Page 87 of Twice as Twisted

“How about ‘good morning’? ‘How are you feeling?’ You could even add a nickname, if you’re so inclined.”

“Okay,” he says, nodding. “Good morning, little monster. How are you feeling? Are you still bleeding?”

“I don’t know,” I admit, moving the ice pack under me. “I haven’t been to the bathroom.”

It’s been a few days since they punished me, and I’ve spent most of it in bed.

“Go clean up,” Baron says. “Then we’ll talk more.”

I hobble to the bathroom and back, then slip under the covers and replace the ice pack. “Not too bad,” I report.

“Good,” Baron says. “Now let’s talk about the other night.”

“What’s to talk about?” I ask.

“Maybe the fact that you ran away?” Duke says.

“I didn’t run away. Do you really think I’d just go to my aunt’s house and wait for you if I didn’t want you to find me?”

“You wanted us to find you,” Baron muses. “Of course.”

“Oh right,” Duke says with a wicked grin. “You like punishment.”

“I didn’t run away,” I insist. “My aunt called and said she was leaving, so I went to say goodbye. When I got there, she mentioned that the body was gone. She thought we’d come to get it while she was sleeping. I told her it wasn’t us. Was it?”

“You wanted us to kill someone to prove our commitment,” Baron says. “What do you want now?”

I glare up at him. “Nothing. And it was one girl. You killed every guy I’ve been with.”

“Well, maybe you should have cared enough to kill all the girls we’ve fucked,” Duke says. “That’s not our fault.”

A frown creases Baron’s brow. “I killed one guy. You killed the rest.”

“I didn’t kill anyone,” I say, frowning back at him.

“Okay, Black Widow Killer,” Duke says. “I suppose that’s just a coincidence?”

“It is,” I insist. “I admit, it’s my fault. I led you to them. I take responsibility for that. But you have to admit we’re equally guilty.”

“What are you talking about?” Baron asks, pinching the bridge of his nose like his glasses are giving him a headache instead of me.

“I led you to the bad men,” I say. “You killed them.”

He shakes his head slowly, watching me through narrowed eyes again. “No, I didn’t.”

I swallow hard, dropping my gaze to Boots, who’s made himself comfortable on Baron’s chest. “Then who did?”

“Why are you lying?” Duke demands, his gaze moving from me, to Baron, and back. I can’t tell who he’s asking, but Baron doesn’t answer, so I do.

“I’m not lying,” I whisper, my throat tight.

“Stop fucking with us,” he snaps. “I don’t know what you’re up to, but if you’re trying to set us up, it’s not going to work. And if you’re recording this somehow, you just admitted to your part. We haven’t done shit. So stop trying to distract us and get out of this. The point is, you lied. You said you were on our side, a partner, and then you ran away.”

“That’s right,” Baron says. “We had a plan, and everyone agreed to it. I’m not the one who broke my word.”

“I didn’t either.”

“You left without telling us where you were going,” Baron says. “That’s running away. We need a guarantee that won’t happen again, Mabel.”

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