Page 52 of Tricky Girls

It glints in the hallway light as I pull it out, as does the septum piercing in Tilda’s nose.

Closing the door, I snuff out the light.

She has the curtains open a crack, a faraway forest floodlight offering just enough light to see by.

My brain still balks at the sight of her.

A past player back for another game.

She and Tommy both.

What is this, some kind of reckoning?

And if so, which one of us is to be punished?

I spin the knife in my hands, running my eyes over her sleeping form.

She’s in a hoodie that looks like one of Haz’s, some screamo band emblem on the front. One bare leg peeks out from the quilt.

Has Haz been in here tonight, dicking this ruiner into the mattress?

Would be just like her to fuck and chuck, retreating to her room across the hall.

I’m hoping they’ll get bored.

Everything’s ugly when you get up close.

They’ll have her packing up to return to the Poor House before long.

I can’t shake her off completely, not with hockey, but it’ll make it bearable.

Just.

I hold my breath when she murmurs and rolls over. Dark hair spills down her back, the quilt coming away to bare her knickered ass.

I push out a slow breath.

Those legs.

Good job I’m too low to respond.

Backing out the room, I ascend to my bedroom, knife still loosely clutched.

I won’t sleep, not for a while, but at least up there I can try to forget.

CHAPTER 14

Haz

Figured I had the house to myself until I heard something thump on the floor above.

I check the time. Weird that Nic’s in. Even at her most hungover, she usually just sucks it up with a bucketload of water and something stodgy. Then she’s out roaming the island, getting up to God knows what on her own.

Maybe she’s got a lurgy. Definitely the time of year for it.

I don’t fancy contracting one myself but since Elly and Tilda ditched me for a fun time by themselves, it’s only right I check in on my bestie. Especially after her disappearance last night.

I take the stairs two at a time, making sure she can hear me. It’s possible she’s got a girl round but it’s not often she does that,preferring to take them to her tent in the woods like some serial killer.

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