Page 37 of Deadly Obsession
“Ah, well. Yes, I suppose, in such stressful times, it’s justified,right?” She sat up and wiped the tears from her eyes before reaching out and accepting the dessert and drink.
I leaned in and kissed her forehead. “This is all going to get cleared up. The power will be back on before we know it and we can get the constables out here to…” My words trailed off.
What the fuck were we going to tell them?
Hey, that’s our friend out there. Two of our other friends are unaccounted for, and my boyfriend is tied up in the closet because we think he did it?
Oh, my days.
Moving over to the sofa chair, I dropped down and curled into a ball, pulling my oversized Mustang hoodie over my knees and feet and disappearing inside it. My mind was going to overheat and explode at this rate. The gears were all turning way too fast. How did I end up in a far worse mess than the one I was hoping to escape?
I dug out my phone and pulled up a photo of me holding Alex in my lap at the zoo.I would give anything to be home, holding him right now.
“Thanks, Sera.” Jade broke me out of my daydream. She had the tub of ice cream between her legs and the bottle of kombucha in one hand, her spoon in the other. “This really did the trick. I feel so calm right now. Almost happy even.”
Her words were surprising and out of place, but one look at her face told me she wasn’t lying. Jade was grinning from ear-to-ear, her voice light and sleepy. She must have been in a state of shock.
“I’m glad they brought you some comfort. Everything’s going to be okay.” I smiled back at her from my hoodie cocoon.
“Yeah, of course things will be!” Danielle affirmed. “Sorry, guys, but should we like, go cover Lola up? I mean, she’s just lying out there… exposed.”
“You’re right. It’s the decent thing to do. I’ll just—fuck all!” Brian grunted while attempting to get up from the couch.
“Will you stop fucking moving!” Danielle scolded him. She stood and pulled a blanket off the mattress on the ground. “Sera will go with me. We’ll be right back. We’ll takethiswith us.” She grabbed the shotgun and tossed the blanket in my direction.
“Right, of course. Be right back.” Grasping the blanket in my hand, I followed Danielle outside and over to Lola’s body.
It took everything in me not to get sick. Jade and Danielle had described what had been done to our friend, but there weren’t words for how horrible this truly was.
“Try not to look. Let’s just place the blanket out over her and get back,” Danielle said, setting the shotgun against the truck tire and stepping around to the other side of Lola’s body. The smell infiltrated my nose, the unpleasant odor of death nauseating me.
“Was she religious? Should we say something?” I asked as we stared down at the blanket-covered lump on the ground.
“I don’t think she was, but it couldn’t hurt, right?” Danielle stepped back to my side and took my hand in hers. “Dear Lord, please?—”
A loud scream erupted from inside. “Girls! Help!”Brian.
Danielle dropped my hand, lunged for the shotgun, and sprinted towards the cabin with me following close behind her. The front door slammed against the wall as we entered.
Part of me expected to walk in and find James with that mad look in his eyes, beating Brian with his bare hands. What we saw instead was Brian on the floor, crawling towards Jade. Her skin turning a light shade of blue and her pupils like pinholes.
“What happened?” I yelled. “Jade!” Danielle and I rushed to her side.
“It sounds like she’s choking!” Danielle screamed, and she wasn’t wrong.
Jade’s breathing was eerily slow, and she was making gurgling sounds. Danielle quickly jumped up onto the back of the couch, leaned down, and wrapped her arms around Jade’s chest. Making a fist while attempting to give her the Heimlich maneuver.
“Jade! Stay awake, girl!” I patted her cheeks as I watched her eyes glaze over just before they shut completely.
“She’s limp! Is she out?” Danielle asked, still furiously pumping at Jade’s chest.
“Yes, she’s out! Jade! Stay with us!” Brian yelled.
I reached for Jade’s neck, placing two fingers over her carotid artery. Danielle paused and looked to me. Her eyes wide. I shook my head.
“She’s gone.” The words barely made it out of my mouth. Two people were dead. Two ofmy friendswere dead. Jade’s body twitched once as it surely purged itself. Then she was still.
“It was like she was choking.” Danielle slowly pulled away to start wiping the tears from her eyes. “Maybe an allergic reaction?”
