Page 87 of Ready Or Not

The man makes a choked sound, rage filling his gaze. He tries to stand up but stumbles. I may have taken out some important muscles. Whoopsie.

I turn around, covering my eyes. “One. Two. Three.”

I hear nothing behind me, and it annoys me. He’s not playing the game. Fucking hell, I wish Rachel were here. I wish she was watching me with those big, pretty eyes full of horror. Horror and admiration.

“Ready or not, here I come.” I turn around.

The man hasn’t moved. Which just pisses me off. I grab him by the collar, yanking him forward so he falls on his hands. “Crawl, bitch.”

That gets a reaction out of him. It’s pain. I get a slight dose of pleasure watching him suffer, but it’s ruined when he still doesn’t move.

I glance around again, trying to imagine Rachel standing by the couch. But it’s not doing it for me. I want her here. Now.

I kick the man’s head in disgust. He just crumples.

My breathing picks up. This is not what I needed it to be! That shaking is back. Images of what this man did come one after another after another.

I stumble back, beating the side of my head, trying to break them free. They wouldn’t be here if I had a distraction. If Rachel was watching, he’d just play my motherfucking game.

What I do from there is a blur. All I see is a lot of blood, and all I hear is a lot of ringing in my ear. The next thing I remember is being back in the car on my way to Manson’s.

I won’t let her ruin this for me. Rachel doesn’t get to decide to justnotcome. She doesn’t get to decide anything. She’smine, and I’ll make her fucking remember. She’s coming with me.

46

Dangerous State of Mind - Chri$tian Gate$

I make it to Dad’s place. While I’m digging under the tree, I can’t keep an odd feeling out of my head that Riley got away.

Impossible. It’s impossible. I’m just being obsessive.

My shovel hits something hard. I dig more carefully, unearthing the skeleton.

Trust. I have to get her to trust me. And somehow, I have to trust her back?

I keep digging, carefully removing the skull. It’s brown and dirty and frail. Rachel will fix it for me. I’ll make her. This is actually disgusting.

What am I even doing?

What if Riley managed to get out? I can check on her without breaking trust.

I whip out my phone, checking her location with the tracker I slipped into her shorts.

What the fuck?

Jesus fuckingChrist.

My wife is not at home.

My next moves are a blur. I throw everything in the truck and floor it toward her location.

When I find she’s moved spots, my entire body is locked up. What happened? What is she doing?

I pull up my scanner for the area Riley’s in. It’s close to where Noel used to live, but it isn’t his house. What is she doing? What could have brought her out there? I don’t hear anything on fire traffic, which sends a bolt of relief through me. But when I switch to police, every single muscle I have tightens.

Need more units. Subject is 10-7. Dead.

What in the absolute fuck?

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