Deadly (6 page)

PRESENT DAY

Tapping his finger down on the licence, the overweight jerk’s jaw tightens. “How did you know Miss Yates?”

“We were friends.”

“Were?”

“Yes, were, she betrayed me.”

“So you killed her?” he grates out and opens a folder, flicking through before tossing a photo at me. “And why were you at the scene of Hannah Lawrence’s murder? The lake they pulled you from is where she was murdered. Did you set her memorial bench on fire?”

Oh!
Ding, ding, ding.
Maybe he’s not as stupid as he looks.

“I want to cut off his nose and feed it to him,” Ryan whispers into my ear, making me smile.

“That bitch didn’t warrant a memorial bench.” I glare.

“Really, so you knew her?”

“Is that relevant?” I ask, confused why I’m still in here.

“Wallis, can I speak to you outside for a minute.”

1 MONTH AGO

The ocean is so vast, so deep and dark…beautiful.

“Will you take me with you, when you leave?”

Georgina’s question is one I’ve asked Ryan over and over this past few months and he’s against us taking her anywhere, he likes to remind me that she’s not like us and although she’s not, she’s not quite normal either. I know he’s jealous of the fact I want to keep her around and that I spend time with her, and jealous is not an easy feeling to rile out of him, and one he probably would never admit to feeling.

…It’s too human

But in three months, I have grown a bond with her and that was something I never thought I would create outside of Ryan. Don’t get me wrong, it’s nothing like the intensity of what tethers Ryan and I but nonetheless, it’s something - and I liked having something. I know it was more of the fact it unsettled Ryan. He liked to play games and so did I. It was getting close to the time we would be moving on but we left a mess here, Jack for one. So I know we will be needing new names, new lives that never really happened, a whole identity fabricated.

He never admitted how he got those every time we needed them but I know more than likely my father was involved. Bringing him to mind brings with it the thought of Mom, I wonder what she would make of who I am now.

… She would cry

He’s leaving me tonight for a trip I’m not allowed to go on with him. He said it will only be twenty-four hours but my heart won’t settle since he told me about it. He knew he would be making this trip that’s why he brought me back to the States five months ago, he always brought us back here when we needed new identities. I don’t know why he just didn’t have them shipped here in the post but if I know Ryan as well as I think I do, it would be because he liked to rub it in my father’s face that I’m with him. I chose him.

What if he leaves me and doesn’t come back?

He wouldn’t, would he?

Every time he left me, which wasn’t that often, he was always there when I woke up, lying next to me, holding me. I’ve never felt a more serene moment in my life than in those moments.

Then why the doubt now?

I worry that maybe I push my luck, test his patience with me, that’s why I like having Georgie around. Having another woman to talk to and get feedback from. She doesn’t judge me… us, or the way we live, which I know makes her like us a little, right? She must have the darkness inside her also, maybe not as severe but it was there lurking behind her Barbie blue eyes.

“Well do you think he would? He hates me, doesn’t he?” she huffs, rubbing sun lotion into her already greasy, tanned skin.

“He’s not partial to anyone Georgie, but I don’t think he hates you. He talks to you just fine, why would you think he hates you?”

She raises a perfectly plucked brow in my direction and drops the sun lotion beside her. “The last thing he said to me was Robert Hansen, a serial killer back in the eighties, would kidnap women and release them in Alaska’s Knik river valley before hunting them.”

Laughter isn’t the response she expected. Her mouth pops open and she swats at me. “It’s not funny, it’s creepy.”

“No, it’s Ryan,” I correct.

“Well, whatever, it’s a weird thing to say and he hates that I sleep in your room with you.” She points her finger at me. I don’t like her talking about Ryan, she didn’t have the right to. I stay silent and she takes that as an invitation to keep talking. “Do you know how many times I’ve woken up to him sitting in there in the dark watching you sleep?”

I like that he does that, it’s not weird, it’s endearing.

“And don’t even get me started on when you have a nightmare, he practically assaults me.” She rolls her eyes and gets herself comfortable on the lounger.

