Page 69 of Grave Games

“He’s coming, he’s coming, he’s coming!” Wide-eyed with outright terror, Josh ran off into the darkness, dragging me behind him like a pull-toy, and I would have bet every cent I had that he’d forgotten he was holding on to me.

“Josh, wait.” The borrowed platform heels I wore weren’t meant for mad dashes. To my horror, first one then the other flew off my feet to be left behind in our wake. “Josh, goddamn it,stop.” We reached the island of straggly trees and bushes in the middle of the parking lot, and I went to one knee in the gravel when I stepped on something thorny in the darkness. My toes were already going numb, but I still felt that. “Geez, what the hell is wrong with you? You’re like that commercial of idiotic teenagers hiding from the killer behind a wall of chainsaws instead of getting in the car and calmly driving away.” With a hiss, I plucked the burr out of my foot, then yanked my phone out of my pocket and hit Romeo’s number. “I’m calling Romeo. I don’t want him to panic when he can’t find us at the bonfire. Which we’re returning to, by the way.” At the very least I needed to retrieve my shoes so I didn’t come down with another case of frostbite.

“Idiotic?” Clearly my brother’s brain was a few steps behind me, and he stared at me as if he didn’t know who I was. “You’d run too if you’d ever seen this guy in action. Helaughswhen people scream. He thinks all human suffering isfunny, especially when it comes to skinning people. I mean, fuckingskinning people, can you imagine? If he traps you—”

“But that’s exactly my point, Josh.He’sthe one who’s trapped in here withus.” Putting the phone to my ear, I listened to the other end of the line ring. “Us, as in lots of people. You’re just helping him out by separating us from anyone who’s strong enough to do something about him.”

“Looks like your sister got all the street smarts while you got the book smarts, Chef.” The familiar voice came out of the darkness, and I turned to watch Slash emerge from the shadows, a gun in his hand and a grin on his face. “Ditch the phone, Shy.Now.”

My blood iced over even as Romeo answered the phone. “Shy? Where are you?”

Without saying a word and keeping the line open, I dropped my phone into the thorny, leafless bush I stood next to.

Find me, Romeo. Find me, find me, find me, please.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Mayhem and Madness

The roar of revving motorcycles ringing the bonfire faded into nothingness as I zeroed in on the gun Slash held. He hadn’t fired it yet, so that told me he was either worried about the sound of it going off, or he was waiting for something. Either way worked for me.

“I was wondering how I was going to get the two of you separated from all the fun and games over at the bonfire, but thanks to you, Chef, you solved that problem for me.” In the dimness, Slash’s manic grin widened that much more. “Who knew that one little M-80 firecracker would make you rabbit out of there like your tighty-whities were on fire? You’re such a fucking pussy, it’s laughable.”

“Everything’s laughable to you, Slash.” I spoke in a forceful tone to keep my voice from shaking, but also in the hope that my phone’s connection to Romeo hadn’t been lost and he could hear every word being said. “You know what’s laughable to me? The moment you shoot that thing, the sound of it will make all those LEOs out there swarm. I don’t care how buried we are in these trees, the whole world’s going to hear you murdering us.”The trees, Romeo. Look for us in the trees.

“You really think they’re smart enough to tell the difference between fireworks and gunfire? You’re funny.” As if to underscore his point, the group near Ride Or Die set off a series of crackling fireworks, followed by howls of revelry.

Damn it.

Time to change the subject. “You’re the one who took Arthur out of the compound this morning, aren’t you? You’re the one who murdered him.”

“Well, I didn’t murder himpersonally, but yeah. That was little ol’ me. I laughed for the rest of the day just thinking about how surprised he looked when I shoved him into Ghoul’s truck.” He mimicked an exaggerated look of surprise, his mouth a sudden, shocked O before he snickered. “Wouldn’t be at all surprised if he wound up pissing himself before he kicked the bucket.”

I would kill this sonofabitch myself with my bare hands. “How’d you do it? Everyone’s on alert and they all know there’s at least one spy in their midst, so how did you get Arthur out of the compound?”

“Ooh, listen to the newest ol’ lady spilling the tea. Someone’s been sharing classified club business with you when they shouldn’t have.” At that, Slash laughed that hyena’s laugh that I hoped pinpointed our location to anyone who was within earshot. “No one outside of the club officers is supposed to know about Tyr’s little spy problem, but I get it. Pillow-talk happens, even with Tyr’s oh-so special Chief of Security. I just find it fucking hilarious that Romeo’s running around like a chicken with his head cut off looking for leaks, when all the while he’s been leaking shit to you. What a hypocrite, am I right? Can’t wait to call him on it.”

That would be quite the conversation, telling Romeo what I’d said right before my murder.

I shivered again. “I’m sure he’ll want to know how Arthur got off-property, just like me.”

“Who gives a shit? Kid’s gone now. Say bye-bye to the kid.”

I really, really hated this guy. “He was my friend.”

“Some friend you are, sending him off to his death when that buffalo chicken-trap was baited for you, not him. Oh, yeah,” he nodded vigorously when my jaw dropped. “I’m the one who took the bags of chicken wings off the delivery truck and tossed them in the dumpster. Spur-of-the-moment plan on my part, I’ll admit, but it worked. Well, sort of. When I went into the kitchen looking for coffee and found you all by your lonesome, I tried to figure out how to get you out of the Barracks kitchen. That’s when the delivery truck showed up, so I went for it. Imagine my disappointment when you sent the kid instead.”

“Why even bother with me?” I asked, fighting the urge to glance at the phone I’d dropped in the bush. The last thing I wanted to do was call attention to it, but if it had broken when I’d dropped it and Romeo wasn’t hearing any of this, my brother and I were doomed. “In fact, why even chase us into this stupid little island of trees? What’s the point?”

“The point? The point is mayhem and madness, you dumb bitch. The point is waltzing into your enemy’s home, eating all their food, moving all the furniture around and taking a dump on their bathroom floor, just to show them there’s nothing they can do to stop you. And then there’s also the order of getting Chef back just so we can kill him as a warning to anyone else who might be thinking of abandoning ship. So, yeah. Lots and lots of points, really.”

I heard Josh’s breath shudder, but he stood his ground. “If that’s the case and Hades wants me dead, why did you bait a trap for my sister? Why not go straight for me?”

“Because I didn’t know where you were, dummy,” came the simple reply. “But I knew where Shiloh was, and I knew that her man Romeo knew where you were. Figured if I could get my hands on her, Romeo would trade you to get her back, so I went for it. I waited for her to come out of the kitchen looking for her missing chicken. When Arthur showed up instead, I decided it was still an opportunity to wreak a little havoc, so I walked him to a gate no one uses beside Ride Or Die, talking fairytale shit about how he was becoming a real Gravedigger or whatever, and he ate it all up right until I shoved him into the back of Ghoul’s truck. Like I said—bye-bye, kid.”

“You killed Arthur for no reason.” I started shaking, and it wasn’t from the cold. It was from a terrible, soul-deep anger. “No reason at all.”

“I told you the reason—mayhem and madness. That’s what this world is all about, Shy, and once you embrace that one inescapable fact, youownthis world. Just like I own the two of you right now. Though I don’t really needtwoof you anymore, do I? Now that Chef has come out of hiding, I don’t need the little sister as a tag-along.” Slash’s smile was sharp as he raised his gun and pointed it at me. “Bye-bye, Shy.”

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