Page 87 of The Weekend Getaway

Jason had killed them. Alex, Mia, Grace, Chris.

He was a monster. Reprehensible. Had he always been that way? Sarah tried to remember what he was like in college. He’d always been an acquaintance. Never a real friend. Someone she saw around campus and waved at. Someone she saw at bars when she went out with Grace and Mia. They exchanged polite conversation. Sarah didn’t remember the two of them being alone. They didn’t even have any classes together. He was just Alex’s shy friend, intelligent and introspective. Cute and quiet.

Jason was the very last person she would have expected to rape her.

Sarah pressed her lips together, praying her sobs wouldn’t escape. Wouldn’t alert Jason to the fact that she was conscious. After he’d hit her, she must have been out for a few minutes because she remembered waking up, realizing she was being carried into a cave.

He’d dropped her on the ground like something that didn’t matter, something he planned to get rid of, and Sarah had known he was planning to kill her. She’d known he was a murderer. Chris’s gasping, garbled words made sense now.

Jason … killed them … all …

But that wasn’t the only thing Chris had told her.

Take the knife …

Sarah stared at the weapon, lodged in the dirt, the tip of the blade stuck in the ground.

Gritting her teeth, Sarah dug her nails into the damp, fetid earth, and reached her right hand toward the knife.

CHAPTER 77

PHIL

“You … “ Phil exhaled, his heart slamming. “Raped Sarah?”

Pacing faster, from one side of the cave to the other, Jason said, “I didn’t mean to do it but I didn’t have a choice … the only way I could ever be with her was to force her, and I know it was wrong, but Sarah was wrong, too because she knew that I loved her … she knew I would do anything for her, but she wouldn’t give me a chance to love her, to be the man of her dreams … instead, she gave Alex a chance … a guy who didn’t give a shit about her … she was betraying Mia by sleeping with Alex … Sarah was a filthy, lying slut so she got what she deserved!”

“She deserved to be raped?

“It wasn’t really rape,” Jason said. “Yes, technically, in the eyes of the law, but the law is not infallible. The law is notalways right. And like Alex told me that night, Sarah didn’t say no … and rape is when the girl says no.”

“Because Sarah couldn’t say no,” Phil said. “She couldn’t give her consent. You raped her because you knew she didn’t want you. She would never want you.”

“Shut up!” Jason roared. “That’s not true!”

“You just said it yourself,” Phil said. “Sarah never wanted to be with you.”

Growling, his eyes wide, maniacal, Jason rushed toward him.

Phil lifted his hands to shield his face.

CHAPTER 78

PHIL

Jason skidded to a stop, mid-stride. “How did you get?—”

Untied, Phil thought, realizing he was free. The rope no longer bound his wrists. Scrambling to his feet, Phil barreled toward Jason, anxious to choke the life from him.

But his legs felt rubbery and numb from sitting so long. On his feet, he felt wobbly and wondered if the GHB had some sort of time-released effect, making him disoriented.

Jason swung at him, landing a blow against his chin.

Phil stumbled back, slipping on wet, dead leaves, struggling to keep his balance. If he fell, if Jason somehow got the upper hand, Phil knew he would kill him. Jason’s self-preservation instincts would kick in, or he’d change his mind, and he’d decide he didn’t want to kill himself.

And what would happen to Sarah?

Jason would kill her. She might be able to fighthim off for a while, but eventually, Jason would overpower her. Phil couldn’t let that happen. Wouldn’t let that happen, even though he owed Sarah nothing, considering the part she’d played in betraying him fifteen years ago. She’d taken her share of the money Alex had scammed from his father.

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