Page 50 of My Wife

“What are we doing? Waiting for Tommy.”

No. “You said you wouldn’t hurt him. If I?—”

He clicks his tongue. “No. I believe I asked you what you would give me if I spared him. I didn’t make any promises, Cyn. Not like you did when you vowed to be mine, for better or for worse.”

Anger makes me hot. It makes mereckless. “I guess this is the ‘worse’ part then, huh, Clay?”

He shrugs. “If that’s what you want to think. It doesn’t matter anyway. The night’s not over yet.” With a smirk, he adds, “Let’s see how much worse it can get.”

Time crawls.Every second on that couch is an eternity as I listen for any sounds that Tommy’s approaching.

If I can believe Clay, he’s not dead yet. It would be the most fucked-up thing he did all night if he lied, telling me we’re waiting for Tommy when, in reality, he’d dead somewhere on Halo Island. I have hope that Tommy is okay, hope that he’ll survive until morning and get to the ferry instead of returning to the cabin.

But I know better. If there’s any chance that I survived the masked killer on the island, he’ll come looking for me. He’ll have to check the cabin. He’ll come through the front door, and he’ll be killed without even having the chance to protect himself.

He obviously can. With everything else that has happened, I haven’t been able to really come to terms with the fact that Tommy isalsoa killer. It doesn’t matter that Chase didn’t die from his injuries, or that I had to show mercy and finish him off after Clay insisted. Tommy used the cover of Clay’s insanity to get revenge on the boy who hurt me a decade ago. He had to have thought that, when Clay was caught, he could blame Chase’s murder on him.

But that’s assuming he survives Clay first…

He’s whistling. Twisting his knife, whistling a song I know to the marrow of our bones—Stand by Meby Ben E. King, our unofficial wedding song after we eloped—he goes from watching me with a possessive stare to peeking out the window, searching for his last victim.

And then, about a half an hour after we returned to the cabin, everything shifts again. A sense of anticipation creeps into the room as he moves away from the window, resuming his position on the other side of the door, ready to spring out again.

Clay’s green eyes twinkle madly as he puts his fingers to his lips, the flat of his blade against his cheek. “Sh, babe. We don’t want to ruin the surprise.”

I nod frantically, mind racing as I try to figure out how to get Tommy away from here before Clay confronts him.

Confronts him, I think, hysterical and terrified. No.Killshim. He’s going tokillhim.

But he won’t kill me. I’m sure about that now. He was bluffing before, threatening my life so that I could feel justified obeying his commands to get on my knees and suck him off. And if part of me just wanted to crawl to him because heis—was—my husband, I refuse to examine that too closely, not when I’m going to be responsible foranotherdeath.

I actually care about this one. And if that makes me terrible to admit it, I don’t give a shit. If Tommy’s only crime was loving me, that’s not enough to sit here quietly while Clay plots to murder his former best friend.

And that’s why, the second the unlocked knob begins to turn, I take a deep breath and shoot, “Tommy, no!”

I’m too late.

The door pulls outward. Tommy… Tommy fucking Gillis… with his handsome face and those beautiful curls and the eyes that have always been so loving, sokind… Tommy walks into the cabin, lips splitting into a relieved smile when he sees me sitting on the small couch on the far side of the front room.

Clay steps out from his hiding spot, his knife high.

Tommy goes still.

I sob, but I’m frozen in place. I can’t stop what’s about to happen. I can’t even find the nerve to get up from the couch. I’m stuck, and I watch helplessly as Clay’s arm moves.

But the knife never lands. Clay turns the point of the blade inward, angling it away from Tommy as he throws one arm around his shoulder, an awkward one-sided hug. With his other hand, Clay clasps Tommy’s in his as he pats Tommy on the back in welcome.

My mouth falls open as my heart just aboutstops.

“Fucking hell, man? What took you so long? We’ve been waiting.”

What?

Tommy claps Clay on the back, then backs away. He ruffles his hand through his sweat-damped curls, the heights of his cheeks redder than usual. “I know. Sorry. I circled back to make sure that we got everyone.”

What?

“I know. You left Chase alive.”

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