I shrug. “You see why I don’t trust people? Inside everyone is a liar, a manipulator, a cheater, or a killer. We’re not perfect. Analeigh conned me for you, but she lied to you about me. Perhaps she was excited by me. Regardless of what she thought of me, she wanted me. Are you still so willing to protect her now?” I ask with a smug grin.
Miguel’s anger, jealousy, and fear are battling against each other. He’s going through a shit-storm of emotions, and he isn’t sure which one to feel more of in this moment. It’s amazing what love does to a person. He loves Analeigh so much that the hurt of her betrayal is taking over his fear for his own life.
While he deals with whatever he’s going through, I begin to re-think my plan. Initially it was to kill him out here and throw him in the lake, but I think I’ve had a change of heart. I take his phone and get out of the truck, stomping on it with my boot before gathering the pieces and throwing them in the lake.
I pull open Miguel’s door and yank him outside with me.
“What’s going on?” Miguel asks as he stumbles forward. “Where are we . . . I thought . . . what’s happening?”
“Plans have changed.”
IT’S A LITTLE after eleven when I knock on the door. I debated quite heavily on how to react to this new information. I like Analeigh, and though I always said things wouldn’t work out well for us, I never thought it would end because of this. I assumed it would just run its course and I’d have to end it because things became too complicated or because she’d become annoyed by my lack of communication.
What bothers me more than the fact that she and Miguel are dating, more than the way they worked together to try to pull information from me just to try to use me, more than the deceit, is the painful truth that I actually enjoyed the times I spent with Analeigh.
Sure, I wasn’t the best at being a boyfriend, but I tried. I told her as much. I did more for her than I ever did for anybody else. She got my efforts. I called and texted her. I was trying this dating thing, and even though we didn’t do much of it, I had plans to keep trying. The sex was off the charts, and she made me think some sort of relationship was possible for someone like me.
I always knew I’d never be able to be my true self around her. I’d never be able to tell her the dark thoughts that filled my mind and the actions I took to quell them. But she’d get everything else.
The fact that she lied to Miguel about the extent of our relationship tells me something, though. There was something between us. It was small, but it was growing, and she felt it.
The door opens and a flash of surprise crosses her face before a smile replaces it. “Hey,” she says in a high pitched voice.
“Hey.”
“What’re you doing here? I wasn’t expecting you.”
“Figured I’d surprise you,” I tell her with a shrug. “Is this a bad time?”
“No, no,” she replies, pulling the door open wider and letting me in. “Let me just check in with my roommate to make sure she doesn’t come home.”
I give her a tight smile because I know she’s going to text Miguel to tell him that I’m over. There was never a female roommate. It was always Miguel. Too bad his phone is in pieces, floating in a lake.
When I sit down on the couch I instantly notice the bag of sunflower seeds and blue and black watch Miguel was talking about earlier. I grind my teeth at the sight of them, keeping myself in check.
“Want a drink?” she asks.
“I’m good.”
“Did you want to go to the bedroom?” she asks with a flirty grin.
I smile back at her. “Is that what you want to do?”
“Maybe,” she answers, sinking her teeth into her full bottom lip before straddling my lap. “Or we can stay right here.”
My hands go to her hips, holding her in place. “Hmm.”
She grinds herself on me, moaning in my ear. “I want to feel you.”
I whisper back. “What else do you want from me?”
“Just you.”
“You sure?”
She backs up, looking me in the eye, hearing the seriousness in my tone. “Yes. I only want you.”
I nod once. “Show me how much you want me.”
Analeigh instantly slides down my legs, undoing the button and zipper of my jeans while getting to her knees. She pulls the denim down, and I lift up to help her out. Before moving to my boxer-briefs, she pulls her shirt over her head, revealing her perky tits. Her pink tongue runs across her lips as she watches me and my dick begins to get hard.
