Page 87 of Selfish Desires

I watched as Zachary's gaze finally met mine, his eyes misty and regretful. I saw a tear trail down his cheek, but he quickly wiped it away with his free hand, never lowering the gun.

“No!” Wendy screamed at the same moment gunfire echoed through the room.

But instead of Wendy collapsing before me, Stephen fell back onto the floor with an expression of surprise written on his face. A red stain spread across his chest, and he clutched at it in disbelief before his eyes rolled back, and he slumped lifelessly onto the floor.

No one breathed, let alone moved in the room as we struggled to place Stephen’s killer until the smoke leaving Cyrus’ gun clouded inches from his weapon’s barrel, still pointed at the space where Stephen stood seconds ago.

“Oh, thank fucking God.” If I could have slumped in my chair, I would. But instead, I continued to rock on my side on the floor as sweat dripped off my forehead.

Zachary dropped his gun to the floor after extracting its chamber of bullets. “Why did you wait so long?” he asked Cyrus.

“I wanted to make sure Stephen never would have suspected.” Cyrus shrugged, triggering a gigantic eye roll from Zachary.

“I always had a feeling. I just knew you were going to figure something out,” I said, still lying sideways and tied on the floor.

“Just shut up. You are so annoying,” hissed Zachary as he went to Wendy to free her first. “Are you okay?” he asked her.

She nodded, her wide eyes still fixed on Stephen's crumpled body. “I... I think so...” she whispered, her voice shaky. Zachary managed a small smile for her as he began to cut her ropes.

“Wendy, my love. Are you okay? Does anything hurt? Here, let me help you.” I reached for her, but the several feet of heavy rope stopped my body from moving.

“Just stop, Vincent,” she said, shaking her head.

“Is that a yes or a no? We can go to the hospital. Zach, you have a car, right?” I watched as Wendy squeezed her eyes closed.

“Vincent, I said enough,” Wendy begged as she winced when one of the ropes separated from her wrists.

“I think she wants you to stop,” Zachary added.

“She hasn’t said anything yet,” I snapped, still struggling against my ropes. “And until Wendy does, I will not stop.” Beads of sweat poured down my face.

“Selfish!” Wendy blurted.

I froze. Did she honestly just use that word now of all times? And was I supposed to listen under these circumstances or just bedroom play?

“Wendy, come on, maybe you’re not thinking straight right now with everything going on.” I watched in awe as Zachary freed one side of Wendy’s body.

“Selfish!” Wendy repeated.

“Why do you keep saying selfish?” Zachary asked.

“It’s our safe word,” Wendy admitted shamelessly.

Zachary froze, peering from Wendy and then to me before he cracked a smile and resumed his task. “Unbelievable,” he mumbled.

“Wait, how come you’re acting all angry with me?” I asked Wendy, ignoring Zachary’s grumbles. “And you, Zach. Why didn’t you tell me you knew it was Stephen?” I turned to him.

Zachary and I waited for Wendy to answer first because we were gentlemen. When she refused to make eye contact with me and continued staring at the cruddy ceiling, I nodded for Zachary to proceed.

“I didn’t say anything because I wanted to protect you,” Zachary said, his eyes not wavering from the task. He finished with Wendy and moved toward me. “The less you knew, the less danger you were in because you were losing it, Vin. You ran away because of fear. I wasn’t sure what would have happened if you knew it was Stephen. Someone who befriended Wendy the moment she moved.”

“So you found this out the night you went on a date with Blair in Newport?” I squinted, trying to piece all the parts together while Wendy was freed from her restraints. She rubbed her raw wrists and flexed her fingers. I desperately wanted to reach out and touch her, but I knew I needed to be careful. Whatever tender confession Wendy spilled moments ago when she thought our lives were about to end had left this room.

“Correct,” Zachary responded, narrowing his eyes at me as he knelt down to cut my ropes. He huffed slightly as he worked, his focus never faltering from the task. “Blair and I were walking back from the restaurant and passed Stephen’s store. He was outside and instantly recognized us, which I thought was weird. Still, Blair didn’t notice because some retro cooking device caught her attention. He invited us in and had Blair play with some cooking contraption that caught her attention while he pulled me aside with a gun pointed at my back, and that’s when I found out everything. And I also promised Stephen to deliver you after he told me he’d take care of Wendy. But he wanted the two of you together to finish you off while I promised to help; otherwise, he’d go after me and my family. But, I knew there were flaws to Stephen’s plan because he was so angry. It was a stupid plan if you ask me, but I knew I had to follow his silly rules to win this. So I did. And I convinced Stephen that by bringing Cyrus along, we’d have all the security we needed to ensure no one escaped. What Stephen didn’t know about Cyrus was his perfect shot that would eventually end his life.”

Every word out of Zachary’s mouth stabbed me like a hot dagger. All the closest people in my life were exposed and vulnerable all because of my actions. And I was the only one who ran. I was spineless.

“You’re not spineless, Vincent,” Wendy's soft voice echoed through my thoughts. It was almost as if she had read my mind. “You ran because you thought you were doing the right thing. But that does not mean I will forgive you anytime soon.”

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