Page 54 of What I've Tasted of Desire

I glanced up at the clock on the wall above the kitchen door. It was nearly four. I needed to get rid of his body quickly, and get back to Westing House before it got too late. I had a bad feeling Tom was going to come back and try to intercept Alex once it was nighttime and everyone had gone. I wasn’t going to let that happen. I walked into the garage and grabbed a tarp to wrap Tiegan up in. I laid it out on the carpet next to the couch. Once I had him off the couch and onto the tarp, I lifted up the cushion and grabbed the syringe I’d hidden there earlier.

He was supposed to come over, drink the roofie, pleasure himself while I watched, then lose consciousness after his orgasm. I would have given him the injection, and he would have drifted off peacefully into nothingness. I had aplan, and heruinedit, which only reinforced my strong feelings about hating other people. You tried to show them kindness, and they spit in your face.

Once a stupid whore, always a stupid whore.

Chapter Twenty

I buried Tiegan in the hole I’d dug for Tom a few years back, in the woods along the highway. I didn’t have time to disassemble him and feed him to the pigs like I’d have preferred, but it was what it was. The circumstances made me grateful to my past self for having dug it. It was a good place for a burial; eight feet deep and nestled among the thick roots of trees. This far from the traffic, the forest was deep and quiet. More peaceful than Tiegan deserved. High rainfall in the area made the soil naturally more acidic, which I hoped would speed up the decomposition of his body.

I’d burned the couch cushion along with the several sets of gloves I’d used and the clothing I had worn, and buried the ashes with the body. I was 55 miles out of the city, and it was already getting dark.

Fuck.

I pulled off the highway half-way back into a truck stop and quickly showered before putting onanotherset of clean clothes. The stop was damn-near deserted, and for that, I was grateful. I wasn’t in the best mood, and the last thing I wanted to do was have the time or the strength to bury another body this evening.

Alex hadn’t called or texted all day. The thought of him being upset with me made me physically sick to my stomach. That didn’t mean I wasn’t going to keep him safe. I barrelled down the highway at well above the legal speed limit, Alex’s tear-soaked face shuttered across my mind like a scene in a film with a broken projector.

“I didn’t have a choice, baby. I vowed to leave him alone for your sake, but I couldn’t let him scream in your face and grab you like that.”

You should have killed Tom and taken Alex years ago. If Tom had already been in that hole, none of this would have happened. We wouldn’t have had to take our frustrations out… elsewhere.

“That was for a reason. I had to close up that loose end. I couldn’t risk Alex ever finding out about him.”

Sure, Jan…

I pulled into Westing House 40 minutes after the sky had turned inky and parked as close as I could to the front walk. That not only blocked the path to the porch, but gave me a good view of the entire fence line. I’d be able to see if Tom tried to hop the fence or if he came through the gate. Having slept very little the night before, pleasuring Alex twice, fist-fighting Tom, and killing and burying a hooker in the woods were all starting to catch up with me.

I cracked the top of one of the two Monsters I’d picked up at the gas station and took a long swig. The shit tastes vile, but if I was gonna be on watch duty all night, it was either this swill or cocaine. The only person I knew who could get me coke was Jason, and I hadn’t broken the news to him that I’d killed one of his boys yet. Not only was that going to be an awkward conservation, but it was gonna cost me a small fucking fortune, I was sure.

I looked off into the distance, trying to estimate the market value of snuffing a hooker. From a financial standpoint, I’d imagine you’d have to figure out feasibly how long the hooker would work in years, then you’d have to estimate how many tricks they’d be able to turn across the span of those years, and then multiply it by the average revenue per job. Right?

I jumped up off my seat and flung my arms up, dropping the can in my hand into my lap as the shit came spraying out of the top and all over myself and the car when Alex tapped on the passenger window. I had been looking out the side, lost in thought, and I hadn’t even seen him walk out of the house, much less all the way up to the car.

I grabbed the can up, tossed it into the cupholder, and rolled the window down. “Alex. What are you doing here?”

Is he still mad? He looks mad… he’s frowning. But he’s so fucking adorable… look at those dimples!

He scoffed and folded his arms across his chest. “I live here. What areyoud-doing here,” he asked pointedly.

Oh, yeah… he’s mad.

“I’m making sure Tom doesn’t come back.”

“What? W-why would you think T-tom would be coming back?”

“Look, Alex. I know you said he’s your friend from the foster home and all, and that he looked out for you. I appreciate that, but I’m sorry to tell you, if you haven’t figured it out already, he’s the one stalking you, and I’m not going to let you get hurt.”

Alex sighed. “I really don’t think Tom is the stalker,” he argued, as his body began to shiver from the cold. He was wearing a plain T-shirt and pajama pants—he was in no way dressed for the weather.

“Really?I had to fight him in your driveway this morning!”

“Had tomight be a bit of a stretch,” he snipped.

I put my hands up in defense, “He was yelling at you… Intimidating you! Andthenhe put his hands on you. So, yeah. That means Ihave tofight him. It’s in thebeing a good boyfriendrule book.”

Alex huffed, “Y-you don’t g-get to…”

“I’m sorry if you’re upset with me! But that doesn’t mean I’m not going to keep you safe, Alex. Now, go back inside before you get yourself sick.” I turned my head away from him and peered back out the driver’s window. “Look… you’ve got three breaks in the fence,” I pointed out the windshield. And there's no lock on the gate. All I had to do was push it open. Any idiot could just waltz right into the front yard…”

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