“Pushing you to the floor is hardly assault Georgie and you’re acting like you don’t know who you’re staying with. You knew Ryan before you even met me, you know what he can be like.”

“No, I knew ‘Ryan the guy that came to Lair whenever he was in town’, which wasn’t often. Jack knew him from years ago and said he was a little cray, cray.”

I lean over and grab her wrist, my fingers biting into the delicate skin there, making her wince. “Be careful Georgie, there is nothing crazy about him and if there is then I’m just as crazy, and so are you. You haven’t left yet,” I point out. She’s had many opportunities to get away from us but she doesn’t, she’s lonely and we’re all she has.

“Oh check out those guys, I bet I can get them to buy us drinks at the beach bar,” she says, completely changing the direction of conversation.

I drop her wrist and follow her line of sight to the small gathering of guys looking our way. I didn’t like this side of her, she let herself be objectified and appeared to delight in the fact.

“I can buy our drinks,” I state.

“Where’s the fun in that?” She waves over the group and I cringe as they all bowl towards us. She maneuvers her bikini to perk up her breasts and it’s nauseating.

“Drink?” One of the men asks and I shake my head no. I stand from the beach chair I reluctantly sat in when I finished my swim because Georgina bitched me out for never letting her patch up her tan. The sand is hot on my feet and I have to step from foot to foot trying to recover my flip flops from under the chair. My skin’s a little red from the overexposure and I’m a little peeved that I let her talk me into staying here, sunbathing on the freaking beach like roomies on vacation. This wasn’t me.

It’s her… she’s not good for you.

“Oh come on, where are you running off to? One of the guys asks, grabbing me around the waist and pulling my body against his. My skin burns from the contact. I hate how he assumes he can just grab women like this.

Fucking Georgina!

“Take your arms off me now!” I growl generating a group laugh.

“Oh lighten up, let me buy you a drink, your friend called us over here.” And said friend is so busy flirting up a storm she has no idea the thundering hurricane that’s going to come from her being a stupid bitch and getting me into this situation. The angry burn inside me was heating at a rapid rate and was about to burst into flames, scorching everything within reach.

“Your friend likes attention huh?” he whispers in my ear, snaking his hands further around me. To anyone else it was harmless, a group messing around and flirting but this wasn’t who I was. I didn’t like people’s hands on me unless Ryan was around to teach them a lesson for it. My head began to cloud and the whispers began chanting.

…Kill him…Kill him…Kill him.

“Man let her go, she looks like she’s really freaking out,” I hear one of the other men tell the man holding me. He sounds far away but I know he’s not. The arms release me and shove me away, making me stumble.

“Hey chill lady, we just wanted to have some fun,” he defends, holding his arms up and grinning like a fucking fool.

…Show him your kind of fun Cereus

Without thought of consequence I grab the empty glass from the table next to me and I smash it straight around the side of his brainless head. The glass breaks on impact and slices my hand open but also makes an impressive gash to his head. Yells ring out and the next thing I know the guy is screaming ‘Bitch’ and hits me with a closed fist, sending me falling to the sand. Georgina’s screams play out on repeat as I try to shake my blurry vision. The douche can hit.

Ryan’s going to go homicidal… Hmm, actually Ryan’s always homicidal.

Soft small hands touch my shoulders. Georgina’s overly-scented body crowds over mine. She’s still screeching. “You freaking hit her, you woman beating asshole.”

I manage to turn my head to see the douche being restrained by his friends, the gash on his head pumping out a steady flow of rouge liquid.

My favorite color suits him.

“She’s a crazy fucking bitch!” he yells. We’ve gained an unwelcome crowd including the staff from the bar. I notice one on the phone.

She’s calling the police. Get out of there.

I manage to stand despite some woman telling me not to get up because I’m injured. I grab my towel and hurry away from the crowd with Georgina running to keep up and a chorus of people calling me to come back.

“Oh my God Cereus, are you okay? I can’t believe how that escalated!”

“You shouldn’t have brought them over, you know I hate people,” I growl, the throb on the side of my face annoying the hell out of me.