Her hand gropes me through the gray material, and then she yanks the underwear down, allowing my cock to spring free. Analeigh takes her time, licking and planting kisses along my shaft before twirling her tongue around the head of my cock. I watch closely as she wraps her hands around my dick, stroking me expertly.
Every once in a while her eyes will flicker up to mine, but my expression never changes. She raises up and takes me deep into her mouth, causing us both to groan simultaneously. The way she sucks and strokes my dick is like she’s trying to prove something. I told her to show me how much she wanted me, and she’s doing a damn good job. With all the attention she’s showing me, she’s also moaning and squirming, letting me know she’s turned on by just pleasing me.
After a few more minutes, I throw my head back as my muscles tighten up, and I know my orgasm is only seconds away. She seems to know it too, because she quickens her strokes and pleads around my cock. “Give it to me.”
And I do. I come into her mouth as I express my pleasure by bellowing into the room. She moans louder as she squeezes everything she can out of me. She laps up my come like it’s the most delicious thing she’s ever had on her tongue.
I pull my clothes back on while she climbs back on the couch next to me. “Do you believe me now?” she asks softly, trailing her finger down my neck.
“Believe you about what?” I ask.
“About how much I want you and only you.”
I can’t help the smile that crosses my face as I look over at her. She looks innocent, sweet, and beautiful. But oh how I know how looks can be deceiving.
“Only me, huh?” She nods. “You don’t want anybody else?” She shakes her head, and I decide to drop the bomb. “How about Miguel?”
Her jaw drops and the color drains from her face. “Wh—what?”
I lean in closer to her. “Miguel. Your boyfriend. What about him?”
She tries to scoot back but runs into the arm of the couch. Her eyes instantly fill with tears and she’s suddenly modest as she covers her chest with her arms. “How?”
“How do I know? It doesn’t matter. Just know that I know.”
“Where is he?” she asks in a panic.
“Do you really care? I thought you only wanted me?”
Her body begins to shake. “I do. I mean, I don’t care.”
“I don’t appreciate what you did,” I say, shaking my head. “Not only were you trying to manipulate me, but you followed me home and then made it to where your boyfriend could break in. All for what? To find out if I killed someone? Does nobody consider that a killer wouldn’t want to be found out? Did you not think that I’d kill you?”
She goes to spring from the couch but my reflexes are quicker and my hand grabs her by the throat, and I toss her back into the corner of the couch. “Not a good idea.”
“Please,” she sobs, tears falling from her beautiful green eyes.
“I got Miguel’s story, but I want yours. So, tell me, what were you hoping to get out of this extremely stupid plan of yours?”
“Donovan, I’m sorry. Please.”
I lift a finger in the air and then place it on her lips. “Shh. No need to panic. I just want the truth.”
When I pull my finger away from her lips, she takes a deep breath before talking. “Okay. Okay, we saw you a while back. Outside of a man’s house who ended up dead. I didn’t know you, but Miguel later told me that he thought it was someone he worked with. I asked if you were a hitman and i
f we could hire you. You know, just as a joke. Plus we were drinking again, so we found it all funny.”
I nod, encouraging her to continue, and quite surprised that their stories match up so well.
“He became obsessed with finding out if you had actually killed that guy. I didn’t think about it, because based on what I knew about Michael, he was always getting in trouble with people, so I thought it could’ve been someone who he owed money to. But Miguel was so sure it was you he saw that night, so he kept talking about it. He said it would make sense based on how you acted at work and stuff.
“One night he brought up the idea that if you were a killer of some sort that maybe we, well, I, could get you to confess to it.”
“And then what?”
“He said he just wanted to have something on you. He didn’t like the way you treated him, and he just wanted the upper hand.”
“And he never said that he’d turn me in?”
She hesitates. “I don’t think so.”
“Right. Well, his story was much different. He said you wanted to use me as a hitman so I could kill your dad. He said he was forcing you to move back in with him and didn’t help you. He said you were better off without him, plus you’d get some sort of financial payout if he died. Miguel said this was your idea.”
