Page 61 of Eden's Joker

The thing is, he fooled me. He said all the right things and did all the right things too. And when he had me on the hook, he flipped the script and brought me here on the end of a chain.

How many books have I read where that was the main plot?

Too many.

Maybe that’s why this whole thing doesn’t scare me as much as it should. Or maybe that’s just because of how ferociously he sent those three men away last night when they came for me. No way he did that just because he wants to kill me himself.

I went over and over all that for the entire night. Didn’t sleep a wink.

I’ve been sitting by the window of my bedroom, watching the stars slowly disappearing from the dark sky and light start rising from behind the hills. At first the light was just a band of silvery white against the blue, but it kept growing, kept expanding, kept pushing away the darkness. If I wasn’t as tired as I am, maybe I’d see some significance in that.

The sun revealed a small family cemetery beneath an old oak tree in my direct line of sight. Leaves are still clinging to the branches, black in the darkness, golden as light rose. I heard Tyler’s bike ride up. I knew it was him because I’d somehow know that sound anywhere. But he didn’t come into the house. If I wasn’t as tired as I am, I might wonder about that. And stay put when I see him climb the small elevation that leads to the cemetery. He sat down beside it, leaning on the tree trunk. If I was smarter, maybe I’d just stay inside.

Instead, I find the single pair of shoes they packed for me—my old pair of red Chuck Taylors—then climb out of the living room window and head up to that cemetery as well. It’s so weird he told them to pack my stuff when they abducted me. What kinda kidnapper does that?

It’s cold outside, but there’s no wind. My footsteps barely make a sound as I approach the tree. Tyler’s eyes are closed as though he’s fast asleep and doesn’t hear me. But he opens them once I’m standing over him, the icy plain in them especially empty and beautiful today.

“You shouldn’t be out here, Eden,” he says.

“Because someone might hurt me?” I ask and sit down beside him on the cool, dry earth.

He shrugs. “Yeah.”

“But you’re not gonna hurt me, are you?” I ask, looking very closely into his eyes to get the full answer. I don’t—they remain as desolate as ever as he doesn’t answer my question.

“What do you think this is, Eden?” he asks after a while. “A fictional story like in one of your books?”

This time I don’t answer. Maybe he’s right. Maybe the shock of getting abducted locked my mind into thinking I’m in one of my favorite dark romance books where nothing truly bad ever happens, especially not in the end. Where every abduction ends in a happily ever after and true love conquers all. I probably imagined true love blossoming between us for the same reason. Because my mind is always at least partly stuck in some book. But I’m too tired to even worry about that.

“This is real, Eden,” he says. “You’re here so we can get revenge on Devil’s Nightmare MC. And I will hurt you to get that.”

Maybe he’s tired too. Because there’s no fire in his voice and nothing changes in the peaceful plains in his eyes as he says it.

“I don’t think you will,” I say. “And I don’t think I’m just stuck in some book in my head. I see you, Tyler. And I don’t think this is who you are.”

He scoffs. “Which part? The one who abducted you? Or the one who sat through boring old movies with you?”

The look in his eyes finally changes. Turns manic. Crazy almost. Angry the way it was when he sent those guys away last night.

“Was everything that happened before we came here a lie?” I ask.

He shrugs. “I figured out what you wanted and gave it to you. And that’s why you’re here now, imagining we’re in love or whatever it is you’re doing.”

I look away because I no longer know what is real and what’s just a figment of my wishful thinking. Those words hurt more than his knife ever could, I’m sure.

There are five tombstones here. One larger one, three smaller, all weathered to a smooth surface, making it impossible to read the names that were once on them. A husband and three kids dead, the wife left alone in this world? Too sad to think about.

“How is hurting me to hurt the Devils gonna make anything better?” I ask. “They’re just gonna kill you and all your friends in the end.”

“Not if I kill them first.”

“You won’t.”

He scoffs again. “Because you think they’re unbeatable. But that’s just a fairytale.”

I shake my head. “Because I know they won’t stopuntil they hunt you down, all of you. They’ll never stop coming.”

It’s not something I’m especially proud of, but they’re killers, through and through. And I don’t think Tyler is. Not the way they are, anyway.

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