a good thing. It is. Even if I have inappropriate thoughts towards him sometimes. “Is there anything I can do to help today?” he asks cryptically, raising a single brow in question.
“You have schoolwork, too, don’t you?” I ask, and he gives me a look.
“Schoolwork doesn’t mean shit to me right now. How can I help you and Parrish? Like I said, I’m finishing the rest of my courses online. The schoolyear is nearly over anyway.” He shrugs his shoulders loosely. “My parents are trying to convince me to work part-time at their barcade, but other than that, I don’t have any responsibilities. Just tell me what you need.”
“Your parents own a barcade?” I ask, trying not to laugh. Not that the idea of a barcade doesn’t sound fun. A bunch of vintage arcade games and alcohol, that sounds like an intriguing mix. “That’s … an interesting business to get into.”
X grins at me and sits back in his seat, crossing his arms behind his headrest.
“Yeah. They bought it just before they moved to Portland. They ended up selling their house here but kept the business. It actually makes a decent amount of money.” He gives me a sideways smile, one that would absolutely catch my attention in a crowd. “You should stop by sometime during off-hours. I’ll make you a cherry soda from the soda fountain and you can kick my ass at Pac-Man or something.”
“You’re assuming that my gaming skills extend to vintage games,” I tease, and Maxx pokes his tongue against the inside of his cheek, a dry expression on his face.
“They don’t?” he queries, cocking his head to one side. “According to Maxine, you can plop down in front of just about any game and kick its ass.”
Maxine.
The sound of my sister’s name is like ice water. I shiver and look away, and the mood in the car immediately shifts. Here we are having a normal conversation like normal people when the world is anything but normal. Parrish is dying; my sister is heartbroken; Danyella and Lumen probably despise me. What is wrong with me?
“Anyway, what can I do to help?” X offers up again, and I exhale sharply through my nose.
“I’ll send you all my social media logins,” I tell him as I open the door and glance back. “You can start combing through my notifications and see if anything stands out.”
I hop out of the vehicle and close the door just as Chasm comes outside to look for me.
“Morning, Little Sister,” he says, sliding his hands into his blazer pockets. He looks stunning, as always, dressed in the all-black blazer, slacks, and shiny dress shoes of the Whitehall Prep uniform. His tartan plaid tie with the lime-green stripes is stuck in his pocket; he only wears it when he gets yelled at by the administration. His amber eyes glide over me, making me shiver. “Anything new?”
“Nothing,” I reply with a dramatic sigh, giving him a hopeful look. “Lumen and Danyella?”
Chasm shakes his head slowly, reaching up to brush bright yellow strands of hair from his forehead.
“They haven’t said a damn thing to me today. As far as I can tell, everything is normal.”
Huh.
I don’t like that. For some reason, it unnerves me. Why hasn’t Danyella told anyone about our confession? I think about Lumen’s odd expression last night, but I have no idea what it could possibly mean.
She woke up in a field with no memory of having gotten there. Is it possible that what happened to me also happened to her? But why? And if so, would the Slayer aka Justin aka my bio dad really have just let her go?
“I’ll see if I can talk to them today,” I say as Chasm and I head back for the side doors of the school. I’m tempted to ask him about his dad, but I don’t want to stir shit up unnecessarily. We both have enough going on.
Once we’re inside the building, I can sense it.
Something is different.
People are looking at me, but not in the way they did before, like I was some sort of amusing curiosity. The mood has shifted dramatically—but mostly from the girls.
Crap.
Chasm notices, too, pausing and glancing down at me before lifting his gaze up and letting it trail down the length of the hallway.
“Lumen,” he says immediately, and my stomach drops.
What was it that Kimber said? That I got lucky at Whitehall, that Parrish and Lumen were keeping the rest of the populace in check.
But … what happens if Lumen actively sets out to destroy me? And Parrish is gone? What happens then?
Seems like I’m about to find out.
Chasm and I separate for class. Nothing actually happens to me. Nobody says anything. I can feel the shift though. It’s like everyone is waiting for something.
By the time we get to break, I feel like I’m on a tightrope, flailing around to keep myself from falling.
“Danyella,” I call out, jogging up to her outside the ruined theater. She’s tacking the yellow Caution tape back up, but as soon as she hears my voice, she goes completely still.
“Mia.”
A cold voice from behind me draws my attention before Danyella gets the opportunity to respond, and I turn around nice and slow, like I’m facing off against a wild animal.
May as well be, considering the look on Lumen Hearst’s face.
“Hey Lumen,” I start, almost faltering as she walks up to me with a substantial portion of her posse in tow. She smiles at me, but it isn’t one of her usual smiles. Instead, it’s an expression that I’ve only seen a handful of times, namely that day she beat the sophomore girl up in the parking garage.
Great.
Just … great.
She called me Mia which she knows I hate, so we’re clearly off to a very terrible start.
Lumen reaches up to twirl a strand of lime-green hair around her finger, studying it with a careful intensity before her brown eyes lift up to mine. Without war
ning, she wraps my hair in her fist and yanks me toward her, hard enough that I cry out, lifting my hands up to my scalp.
It’s a matter of seconds before my ass is on the ground and Lumen’s girls are on me. She stands back and watches as they quite literally kick the shit out of me.
The pain is … it’s hard to describe. My body feels like it’s trapped inside a dryer, flopping around and smacking against the metal sides. I see white; it shatters across my vision like a starburst as I hear a voice yelling in the background. A cracking sound snaps through my brain, like I can physically see a bone being broken.
One of my fingers explodes in agony and then very quickly goes numb as shock rolls over me. Did I just … break a finger? And then another one. It’s so unexpected, so strange, that I can hardly fathom what’s going on.
A body covers mine, but I’m in far too much pain to figure out who it is. I’m groaning and rolling onto my side, clutching my belly and hurting all over. I’ve been kicked and stomped by a good half-dozen girls, and I’m feeling it. Blood is pooling on the floor next to my face as I lick my lips with my tongue, tasting copper.
It reminds me of JJ, of that poor dead girl in that horrible box, and I start to choke, coughing up yet more red.
“Stop it!” Danyella screams, cradling me against her as she casts a look of sheer terror in Lumen’s direction. “What are you doing?!”
“By the end of the day, the whole school will know that you set that fire,” Lumen says, her voice like ice as she leans down toward me, blond hair sliding over her shoulders and swinging in my face. I do my best to focus on her, but my brain is hazy and all I can concentrate on is the taste and smell of my own blood.
I expect to see malice in her eyes. Or disgust. Instead, I don’t see any emotion at all. She’s gone completely blank.
“This is too much, Lumen,” Danyella murmurs, stroking my hair back. “This is far too much.”
Lumen stands up straight and shrugs nonchalantly.
“By the way, you and me”—here she gestures between us with a single finger—“we’re over. Not only am I dumping your ass, but I’ll let everyone know that the crap you said about Parrish being bad in bed is bullshit. You are the problem, Dakota. Always have been. Besides,” and here Lumen offers up another of those disturbing smiles, “Parrish and I have been sleeping together since sophomore year. I can attest to his skills.” Lumen pokes me in the nose with the toe of her shoe as Danyella reaches up to slap her foot away.
Payback Princess (Lost Daughter of a Serial Killer Book 2) Page 9