Page 60 of The Game
Crossing my arms, I simply glare at his beautiful face, committing every angular cut of his jaw, the shade of his teal eyes, and the lines of his tattoos to memory.
Once done at the store, we take a detour to campus so I can turn in an overdue essay and so I can grab some essentials I’ve been needing. Cash’s Mustang idles at the curb next to my dorm, Teddy requesting to borrow it for the next few days to give us some hope of a quicker escape. I doubt the bus would allow a man bound and gagged to be lugged on.
Dashing quickly up to my dorm, I am praying my roommate is gone so I can restock my birth control in peace. But as soon as I unlock the door and the scent of that fucking sauerkraut hits my nose, I double over and clutch the frame, gagging so hard my eyes water. Her answering giggle nearly sets me off.
“Sorry! You’re never here anymore. I am making this for a…what do you Americans call it? Friends-giving?”
Pressing my nose in the crook of my elbow, I glare at her innocent face, wondering why Teddy ever called her hot. That has my veins flooding with fury all over again.
“Yup,” I hiss, breathing through my mouth to stifle the awful scent. Quickly, I rifle through my bedside drawer and find my spare packet of pills, grab a few shirts, and then fish out Jonah Fordson’s phone number from my sock drawer. Stuffing it all in a bag, I turn to leave.
“Going already?” Haddie asks, sounding dejected. Sighing in my aggravation, I turn and give her a gentle smile. She was probably expecting some cool roommate who would’ve been excited to show her around and who would’ve shared this experience with her, but that’s not me, and I feel slightly guilty.
“Sorry. I have a huge test to go study for with some friends.”
She nods from her bed, laptop perched on her skinny legs. Is that what Teddy found attractive? How slim she is? Because I’m in shape but by no means am I skinny. Annoyed and fuming again, I leave without a backwards glance.
But when I make it outside and pass an exceptionally smelly garbage can and have to rush to the bushes to puke my brains out, a clammy dread breaks over my skin as my heart races, the idea springing into my mind unbidden but forcefully. As soon as I think about it, I feel awash in weirdness; crampy, sick to my stomach, annoyed and exhausted. It could be everything that is set to happen tomorrow night…but could it be something…more?
* * *
I am numb, my hands shaking so bad, my eyes stuck wide on the two pink lines. Sinking to the bathroom floor, a million thoughts race through my mind. It’s the afternoon; we’re supposed to get to the circus soon, and I am meeting Teddy there. I am alone in his apartment.
And I am carrying his child.
A choked sob escapes me as my world morphs and crashes and expands all in the span of one millisecond. I don’t understand how this is possible, especially since I am so anal about taking my pill at the same time every day. Did he fuck with them or something? I banish the thought and guilt almost consumes me; Teddy would never fucking do that, and I have to tell him right now.
Swiping the tears from my cheeks, I take a calming breath and do what you’re never supposed to do when ill; Google it.
My eyes fly over the screen, looking for any reason my pill may have failed, and when the answer jumps up at me, I groan so loud that the sound makes me sick, and I fumble to my knees to puke into the toilet.
The fucking cupcakes. It was the fucking activated charcoal he used. Fuck fuck fuck fuckfuck. The thought of that unrelenting sweetness makes me puke again, and I pound my fist against the porcelain in fury as I sob.
I’ve betrayed them for good, now. My twins will never take me back, not when I am carrying another man’s child. And the thought of terminating my pregnancy makes me sob all the harder, because Teddy will be the most amazing father, and I can’t take that away from him.
Lost in a daze, my phone buzzes; Teddy’s reminder to text Jonah on his burner phone. I have to shove everything else aside; it’s far too late, and I will tell Teddy before we enact our plan. Reaching for the flip phone on his bathroom counter, I hit the send button on the text we prepared together last night, then chuck it aside, stand up, and lock eyes with myself in the mirror.
Hand slipping down my shirt to press gently over my lower stomach, tears flood my cheeks, ones of happiness and fear and sorrow and confusion, but one thing remains, one thing overshadows everything else in that moment.
This is my child, this is Teddy’s child. It was created from a love born of unrelenting darkness. And I will do everything in my fucking power to protect it.
CHAPTER 30
Teddy
I’ve chewed my thumbnail to nothingness in an attempt to remain cool and collected as I always am in this fucker’s presence. The killing of my father was only the tip of the iceberg for me; after that night, I’d realized the extent of my bloodlust, keeping my excursions from my mother. From the time I was a teen I’d sneak out in the middle of the night and level the playing field of this world as much as I could.
I’d never go to parties like a normal hormonal teenager. No, my tastes from that night onward were singular, my skills honed to perfection, my seething rage unrivaled.
I became cleaner, smoother as I aged, more controlled, but killing has always been messy for me. It’s the one time I allow myself to be completely free, to be as unhinged as my innermost thoughts and depraved desires are. And as Dick settles himself into his creaking desk chair with that sick fucking smile on his face, I feel my demons clamoring to be the first for a chance at him.
I roll my neck at the very thought of how I will torture him, so slowly. It will be bloody and barbaric and so fucking beautiful.
Footsteps on the stairs alert me to Alice’s approach. Keeping my face a carefully constructed and blank mask as the door handle jiggles, I take a final deep breath, sinking into the man made of a monster. My eyes swish to her, taking in her simple outfit of black skinny jeans and one of my old band shirts. It tugs at my heart, pulls me from my façade for a moment.
She’s been crying, today and every day leading up to it, at constant war with herself. Golden blonde locks, thick and lustrous, flow around her slender shoulders, those big blue eyes of hers pointed at the ground, the tip of her nose pink. The urge to go to her, to comfort her as I have been, is strong, but I have to stay rooted. I have until exactly nine before I can put my plan in motion, or my mother dies.
Alice knows how deeply I love her. It’s a love reserved only for her, but only for this moment in time. It will carry on beyond this night, of course, but it will never be the same. That kind of love can never be the same, but I rest assured knowing who I am returning such a beautiful, strong woman to. They will care for her in the way she will need after this. I doubt there’s anything in this world they wouldn’t do for her.