I turn the same corner she took and open the first door on the left. Mr. Tomson always leaves his door unlocked. Stupid fucker.
A hand grabs me from behind, and I spin around to see Becky leaning up against the now closed door. “Hey, baby.” I smirk, stepping into her.
She reaches behind her and locks it. “I don’t have much time—”
“Then what are you waiting for?” I cut her off.
Grabbing my shoulders, she spins me around and shoves my back into a wall. Then she falls to her knees before me.
As I place my hands in her blond hair, she goes to work on my jeans to free my already hardening cock. I grip her hair and prepare to fuck that mouth he just kissed. I’m gonna come all over her lips and watch her lick them clean.
I should have known then that she didn’t have a loyal bone in her body. But I never had the chance to think about it. After that, things changed. They all went to that party Eli mentioned. There was a car wreck, and three of my best friends—Eli, Maddox, and Landen—died. Cole was the only one who survived. Or so I thought. Cole had taken full responsibility for that accident at the time but just recently confessed he was not the one driving. It was Becky. And she was with them that night ’cause she was fucking Eli. I still can’t decide if I’m more pissed at her or my dead friend who knew how I felt about her. Too bad I didn’t know she was fucking him sooner. I would have never given her the time of day, much less allow myself to fall in love with her. That’s why he tried to tell me to stop wanting her—so he could have her.
Her blue eyes widen the moment she notices I’m in the kitchen with Cole, and she comes to a stop. I didn’t see her car outside, which means Austin must have brought her over here earlier. I don’t see her all that often, thank God. But her best friend is my best friend’s fiancée, and I live with them, so it’s bound to happen. Whenever the situation presents itself, I completely ignore her. It’s as if she doesn’t exist. Because she no longer does to me. She’s as dead as my best friend buried six feet deep in a wooden box.
“Thought you were going back home for the weekend?” Austin asks me as she goes over to Cole. He uncrosses his arms and wraps them around her shoulders, pulling her back to his chest and resting his chin on top of her head.
Shelby, my older sister who still lives in Collins, called me yesterday and said that she had picked up a weekend shift at the hospital. As a trauma nurse, she always works crazy hours, so I decided to stay here. She was the only reason I was going to spend two days in Collins. Any chance I have to stay away from my father, I take it. “Plans changed,” I answer.
The room falls to an awkward silence. Austin’s green eyes drift from me to Becky. Then to Cole. Almost as if she’s secretly asking us to go have our conversation in another room—preferably outside.
I jump up and plant my ass on the kitchen island, smiling at her. Austin’s disappointment shows when she lets out a heavy sigh.
“What do you have planned for us tonight?” Cole asks me. He knows I’m not going anywhere, no matter what his soon-to-be wife wants. He’s the one who has to kiss her ass, not me.
I may like to avoid Becky, but I also like to make her feel uncomfortable. I hold all the cards here. She has no clue who I have told her secrets to, and I wanna watch her sweat for a while.
“I got us tickets to Silence,” I answer.
Austin’s brows pull together. “What is Silence? And can Lilly go?”
“Only the scariest haunted house in Texas.” Becky answers her, and Austin’s face lights up like fucking Christmas. “No, Lilly can’t go. It’s not a place for children,” she adds.
Austin looks up at Cole with a big smile on her face, silently begging him. He shrugs, telling her, “It’s up to you, sweetheart.”
She turns her attention back to me. “I’ll call and see if Misty can watch Lilly for a few hours. If she can, then we’ll go.” Looking at Becky, she asks, “You can go, right?”
I refrain from growling because I wanted Becky to be the babysitter. I can’t stand to be around her for five minutes, let alone spend an evening with her. We keep our distance for a reason.
“Sure,” she answers. “When are we going?”
“Tonight,” I say, and everyone’s heads turn toward me when the word comes out a little too snappy.
“Okay.” Austin spins around in Cole’s arms so she can face him. “I’ll call Misty …”
He doesn’t even let her finish before he leans down and presses his lips to hers. His hands go to her hair, and she lets out a moan when he pulls her head back to give himself better access to her mouth. Becky exits the kitchen, rolling her eyes.
