Page 20 of Wicked Games

Caleb

Ilet Margo have the night. I’m not an idiot—I know what today cost her.

But the important thing is that we’re on the same page. Neither of us are going anywhere. She needs to know how it feels to be systematically crushed.

And then we’ll see how well she puts herself back together.

“I was going to call you.” Theo leans against his car, and he straightens as I walk up the driveway. “But I figured you might be busy.”

I stifle a laugh. “You find Amelie?”

He follows me into Eli’s house. “She wasn’t home.”

I grunt.

“You found Margo.”

“Indeed, I did.” I flick the lights on. I leave my shoes at the door and lead the way to the basement. “Why are you here?”

He shrugs. “Figured you might do something stupid.”

“Like?”

“Kill Ian.”

I chuckle. “I thought about it.”

“Everyone’s talking about how you kicked them out of Ian’s house,” he says, throwing himself down on my couch.

Margo and I sat there not too long ago. She was the last person down here besides me.

I shake my head. “We needed privacy.”

“That usually includes a room, you know? A locked door.”

“She’s turning into a ghost,” I say to my dresser. I yank out a clean t-shirt. “She needed reviving.”

“Is that what you were doing?” He scowls.

“I don’t think she even noticed it was a costume party.” I get changed, then flop down next to Theo. I stare at the television, which is currently off. “Video games?”

He shrugs. “Sure.”

I flick it on and hand him a controller. It isn’t the most intelligent thing for us to be doing. In fact, it kind of feels like a mind-suck after a while. I enjoy the empty feeling it gives me, so I let our playing time stretch from a few minutes into almost an hour.

I finally drop it and check the time. It’s past midnight.

“Do you ever sleep?” I ask Theo.

“Not really.”

I grunt. “Well, I do.”

He puts aside his controller and stands. “I can take a hint, Asher.”

He slaps my shoulder on his way out, and then…

Silence.

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