“What? No! No way. That’s not true. Donovan, you have to believe me.”
I laugh. “Really? I think you’ve just proven to me even more why I can’t trust anybody.”
“I know I lied. I know I messed up, but I’m telling you the truth about this. Once I found about your past, I felt terrible. I didn’t want to do this anymore, but I had already developed feelings for you and wanted to keep seeing you. I was stuck in between a rock and a hard place.”
“You led him to my house. You let him break into my place. And all of that was after you found out about my past. You didn’t feel too bad.”
“He made me, Donovan! You don’t understand.”
“You’re right. I don’t. What was the reason for breaking in at that point?”
She sighs. “He wanted to find some sort of evidence. I don’t know. I didn’t question it.”
“One of you is lying to me.”
“He is.”
“Oh yeah? Well, it’s a good thing he’s outside. Let me bring him in and then we’ll have this same conversation. We’ll see who says what then.”
“He’s outside?” she asks with wide eyes. “I thought—”
“Thought I killed him?” I ask with a grin. “You think I’m a killer?”
She shakes her head. “No.”
“Hmm,” I murmur, tilting my head.
I pull the tape from my hoodie pocket. “I have to make sure you aren’t going to go anywhere when I go get him. Give me your hands.”
After thinking about it, she extends them shakily and I quickly tape them together, making sure she’s not able to use her fingers to grab anything. I bind her ankles together and leave her sitting on the couch. Even if she managed to move from the couch, she won’t get far before I get back.
Miguel is still bound with the same tape, but I’ve since added a small gag, making sure he’s not able to make any noise. He’s also been moved from the passenger seat to the bed of the truck, wrapped in a sleeping bag and under the truck bed’s cover.
I quickly open the tailgate, pull him out by the ankles and sling him over my shoulder. The neighbors seem to all be in for the night, but even if anybody happened to look out their window right now, there’s no way to tell what I’m carrying.
When I get back in the apartment, I drop Miguel to the floor and close and lock the door behind me. Analeigh’s still in place with tears falling down her face as she watches the sleeping bag start to move.
I unzip it, rip the tape off of his face, and pull the cloth from his mouth. He sucks in a breath and instantly spots Analeigh on the couch.
“Now,” I say, pulling my knife from my pocket, releasing the blade and pointing it at each of them, “I want the truth.”
THEY BOTH START talking over each other, their voices frantic and rising to a level I’m not comfortable with. I can’t even make out what they’re saying, so I step in.
“That’s enough! Nobody say anything until I say you can. Understand?” They both nod. “Where is your phone, Analeigh?”
“My phone?” she asks, panic thick in her voice. “Why?”
“It doesn’t matter why, just tell me where the fuck it is.”
She jerks her head towards the kitchen. “On the counter.”
I grab it and go to unlock it, but she actually has a code. “What’s the code?”
She doesn’t answer right away and it pisses me off, so I step up to her and place the blade of my knife on her lips. “You don’t want to make me even angrier, sweetheart.”
“Four seven three five.”
I enter the code and go straight to her messages. The text thread between her and Miguel is the one I’m interested in, and I hit pay dirt, because she apparently doesn’t ever delete any of their messages.
As I scroll through them, I hear her sigh and when I look up at her, something in her demeanor has changed.
Analeigh: I talked to him after work last night. I think this might actually work.
Miguel: Good. What did you talk about?
Analeigh: I’ll call you.
I scroll through some more that have nothing to do with me.
Miguel: You heard from him yet?
Analeigh: No.
I scroll through more.
Analeigh: He’s here at the restaurant. I’m gonna try to make plans with him.
Analeigh: Okay, I’m meeting him tonight. Can you stay at your friend’s place?
Miguel: Why the fuck is he going to the apartment?
Analeigh: We’re just gonna hang out. I’m gonna get rid of all evidence of you. Don’t worry.
