Page 31 of Can't Stop
“Maybe we should give them a chance to repent,” she says.
I blink at her. “What?”
“I dunno. It just feels wrong. This guy is as good as dead, and he and his wife deserve it, but there’s still hope for the other two.”
“Rayna, they wanted to sacrifice me and force you to fuck their dead son. Exactly which part of that screams redemption arc for you?”
She considers this, then shakes her head. “I’m cool with bleeding out the dad and torturing the mom, but the others deserve a chance to?—”
“Yes!” the mother screams. “Yes, this could still work. Use my husband as the sacrifice. We can still revive my boy.”
Samuel adjusts in his seat. It’s the first time I’ve seen the man sweat since meeting him, so that means something about this current interaction is unnerving him. He grumbles something toward his mother, but I can’t make it out.
“I do mean it, Samuel!” she screeches in response. “You were always jealous of Jebediah. Jealous! You weren’t chosen, and he was meant to inherit everything. I should have sacrificed you. Why couldn’t it have been you?”
The grandmother clutches the fox to her chest and rocks back and forth. A gentle whimper eases out of her as she begins to weep. Samuel’s arm reflexively jerks in her direction in an effort to comfort her, but the bindings hold him in place. This show of compassion and care only infuriates the mother more.
“Stop coddling her,” she snaps toward Samuel. “We’re so close to your brother’s resurrection. We can’t stop now. Your father could be the key!”
I’ve heard about all I can stand to hear. I rise from the bed, wrench a satin pillowcase from its pillow, and stuff it into Ma Psycho’s flapping mouth. “Do you ever shut the fuck up? Bitch, your son is dead. I can kill everyone in this room as Rayna grinds on his shriveled dick, and he will still be dead. The fact that you’re willing to throw away your husband’s life and shit on your remaining son is beyond comprehension. You’re cooked, bitch. Now stop squealing and stick your fucking feet to the fire.”
She’s screaming something behind the makeshift gag, and I’m thankful I can’t hear any of it. I step closer to Samuel as Rayna’s observation finally hits me as well. He is a product of the sickness, but he isn’t sick. He still has a chance, and so does his poor grandmother.
“Rayna, cover up,” I say as I reach for Samuel’s blindfold. Once she’s pulled a throw over her chest, I pull the mask away from his eyes. I need to see that he understands what I’m about to say. “I want you to take the old woman and get out of here. Away from Oak Hollow. Can you do that?”
Samuel sets his jaw and nods as tears threaten to spill from his blue eyes.
“Do you understand what I’m telling you?”
He nods again. “I’m ready to leave this all behind. I can’t do this anymore. I’ve wanted it to be over for so long, but I didn’t know how.”
“You know I can’t let them live.” I motion to his parents, and he nods again. “I can’t even promise to make it quick.”
“I can promise it won’t be,” Rayna mutters.
Samuel licks his lips and looks at the bed, though I’m thankful his gaze lands on his father and not Rayna. “Make it quick for him. We all did this for her. We loved Jebediah too, but we knew he wouldn’t come back. She just couldn’t accept it.”
The mother screams something, but I talk over her muffled pleas. “I wish I could say I hope we don’t cross paths again, but something tells me we might. It’s a sickness, Samuel. Just make sure you choose better victims next time.”
He tries to chuckle, but the gravity of the situation won’t let it happen. His chest just jerks, caught on a half-sob. But it lets me know he understands that he can’t come back here. He can’t save his parents. And he wants to, even though he knows they don’t deserve it.
I walk around to the back of the chair and untie his hands. Rayna seems more than pleased, and for the first time, I no longer feel threatened by Samuel. She had the opportunity to take her repaired squirrel and get the hell out of here, but she came back.
For me.
I had decided to wait until we were out of Oak Hollow to do this, but I see no better time. While Samuel goes to his grandmother’s aid, I head straight for Rayna’s side of the bed and kneel. I have no ring. I have no special speech prepared. I just have this undying love for a woman who is my everything and my all.
“Bones?” I look up at her, at the way the rising sun casts a pale orange glow across her skin, and it takes my breath away. “Rayna, I’m more in love with you now than I ever have been, but I’m nowhere close to loving you as much as I ever will. There is not a day that goes by when you aren’t my first and last thought, plus most of my thoughts in between. I don’t have a ring, but I’ll get one. I just need to know . . . will you marry me?”
Ma Psycho bellows something and begins rocking her chair until it falls to its side. Samuel helps his grandmother to her feet and tries to assist her toward the door, but the old woman ducks out of his hold and runs toward the side of the bed.
Directly toward me.
The shock at how fast she moves is so great that I’m unable to get to my feet. Everything happens too quickly. She hurries forward as her right hand punches into the deep pockets dangling from her shoulder wrap. Her left arm grips her fox. I have no time to move as metal catches light. Before I know what’s happening, a gleaming glint flashes in front of my eyes . . .
And then Rayna screams.
Chapter Nineteen
