Page 66 of War Games

“A gift-wrapped one with my name on it.”

“Oooooh,” she says excitedly before switching the flip. “Wait. It could be a trap. Does it say who it’s from?”

Pulling the phone away, I switch the call over to FaceTime before turning it around and showing Mila the large box. “I don’t know,” I tell her just as Shadow cuts in, not bothering to turn her gaze away from the bowl of cereal before her. “It’s not a bomb, if that’s what you’re thinking. It’s from Reaper.”

“Oooooh. It’s gotta be an apology for leaving you stranded in that cave yesterday,” Mila cuts in as giddiness flourishes through me. “That’s kinda romantic.”

I don’t have a lot of people in my life and wasn’t one to ever receive birthday presents growing up, and to have someone care enough for me to get me something means more than Reaper could ever know. All I ever wanted as a kid was to have what the other kids had, and unfortunately, that wasn’t a reality for me. I had to work for everything I got, and when Mila came into the picture, the two of us pushed ourselves to the brink of exhaustion until we were capable of having the life we wanted for ourselves. Any gift we bought each other was slaved over, and to receive this gift now . . . It could be a moldy banana, and I’d still be grateful for the thought.

Moving closer to the table, I inspect the pretty box, trying to decipher what could possibly be inside, and judging by Shadow’s lack of interest, I can only assume that she already knows what hides within.

I reach for the big pink bow right on top, and as I start to pull it apart, Mila giggles with excitement. “Holy fucking shit,” she rushes out. “Hurry up and open it.”

A stupid smile stretches across my face, and I tug the bow harder, releasing the pretty ribbon before lifting the lid off the box and setting it aside. I glance down into the box and suck in a breath as the decapitated head of The Executioner stares back at me, the blade still protruding from his eye. But on top of that, the very ID Reaper had plucked off the dirty cave ground and taken off with rests peacefully on top of The Executioner’s forehead.

“Wait,” Mila grunts, certainly having a very different idea of what constitutes romance. “Is that—”

“The Executioner’s head served to me literally on a silver platter?” I say, finishing her sentence as Shadow decides she’ssuddenly interested enough to peer up from her cereal and glance inside the box. “It sure is.”

“That’s disturbing.”

“No,” I say with a soft sigh, my heart filling with the sweetest joy. “It’s the most romantic thing anyone has ever done for me.”

Reaper chooses that exact moment to walk through the front door, his glorious tattoos on display as his shirt dangles from his shoulder. His body is coated in a sheer layer of sweat, and judging by the way every single one of his strong muscles bulge from his sculpted body, it’s clear he’s just put himself through one hell of a workout.

His gaze comes to mine the second the door closes behind him, and as he holds my stare, my heart races faster than it’s ever raced before. “You got me a head in a box,” I whisper as he watches me from across the room, waiting to see what he’s about to walk into.

“I fucked you under a waterfall and then abandoned you in a cave,” he tells me as though I hadn’t experienced it all myself. “You refused to sleep in my bed, so I figured I owed you an apology.”

I go to respond when Shadow gets to her feet, her face scrunched up in disgust. “Gross,” she mutters before reaching into the box and grabbing the handle of the blade. She yanks it out, and The Executioner’s eyeball goes right along with it, and with her prize in hand, she struts down the hall and takes herself to her room.

Reaper scoffs as he makes his way toward me. “She finds the idea of me fucking you gross but has no issue carrying around a dead man’s eyeball.”

A stupid smile cuts across my face, and I can’t help but laugh. “She’s thirteen. I don’t think we’re supposed to understand her.”

Reaper steps right into me, wrapping his arms around my body and grabbing my ass before lifting me up and settling meon the edge of the kitchen counter, right next to the one-eyed head. He moves right between my legs, his hands resting on my thighs as his gaze locks heavily onto mine. “Did I fuck up?” he asks just as the familiar sound of a call ending comes from my phone, reminding me that I was in the middle of a FaceTime call with Mila. Well, not anymore. I’ll have to remember to call her back.

I shake my head as my arms wind around his neck. “No.”

“But you slept in a different bed,” he tells me. “I didn’t fucking like it. My time with you is limited, and I don’t want to waste it like that.”

“I’m sorry,” I whisper, leaning in and brushing my lips over his. “I was being petty and stubborn. I’ve never been good at accepting when someone gets the better of me, and yesterday . . . You kicked my ass. I was embarrassed that I couldn’t even figure my way out of that stupid cave. I should have known better.”

“Don’t—” he starts.

“No,” I say. “It’s okay. I’ve made so many mistakes during these games, and I hate myself for it. I’m better than this.”

“What does it matter?” he asks. “We’re both fucking dying in eleven days. So what if we fuck up and make mistakes? To be honest, I don’t even give a shit about the games anymore. All that matters to me is spending what little time we have left making you happy.”

“Speaking of what little time we have left,” I murmur, lowering my voice so that Shadow doesn’t hear me from down the hall. “I’ve been thinking about that a lot, and what if we didn’t kill each other? This thing between us . . . this is more real than anything I’ve ever had, and I’m not ready to let it go because of some bullshit games. I don’t want this to end.”

“I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t been thinking about the same thing,” he tells me. “But we’d be opening ourselves up for a life on the run. We’d be hunted every fucking day. Is that the life youreally want? You would never be able to go home, never be able to see Mila again. It’d just be me and you with a fucking bounty on our heads.”

“And Shadow.” His brow arches, and I continue. “As if I’m about to leave her to go back to whatever bullshit life she came from. She’s better off with us.”

“Siren—”

“Don’t pretend like you don’t agree with me. You know I’m right.”

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