Page 161 of Wallflower

I force my body to stay loose, heart rate steady. “That’s okay, you’ve been through a lot. There’s probably good mixed with the bad.”

“Yeah…” he breathes, pulling back to look down at me. “Are you going to be okay here all alone?”

“Don’t worry about me. I’ll set the alarm when you leave.”

“Where’s your gun?”

I smirk. “Somewhere safe.”

His dark gaze narrows, annoyed he still doesn’t know where I stashed it. “Can you keep it close while I’m gone? We don’t know what happened, and I don’t want someone coming after you. She was basically my ex, and I don’t know if this is some way to get to me.”

Oh, how I want to take your ego down a few fucking pegs, Mr. Morgan, but I’ll let you have this one, since the alternative is confessing to my crime.

“Sure, I’ll get it before I hunker down in a bubble bath with the last of Kyle’s moose tracks ice cream.”

“Don’t fall asleep this time.”

“Promise.” Raising my hand between us, I extend my pinky finger.

Ripley wraps the same finger of his around mine, tightening almost painfully as he uses the tether to pull us impossibly closer.

He presses his soft lips to mine before departing. Halfway out the door he pauses, turning to look back. The action stalls my heart and kicks up the flutterers in my stomach.

With a smile on his face, he whispers words I thought I’d never want to hear again.

“I’ll be back for you, flower.”

Though the clouds have parted, the sky is dark. The moonlight doing little to aid the treacherous trek down to Shantel’s contorted body.

Night has closed in around Bleakcrest, the wispy clouds moving slowly across the stars, blanketing the area in thick shadows. The heavy rain has made the grass slick, the path down the hill now slippery mud. In front of me, Kyle eats shit while leading the way for the third time tonight.

After the storm cleared, he was going to go hit up the liquor store for him and Bucky. The team was going to play a relaxed game of poker, having converted the previous formal dining room into a game room. A black felt pool table now takes up the space where the large dining table used to sit. Three dartboards hang along the far wall, a foosball table, air hockey table, Duck Hunt machine, and other immersive shooter video games lining the other two walls. Vintage Pac-man and Ms. Pac-man machines sit against the back wall of the lobby, the large poker table taking up the centre of the room. Its octagonal shape is the first thing you see when you walk through the door. At least it’s grandiose. Black high back chairs, matching the black felt, and black and white poker chips. Kyle sure knows how to spend my fucking money. I’d complain if he didn’t have such damn good taste. The dark wood and colour scheme makes all the pristine white from before tolerable.

“Son of a bitch,” he curses, righting himself on his feet as they slide around unsteady beneath him. His motocross boots offer little grip against the shitty terrain. We look like a bunch of incompetent drunks trying to safely navigate our way down the cliff’s edge on the far side of the property, my Chucks offering no help as I slip and land on my ass, taking Kyle down with me.

Grunting as the impact shoots up my spine, Kyle death-glares me. “Seriously!”

This isnotthe time to laugh, so I suppress it with every fibre of my being. But he looks fucking hilarious. Soaking wet, dripping muddy water, dirt speckled across his face.

Looking over the edge, Shantel’s body is perched on a ledge, inches away from a deadly drop to the sharp rocks below the crashing waves.

“What was she doing out here?” I direct to Kyle. “I thought she was leaving after a perimeter sweep?”

“I don’t know. Bucky’s inside combing through the security footage again.”

“Shit,” I huff, trying to look for a feasible way down to her location. “Did you call the cops?”

“No, we were waiting for you.”

“What does Bucky want to do?”

“Your guess is as good as mine.”

“Let’s get her inside, and go from there. I’ll pass her up to you.” On the drive over, I realized the police may not be as necessary as I thought in my distraught state. While I don’t want them getting eyes on my woman, I know Maximus had them in his pocket. Paying them off to turn a blind eye to his dealings with threats and fat stacks of cash. Now that I’ve assumed control of the empire, I suppose the police could bend to my will as well. Some things will have to be done on the up-and-up as Bucky’s parents think their kids had stand-up terms of employment. But depending on the findings, I could push the cops into a much less thorough investigation. Or, have them find out all they can so I can allow Bucky retribution, if there’s any to be had.

Kyle nods. “Be careful. It’s slick.”

Since my clothes are quickly becoming unsalvageable, I crawl to the steepest part, starting my descent to Shantel’s corpse.