Well, that explains why I never had a clue that a man lived here. A text from Miguel came through explaining the day he asked if I had a girlfriend and how I snapped on him. She says she’s at work and will call later.
She texts later telling him how I finally texted her first asking to meet up and that she was going to try to get information from me. She didn’t get much from me but my dick that night. That was also when she kissed me for the first time. There’s no mention of that to Miguel. She just tells him that we’re talking. He’s got to be the biggest goddamn idiot I’ve ever met.
After scrolling through several more, I never see anything from Miguel saying he wants to get her to get me to confess. They call each other quite a bit, so maybe that’s when they discussed more of their plans.
I finally get to one text where Miguel mentions her dad.
Miguel: Are you sure you wanna go through with this? You can just ignore your dad from now on.
Analeigh: Don’t puss out on me. I’ll call you soon.
Miguel: If you get him to do this for you, then I want proof. Just in case.
Analeigh: Of course I’ll get him to. You underestimate my acting abilities. He thinks I care about him. Once I feel like he trusts me, I can bring it up. I tried telling him about my mom and dad, but he had some sob story about how his life was worse. I’ll try again.
Miguel: And if he finds out what we’re doing?
Analeigh: Then that’s when we’ll produce the proof he did it. He’ll go to jail and we’ll be free of him. Gotta get back to work. See you later.
That’s all I really need to see, but when I back out of that message thread, I see another one that catches my attention. She’s talking to someone named Chase. There aren’t many messages to scroll through, but the ones I do see are quite surprising.
Chase: How’s it going?
Analeigh: Fine. It’s not happening as fast as I’d like for it to, but I’ll get there.
Chase: I can’t wait until we can be together.
Analeigh: Me either. Once I convince this guy to, you know, we’ll have the money from my dad and we
can finally run off and start over somewhere else.
Chase: I just wish you didn’t have to stay with Miguel until then.
Analeigh: I know. Trust me. But he works with the guy and I can use him.
Having seen everything I could possibly need to see, I toss the phone on the table and look at Analeigh. She refuses to meet my gaze.
“Miguel,” I state, pulling him up and leaning him up against the couch. “Before I went and got you, Analeigh here got on her knees for me.” Miguel looks over at her and once again she does everything to keep from looking at either of us. “She sucked my cock just to prove to me that she wanted me and only me. Isn’t that right?” I ask her with a crooked grin.
“Fuck off.”
“Oh,” I say with a laugh, looking at Miguel. “Feisty. According to what I just saw,” I state, gesturing to the phone, “Analeigh has someone else. Chase. You know him?” I ask Miguel. He shakes his head, giving Analeigh another death glare. “Well, seems she was using the both of us, and as soon as she got money from her dad’s death, she planned to run off with this Chase.”
Analeigh begins chewing on her lip in frustration. Her cheeks are red and I don’t think it has anything to do with blushing. She’s angry. Good, she’s not the only one.
“What the fuck?” Miguel bellows.
“Oh, spare me,” she spits. “Like I don’t know you’ve been cheating on me.”
“What?”
“Don’t try to deny it. I’ve been sickened by you for a while now. I’ve just been biding my time.”
“I’m sorry,” I say, cutting in. “I think you two are confused. This isn’t a couple’s counseling session. I don’t give a fuck about your shitty relationship problems. I’m not sure if you think you’re getting away with what you did, but I’m going to tell you now that you’re not.”
Analeigh meets my eyes for the first time in a while. “What?” Her voice is softer now.
I stand in front of her, towering over her half naked body shoved in the corner of the couch. “Oh, I forgot to tell you. I have killed someone. Not just Michael, but seven in total. Most of them were planned, a couple weren’t. It doesn’t matter anymore. I’m no longer living my life by a list. I’ve come to terms with who I am, and I’m fine with it. You were both right about me,” I say with a malevolent smile. “Happy?”
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