Page 90 of Little Psycho
Confused, I raise my brow and look at her, trying to decode the twisted look on her face and the dark gleam in her eyes that matches it.She quickly climbs out of my bed and grabs her backpack.Getting back into bed, she digs around in the bag, grinning as she pulls out a single piece of crumpled up paper.
Her list.
“We’re going to cross another name off this list,” she informs me, waving the paper in the air, holding onto it as if her life depends on it.
“By we, you mean...all four of us?”I sit up, daring to reach for the list.
She snatches it away and shakes her head.“Exactly.The three of you are going to help me finish it, like it or not.”Her smirk falters, and her eyes grow even darker than usual, as if a distant bad memory flashes in her mind.
“You mean we’re going to help you kill the rest of the people you have written down?”I feel the anxiety inside me grip my throat, but I try to keep it together.
She nods, not saying a word.
“Can I see it?”I softly ask, feeling nervous.
She shakes her head, folding it back up and tucking it back in her bag.“No, you’re not ready to see it yet.”
“I don’t think that shit is fair.I mean, if we have to help you kill them, I think we have a right to see whose names are on it.”I watch her demeanor shift as she grows oddly quiet.
She doesn’t budge on showing me; she only tries to avoid my statement altogether.She lays down again, her head on the pillow beside mine, staring at the fading black paint covering the ceiling.
Deciding not to push too much, I take out two cigarettes and light them, handing one to her.She accepts it, still silent, gliding the filter across her lips before sealing them around it and taking a puff.
As she blows the smoke out, she speaks softly, refusing to look at me.“There are names on that list that you’re not going to like, Dom.”
My gut twists in suspense as I lay back down, pulling her into my arms again.And even though she fights it at first, when she realizes I’m not letting her go, she gives in, placing her cheek back against my bare chest, exhaling a painful sounding sigh.
“I know I’ve hurt you, Cali.I know we all have—none of us have ever denied it, but you need to know how fucking sorry I am for the things I did.I never wanted any part of it,” I confess, feeling my heart break as I bring up the painful reminders of why we got ripped apart in the first place.
“I know, Dominic,” she whispers, a single tear rolling down the side of her cheek and landing on my chest.
“I’ll do anything to make it up to you.I hope you know that,” I assure her, with no idea of what she might have in mind for my redemption.
“Good, I’m glad you said that,” she mumbles, trying to keep her voice low so I can’t hear it cracking.
But I hear it anyway.I just don’t say anything.
“Yes, of course.I mean it, Calista.Anything.”My lips graze the side of her head, kissing her pulsing temple.
“Good, because one of the names on the list belongs to your father...and you’re going to help me kill him.”
THIRTY-THREE
HALLOWEEN L
REINVENTING YOUR EXIT—UNDEROATH
CALISTA
Icouldn’t sleep.
Even being curled up in the safety of Dom’s embrace, I couldn’t stop my mind from running wild, playing nasty tricks on me by torturing me with flashbacks of the many men who shattered my spirit over the years.
I had to get out of there.I had to run so I could breathe again.
Even with the cold plastic of the mask covering my face, I can still breathe easier than I could trapped in that bedroom.
I walk the empty streets, fog heavily consuming the night.The wind blows, making me shiver, but bringing relief to my hot skin at the same time.