I stay where I’m at, being the pervert that I am. Plus, it’s not like I haven’t ever seen them kiss. Hell, I once recorded them fucking in a bathroom while at a high school party and then posted that shit online for all to see. All because he told me to do it. That was before he fell in love with her, though. And also ’cause I can be an asshole.
“Austin?”
She pushes Cole away, breathing heavily when Lilly enters the kitchen. “Yes, Lilly?” she asks, breathlessly.
The cute little six-year-old smiles up at her. She is Cole’s little sister, and he’s raised her since the day she was born. Celeste, Austin’s stepmother, killed Cole’s mother by shoving her down a flight of stairs when she was pregnant with Lilly. Lilly survived, but their mother did not. “I don’t know where my phone went.”
Austin takes her hand and pulls her own cell out of the back pocket of her jeans. “I’ll call it.”
“I think it’s dead.” She frowns.
“We’ll find it,” Austin assures her before they walk out of the kitchen.
“Need a moment?” I ask Cole, jokingly.
“More like an hour,” he answers.
I turn to face him, and he has his hands in the pockets of his jeans. Things have been awkward around us since the night he told me all his secrets in Collins. He thinks I’m mad at him, but I’m not. He did exactly what I would have done, so I can’t fault him for being like me. But I hate that I’m still keeping my own. Maybe he’s pulling away from me ’cause he knows I’m not being honest with him. And it makes me think of Eli. How close we all once were, but how many secrets we had among us. Were we all ever really friends? I think that’s the hardest part about all of this. I was loyal to the sharks. I may have been an ass to most, but I would have laid my life down for any of them. Even Kellan. But in the end, I helped Cole kill him. Would Cole have helped me kill Eli if he hadn’t died that night in the car accident? Would Cole have dug with me to get the answers I needed? Still want? I’m not sure. And I hate that I’ll never know. You can’t kill someone who is already dead. But the unanswered questions still eat at me.
He finally looks away from where Austin exited the kitchen with Lilly, and his eyes meet mine. “You gonna be okay with Becky tonight? I can tell Austin I don’t want to go—”
“No,” I interrupt and wave him off. “It’ll be fine. How bad can it be?”
His dark brows rise at my question as if to say really? You gonna ask that? Because we both know just how bad shit can get.
Austin pops her head back into the kitchen. “Found the phone and Misty is gonna come stay with Lilly.”
Neither one of us says anything to her.
Her green eyes narrow, and she walks over to me. “Please be nice.” I open my mouth, but she continues, “It’s just one night.”
I grind my teeth but nod once ’cause that’s the first time Austin has ever asked me for anything. And I love that girl like my own sister. Even if I did once aim a gun at her, planning on ending her life in the middle of a cemetery. But now that’s water under the bridge and all that. “One night.” I’ve put up with worse in my life.
She smiles and looks over at Cole. “I’m going to take a shower and start getting ready.” Then she turns and walks out of the kitchen once again.
And no surprise, Cole all but runs out of the kitchen to follow
her up to their room for a little shower time of his own. He’s been on her ass more than usual and doesn’t let her out of his sight. If it were anyone else, I would say their relationship has gone from extremely toxic to a tad unhealthy, but I know the loss that he has suffered and the scare he had with her five months ago. Hell, even I’m protective of her now.
I walk over to the fridge and grab a bottle of water, and when I turn around, Becky is standing there. I bump into her on accident, and it pushes her backward. Instinct has me reaching out and grabbing her upper arm to keep her standing. I should shove her ass to the floor, but I don’t.
Her blue eyes look up at me wide, and I realize the last time I was this close to her was three months ago. When I stormed into her bedroom back at her father’s house in Collins and told her I knew all her secrets. That she had been fucking my best friend, Eli, and that she had lied to Cole and wasn’t really pregnant. She begged me to love her, to want her, but it didn’t work.
“Wait! Please?” she begs. “I can fix this.”
