Page 115 of Vicious Little Games

Unless she’s off somewhere handling an emergency off-site.

Cass has been avoiding me since last night in the pool, and I’ve been trying to give her space. Space to miss me.

Yeah, it’s probably stupid to think she’ll come crawling back to me when she’s made it clear she doesn’t want me anymore.

Since I’m already tired of waiting, I was going to act like I just wanted her to give me the rundown on what happened during her shift before I take over tonight.

And when I can’t find or reach Cass and Eli both at the same time, my first horrid thought is what if they’re fucking each other?

I seriously doubt it, but once I’m suited up, I go look everywhere in the casino, and then ask security if they know where they’re at. They told me neither Cass nor Eli have left the grounds today. That’s when I decide to go check the basement for them just in case. It’s the only place I haven’t been.

The elevator doors open to the giant concrete room…and there the two of them are together. Thankfully Cass isn’t naked. She has lost her black suit jacket and rolled up the sleeves of her green blouse while she does the last thing I expected with Eli—helps him drag a plastic wrapped body toward the exit.

“Holy shit,” I say when I jog over to them to find out what’s going on. “What the hell happened? Who the hell is that?”

“Guess!” Eli says cheerfully when he and Cass drop the body. The torturer looks awfully chipper tonight. I don’t want to know what he did to the deceased. I just want to know who they killed and why.

Since the end that looks like it might be covering the head is closest to me because they were probably dragging the person by the feet, I go around and rip back the layers of plastic.

And even with most of her hair either missing or burnt to a black crisp, I instantly recognize the dead woman.

“Oh. Fuck.”

“Ding-dong, motherfucker,” Eli says.

“Surprise, the witch is dead.” Cass’s face is blank, but I know that behind her eyes, she’s nervously awaiting my reaction.

“Which old witch?” Eli sings and stares at me as if waiting for me to finish the lyrics.

The only thing I can come up with is, “The cunty witch is deeaaad?”

Cass giggles. She actually fucking giggles before showing me the dead woman’s stomach where either she or Eli carved C-U-N-T into the flesh. She laughs again, covering her face with both hands. “You two…are so messed up…singing the Wizard of Oz and shit.”

“You started it,” I remark as I walk toward her. “How…when…how?” I repeat, at a loss for words.

“You said one of the women was blackmailing you.” Gesturing to the deceased, Cass says, “I found her messages in your phone and pretended I was you when I asked her to come to Vegas for more cash to keep her trap shut. She fell for it, and now she’s no longer a problem.”

“Oh. Okay,” I mutter when I’m standing in front of the gorgeous killer, unable to believe she did this for me. “That’s…good.”

“Is it?” Cass asks. “Are you…is it okay that we…took care of her?”

“If one of you will just hold open the door, I’ll take care of things from here,” Eli offers.

I go over and open the door, stepping outside, so he can drag her out and I can talk to Cass alone. If she doesn’t run.

“Thanks,” Eli says as he clears the opening with Amber’s body.

Amber is dead.

She can’t bother me or demand more money ever again.

Too bad I didn’t have the balls to end her before sending her that last twenty grand…

I go back inside the basement, letting the door slam shut behind me which makes Cass jump.

“Cole?” she asks. “You didn’t answer my questions. Are you…upset?”

“God no.” Scratching my head, I tell her, “Actually, I was just thinking that I wish I could get my most recent twenty grand back.”

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