Page 74 of Four Times Saved

Please be bluffing..." I begged Tyler, inside my head. "...because I can taste bile and I'm pretty sure that's blood. If I throw up again, I'll expel my guts and bowels through my mouth.

"Well, I can't exactly have you all leaving here, knowing I was the one responsible, can I? You might do something stupid and run to the cops," Tyler said.

Okay, he wasn't bluffing. And he was looking at me while he said that. I turned to glare at Eric and Matt, and Ethan. Why didn't any of them shut me up?!

"That wasn't part of the plan." Ethan stepped up. He and Tyler were the same height. Nose to nose. Similar build. But I doubted very much that, despite underlying anger issues, Ethan would be able to take him on.

"Yeah, well plans change, don't they? Especially when you have wishy-washy people like him hanging around." He turned to give me another look and, you know, I wished I was flexible enough to kick myself in my big ass mouth.

I could beat the shit out of myself right now.

Ooh, I was so mad.

"Why would you even care if we did? You're a former mob boss. Couldn't you get away with it or something?" Matt asked, his voice varying in pitch, thanks to panic.

You're not alone there, brother.

"Once upon a time, sure. But when I left that life behind, I left my allies behind as well. I'm on my own here. Can't risk it. I have too much to lose." I turned to see him shrugging and donning his gloves.

Another wave of sickness threatened me when I spotted the black leather fingerprint protectors. He let the guys get their hands dirty and leave their DNA all over the scene, while ensuring that he left as little of himself here as possible.

"You're trying to frame us." I gasped in tandem with the heaving which sent me into a choking fit.

"What? Don't be ridiculous. I just want reassurance. You know? Help me sleep at night." He smirked, but my mind was going W-I-L-D with repetitive thoughts, shrieking alarm bells and warnings.

"Look at your hands." I gestured toward Eric and Ethan when I was able to stand again. My skull splintered from the excessive force of...thinking. "He let you do that! Without stopping you."

My voice was a screaming siren. Tyler's? Still, annoyingly matter-of-fact.

"Oh, yeah. That was a really dumb idea. Didn't you know that you bring gloves to these things?" He gave them a patronizing look.

What the fuck? I'm sorry, Mr. Unflappable. We don't do this sort of thing every fucking weekend.

He let out a soft chuckle at my expression, which I guessed must have been hilariously shell-shocked, like an electrocuted deer. Don't ask me to make sense right now. It wasn't going to happen.

"Don't worry." He waved off my ever so trivial concern. "The bodies will be dumped in the lake. They'll be discovered when the time is right. By then, their bodies will be washed clean of any of your DNA, I'll ditch the car and scrub this place clean. Come on, let's get cracking. We'll have to get back to the ladies soon." He was like a surgeon, flipping out his knife and moving toward the men as if he was about to perform the same type of surgery he'd been performing his whole career. "So, who's going first?"

He exchanged glances with each of us.

"Yeah, I've never heard of lake water washing off DNA." I protested.

"Well, have you ever heard of anyone being charged for bodies found in lakes?" he asked.

Well, no. I didn't think so. Actually, it took me a moment, but yeah I had. Before I could say so, he clucked his tongue at us. "Tick tock."

Tick tock, what? This ain't no hickory dickory duck. What was he expecting? For me to break out in a fucking viral dance move or something?

He whipped out his switchblade, flipping it open and shut, before sighing. I caught a cramp in the back of my leg, or was that my heart? I couldn't tell, I was tight all over, throbbing in agony.

"Okay, fine. I hate it when they make me pick." Tyler muttered to himself before waving the pointed end of his knife at me. What?

No.

Call on somebody else please.

"Come on up. You're the first contestant, competing for..." He pondered on his way over to grab me by the collar and drag me over. "If you win." His lightbulb clicked inside his head and he smiled. "You get to live. How about that?"

Tyler shoved the knife in my hand, open blade and all, and I began to tremble, blowing out a breath when there wasn't a hole in my hand with the blade and blood hanging out the side of it. Where I grew up, this sort of thing happened all the time. Gangs fighting with other gangs, and the kids getting mixed up in the in between. But I had managed to make it out of that environment. I chose better for myself and created a rich life, full of meaningful accomplishments.

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