“No. You can’t.” Things have gone too far, and there’s no going back now.
“Deke? Please? I can’t lose you,” she cries.
“You already have.” I reach for the door handle, but she places her hands on my back, gripping my T-shirt and causing the collar to choke me.
“I’m sorry. Is that what you want me to say?” she grinds out. “I lied. And I’ve felt terrible about it. Austin is my best friend. And I love you. You love me.”
“Not anymore.” I shake my head.
“I don’t believe you,” she argues. “There has to be something I can do. Please … tell me.” The desperation in her voice makes me smile.
I turn around and cup her tear-streaked face. She sucks in a long breath, and her body presses into mine, now interested. Funny how women turn to sex when they’re desperate for forgiveness. “Unless you plan on falling to your knees and opening that mouth of yours so I can fuck it, I have no use for you.”
“I don’t believe you,” she whispers again as new tears run down her face.
“That’s your problem. Not mine.” Her eyes stare up at mine, silently begging me to forgive her and tell her that it’s all gonna be okay. That I love her. I’ll die before I ever say that to her again.
When she licks her wet lips and falls to her knees like an obedient slave, I look at her with disgust. I’d always held Becky to a higher standard ’cause she continually held her head high and didn’t care what others said or felt about her. Cole was not driving the car when it wrecked and killed three of our friends—she was—and she allowed him to take the fall for it. Though I can’t blame her for that part. I understand firsthand that when Cole makes up his mind, you can’t change it. I’m just like him in that aspect. But she lied to him when she told him she was pregnant. She wanted him to feel sorry for her and tell her to run, and it worked. She played him, and then she kept it from me because she knew I could tell him the truth.
I’m a killer. But I’ve never lied without a reason, and that purpose is rarely just to save my own ass.
She looks up at me, tears running down her face, and she pulls her shoulders back as though she has a backbone. “I’ll prove it to you.” Her voice doesn’t waver with her renewed determination. As if sucking my cock is gonna make me fall in love with her all over again.
She’s not the first girl to suck my dick who I didn’t fall in love with. And she won’t be the last.
“Deke?” Her shaky voice pulls me out of that memory. Her hands are on my chest, and she breathes heavily.
I love that I still have this effect on her. After three months of nothing, I can still turn her into a fucking puddle of water that I can stomp through. I once loved Becky, but now I hate her with a passion.
My fingers dig into her arms. “Yeah, baby?”
She bites her bottom lip at my words. I avoid her like the plague, but maybe I shouldn’t. Maybe she could be more useful than I thought. If I told her to drop to her knees right now and suck my dick, would she do it? Only one way to find out.
I let go and run my hands up her arms. Her breath hitches when I move them over her neck, being as gentle as I can when I really wanna fucking break it. Watch her perfect fucking lips open as she tries to breathe while the life drains out of her pretty blue eyes.
I can be a fucking heartless bastard.
Her blue eyes look up into mine, and I see it. That same desire she used to have for me. I wonder how much she faked. Did it make her sick when I touched her? When I kissed her? How about when I fucked her?
I’d love to make her hate herself as much as I hate her now. I can make her believe I love her again. That I’ve forgiven her.
My hands slide into her hair, and she licks her painted pink lips. “I’ve missed you,” I lie.
A shiver runs through her body, but she says nothing.
“Have you missed me, baby?”
Her eyes close shut, and her lips part. The act reminds me of that last memory when I allowed her to suck my cock. The hopefulness she had in her eyes as tears ran down her face from my force. Those boys in high school were wrong—her mouth didn’t make up for what her cunt lacked. But when you love someone, you’re blind to their every flaw. Now that I hate her, I see much clearer. The fog is gone, and I see Becky for who she really is—a slut I can use to my advantage.
Sweet fucking revenge. I’m an expert at fucking someone over. No one plays that game better than I do.
I lean down, pressing my lips gently to hers, and she opens up immediately, but I don’t take the bait. Not yet. Why rush this, when I can have some fun and draw it out?
