Page 17 of Iris' Lying Eyes
“Or I make that boy disappear for good.”
Wait, what?
“B-boy? Sam?” I ask and my stomach turns to lead when he slowly nods. What the fuck?
“You have Sam?” I ask because part of me can’t believe he’d be so diabolical.
“Yes. Tell me what I want to know,” he says, and I wrench away.
There’s an awkward silence while I process this newest turn of events. I feel stupid for believing they were here to help, but what did I really expect?
I’ve been lying to them for years.
Across the room, Jig shifts, and I scan their faces one by one. Alice flinches away from my snarl, her blue eyes wide. Rain drops her head, and Cyn raises a fucking brow.
“You’re no better than all of them,” I say, pointing at Alice. “He’s innocent.”
“No one is innocent,” Bastion barks. “Sit down and put that dirty fucking mouth to good use.”
I’m sorely tempted to gut him, and I eye the plastic knife on the table like an idiot before common sense returns.
Grabbing the chair, I pull it out roughly, ignoring the screech before slamming into the seat. I glare into nothing with my arms crossed over my chest and spit, “Well?”
Rain sits beside me, her eyes cautious as she says, “What about, um, Hunter?”
“He hunts out there.”
“Hunts?” Alice chimes in, glancing at Jig uneasily.
“Yes, hunts. He picks up women and drops them out there. Gives them a head start and hunts them down.”
The silence that follows is deafening. But I’m immune, my mind whirling with thoughts of Sam. Would Bastion harm a child? Before, I would’ve said no.
Now I’m not so sure. Fuck me, but I’ve jumped from the frying pan into the fire. When will I ever learn? Trust no one.
“And John? How is he involved?” Cyn asks.
Shrugging, I stare at my cuticles. “If a woman doesn’t work out, he gives them to Hunter.”
Rain moans and drops her head, but I look to the ceiling. We’ve only scratched the surface of what goes on in the darkness of those fuckers’ minds.
“What about the girl?” Alice says.
“Which one?”
Jig chuffs, but I don’t fucking care. I’ve seen so many faces over the years. It used to bother me until I realized I was just another face too.
“Her name is Liberty.”
I fucking knew it! This is about her. But why? What do they get out of it?
Screwing my face into boredom, I say, “Who?”
These fuckers are determined to get us all killed if we’re not already headed there.
“What are you not saying?” Bastion says, and I sigh. Why does this all feel so fucking familiar?
I refuse to look at him and stare at the ceiling as I say, “Trust me when I tell you, you do not want to go down that road.”