Page 93 of The Masks She Wore

?I waited until his cruiser came speeding around the corner, only to slam on the breaks as soon as he realized she wasn’t moving.

?He stopped a foot away from hitting her. “What the fuck are you doing?” he roared, getting out of the car. “You kids and your fucking arrogant upbringings. Careless. I should ticket you for jaywalking.”

?I stepped out of the shadows, my gun at my side as he stormed towards Zo.

?“You have no respect, no care for anyone else but yourself,” he snarled, pointing a finger at her.

?She grabbed that finger and snapped it back, the crack finding my ears just half a second before his cry did.

?She grabbed his wrist after that and twisted it back, pulling another cry from his lips. “Fuck,” he whimpered, trying to bend his knees and twist in a way that would ease the pain. “You’ll pay for this, youcunt.”

?I let my gun run across the hood of his cruiser, the sound pulling his attention over.

?“What the fuck?” he asked, the anger draining from his voice as he took me in. “Wait,” he started, realizing who I was. “Wait, you said an hour. I had an hour!”

?I pulled up the gun, pointing it at his head, unfazed by his whines. “I lied. Tends to happen from time to time. Why are you extorting Rae Bennett?”

?“I’m not.”

?I pressed the barrel into his temple. “I don’t like liars.”

?“Wait!” he screamed, shaking in his mediocre suit. “Wait, just…” he panted, his eyes wild, sweat dripping down his face. “Let me think, just—”

?“I don’t like when people have to think,” I told him. “It usually means someone is trying to lie to me.”

?Tears dripped down his cheeks. “Okay.Okay!They wanted her dead. I couldn’t give her any information on her mother’s death because there was no murder. It’s all…it’s all part of the game,” he tried, his eyes finding mine. “It’s the game. It’s all a game. He wasn’t happy with their decisions about the game, so he ordered them to finish it. He ordered them.”

?I leaned down, getting in his face. “Whatgame?”

?He shook his head, his eyes filling, a smile spreading across his face. “Even when you think it’s over, it’s still going. It will always keep going. You can’t stop it. Nobody can.”

?I snarled, shoving the end of the gun into his skin. “Tell me who spoke to you, tell me—”

?He moved his jaw around, his tongue, and crunched down.

?My heart stopped.

?He started shaking, foaming at the mouth.

?“Fuck!”I roared as Zo let him fall to the ground. I slammed my foot into his face, his head cracking back, his body going stiff before sagging into the ground.

?I turned away from them, panting, heart racing. What fucking game?What game? “Why thefuckdid he have a cyanide capsule in his mouth?” I asked, turning back to Zo. We weren’t even required to do that. Who was he? Who was controlling this?

?She was already on the phone to Jade as she toed the man. “Don’t know,” she commented, the foam still dripping from his mouth, his eyes wide, pupils blown. “Guess we’ll have to ask the makers of this so-called ‘game’ when we find them. Or the guy in charge of telling them to end it. Seems like a soldier went AWOL.”

?And the boss didn’t like that.

?Fuck, I wanted to kill someone. Anyone. All of them.

?I paused and straightened. Max. It was a good enough start. He had to know something about this. Even if he didn’t, he’d be a good enough punching bag until I found someone else to punish.

19

Rae

November 16th, 2019

The drive was quick. Or I suppose I just didn’t remember it. I was too lost in thought, thinking about Jack, about my mom, about the Initiation Program, about Viv. About everything Zo had told me.

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