Page 10 of How to Kill Your Rival

‘Ecstatic.’

He treads back to shore at lightning speed. I can’t help searching for another tiny peek at his glittering piercing.

James emerges from the dark water, dripping wet and glistening in the moonlight. And doesn’t look even a little abashed.

‘Have I shrunk enough for you?’ he asks when he catches me staring.

‘I wasn’t going to say anything…’

‘Good job I’ve got some to spare, huh?’

‘A cock as big as your ego,’ I say. No word of a lie.

‘And I know how to utilise both.’

4

JAMES

Eliza loiters near the treeline as the sun rises, filtering through the branches. Morning dew clings to my boots as I step out of my car, turning them a deeper shade of brown.

I didn’t think she’d come with the vagueness of my text.

Her dark trousers cling to her hips in a way that makes me want to abandon the whole thing and get to my knees as she suggested.

Well, almost.

What I want is to win first.

‘What’s up?’ she asks, by way of greeting.

‘Good morning to you, too.’ I open the boot. ‘Come and have a look at this.’

She saunters over as I step back to let her get a good look.

The man in the boot is alive but incapacitated. I’ve cable-tied his wrists and ankles, gagged him with his T-shirt, and his lips are cracked and bleeding from the fight he put up. He looks up at us both with far too much white of his eyes showing. Aw, little fucker is scared.

As he should be, really.

‘Martin here is forty-four. Charged multiple times with aggravated sexual assault.’ I lean against the car as Eliza trails her fingers over his bindings before yanking out his gag. ‘Cleared every bloody time on technicalities, so I think he must have someone on the inside. Five women’s lives ruined. Could be even more. He told a friend that his favourite thing was hearing them cry and beg.’

Eliza’s eyes narrow.

Martin pales.

‘It’s not like that. He’s lying,’ Martin says, writhing in the boot.

‘Five women?’ Eliza’s fingers wrap around the handle of her knife.

‘At least.’

Her eyes lift to mine. ‘You don’t need me to kill him. So why call me here?’

‘I thought a man like this should experience some real fear before he dies. And there’s little more frightening than being hunted by two killers who want to outdo each other.’

Eliza looks at the woods, then back to me.

‘As if you could ever outdo me. First to kill him gets bragging rights,’ she says. The smile that crosses her face is one of my favourite things in the world. I feel like a cat whose owner has accepted my dead rat offering.