I pull back, and she opens her heavy eyes. “Deke—”
The doorbell rings, interrupting whatever she was about to say.
I let her go and walk out of the kitchen. I open the front door to see the neighbor kid Misty standing there with her dark hair up in a ponytail. She reaches up and pushes her glasses to sit higher on her nose. She’s a fourteen-year-old girl with three older brothers. I sometimes play basketball with them out in the driveway.
She smiles at me. “Hi, Deke. Austin called and said she needed a sitter tonight.”
I step aside for her to enter. “She’s upstairs in the shower right now, but Lilly is in her room.”
“Thanks.” She walks inside, bouncing down the hallway to find Lilly.
When I return to the kitchen and find it empty, I take my ass up to my room to get ready for the night. I’m gonna seduce Becky. And she’s gonna realize she’s weaker than she thought when it comes to me.
CHAPTER THREE
DEKE
TWO HOURS LATER, “Like a Nightmare” by Deadset Society plays inside my SUV as I drive us to Silence. The sun has officially set, and we decided to go earlier rather than later to beat the crowd and traffic since it’s a Friday night.
Austin leans forward from the back seat and taps Cole on the shoulder. “Turn that down for a second, please?” He does as she asks, and she begins to read something to us off her phone. “Did you know they can touch you? I’m on their website, and it says that you should not wear open-toed shoes or nice clothing. That you may have to crawl, jump, or run to get free. And that you may have blood thrown on you.”
Cole stiffens in the passenger seat at the mention of blood. And I wonder if he has the same thought as me.
Five months ago
Cole pulls up to the Lowes estate and doesn’t even bother turning his car off. He jumps out, and I follow him up the stairs, and he barges into Bruce’s house. Celeste, Austin’s stepmother, lies dead at the bottom of the stairs. Neither one of us gives her any thought.
“Austin?” Cole yells, pulling the gun out of the back of his jeans. I’m holding mine down by my side, and it’s ready with a bullet in the chamber. “Austin?” He shouts again, running down the hallway.
He follows the blood trail down the hall, and my throat tightens at what we’re going to find. It won’t be good.
He
takes a sharp right, entering the kitchen. “Austin?” I hear him choke on her name, and my heart begins to pound. What did he find?
I enter behind him and gasp. “What the fuck?”
Austin lies in a pool of blood on her father’s marble floor. Fuck! She’s bleeding too much. Her shirt and her jeans are soaked. Her once sun-kissed skin looks pale, and the pool of blood underneath her slowly gets bigger. The smell alone almost knocks me off my feet. Kellan still holds the gun in his hand. Why did he shoot his best friend’s girl? I don’t understand.
“Take him,” Cole calls out, not looking up from her body. He goes to touch her but then pulls back.
She’s dead. I’ve helped him kill enough people to know what a lifeless body looks like. “She needs help,” I argue. Looking over her with narrowed eyes, I know there’s not much we can do for her at this point. Kellan killed the only thing Cole has ever loved. And Cole will make Kellan suffer in ways he can’t even imagine.
“Take him!” Cole barks this time. “Help is on the way.” He turns his attention to Austin, dismissing me.
I look over at Kellan leaning up against the countertop with a knife stuck into his side. He smiles, looking over at Austin lying on the floor. Fucking prick. I grab him by the back of his neck and rip the gun out of his hand, before yanking him away from the countertop.
I’m not sure how Cole would handle seeing Austin covered in blood again. Even if he knew it was fake.
“For the ones who think they are fearless, they have a ‘blackout’ attraction where you are given a glow stick to navigate your way out.” She goes on to read about Silence.
“Pass,” Becky says.
I smile to myself. She’s avoided me since I played with her in the kitchen back at the house. She stuck by Austin’s side while she got ready. It’s like she’s afraid to be left alone with me again because she doesn’t trust herself with me. Silly girl. Space won’t save you from me.
“I think that sounds like the most fun,” Austin argues.
I watch Cole relax into his seat and smile at Austin’s words. She isn’t afraid of anything.
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