Page 27 of The Devil's Dilemma

“I’m not killing Joel.”

“But you’re lucky. You won’t kill him.”

Austin looked at me, the indecision clear on his face, until, eventually, he took the gun from me.

“I’ve never shot a gun.”

“Just point and shoot. It’s ready to go.”

I cocked my gun, the click loud in the quiet room.

“You can’t make me do this.”

“I can’t, but I can give you some encouragement. Do you want to see Freddie die?”

He turned away from us, the gun dangling by his side.

I didn’t want to shoot Freddie. He seemed most inoffensive. This was about Joel and his smart mouth. If he hadn’t brought that shit up about me being fake, I might have thought about letting them go, but I couldn’t let that slide.

I was the fucking Devil.

And what better way to prove a point than to have his friend do it? That might have seemed cruel, but I owned that shit.

I wasn’t here to make friends.

“Freddie thinks you should do it. Tell him again.” I pressed the gun harder into his head, and he whimpered.

“All right, I fucking heard you.” Austin’s voice broke, and when he turned to us, tears were streaming down his cheeks. He glared at me with pure hatred. “I fucking hate you.”

I shrugged. As if I gave a fuck.

By now, Joel was a blubbering mess, heaving sobs racking his body.

Austin pointed the gun at Joel. “I’m so fucking sorry.”

He squeezed his eyes shut and pulled the trigger. The kick of the gun jolted his arm.

Well, damn. Seems he was lucky after all. Either that or he’d missed.

Joel continued to cry, and Austin opened his eyes, relief clear on his face.

Except he wasn’t done.

“Best of three,” I said.

“What? I did what you asked.”

“And you’ll do it again.”

“I can’t. Shoot me instead.”

“Now, where’s the fun in that? I need to see just how lucky you are. Your friends here think you’re the luckiest person in the world. Why don’t we prove it?”

Conrad removed the gun from Austin’s still-trembling hand. I wouldn’t have been surprised if he’d missed his target.

“You might only need one more shot. Come on, I know you can do it.”

I nodded to Conrad, and he handed him the gun again, cocked and ready to go.

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