Page 33 of Royal
They snickered, and Brysen munched on more chips.
Once they stopped bickering back and forth, I told them about Grayson, giving the rundown of our history and filling them in on current events.
“So, yeah. That’s what I’m dealing with right now. Not sure what pisses me off more: being dragged into a murder investigation or being thrown back into the arms of my ex.”
“Ah, so you’re in his arms now, huh?” Brysen said, and I was certain if I could see him, he’d be giving me a shit-eating grin like the demon he was.
“No.” I rolled my eyes. “Me and Gray arenotgetting back together. I doubt he even wants to. He’s just…” I didn’t know how to explain it to them. They’d been my best friends for years, but for some reason I’d never gone into detail about my past with Grayson. Perhaps it was because he’d hurt me so bad that I just wanted to block it out. To try and forget about him. “He’s complicated.”
“How so?” Kyler asked, more considerate than Brysen. “Remember, Declan was complicated, too. He was so worried about what other people would think about him that he hid in the closet for years. It nearly killed me when he left me.”
“I remember.” The memory made my heart hurt.
I had hated seeing Kyler like that. He’d been devastated when Declan ended things with him, a feeling I knew all too well. It was why I’d been relentless in my attempt to bring him out of that dark place.
“But Declan came back,” Brysen said. “After he pulled his head out of his ass, anyway.”
Kyler laughed.
“Gray didn’t have the best childhood,” I answered, my chest tightening. “His dad kind of fucked him up, and he turned to anger to cope with it. He moved to Addersfield in the eleventh grade after his dad died, and we became friends. But even after being with him for over five years, he still struggled with opening up to people. I think it’s what made him eventually push me away.”
Saying it out loud was eye-opening.
Even back then, I’d suspected Grayson had been afraid and pushed me away because of it. Unlike the other times I refused to back down when he threw up a shield, I’d walked away from him, not able to take it anymore. Betraying me the way he did had been too much for me to let slide. Or to forgive at the time.
More zombies attacked us in the game, and I stopped talking. I was tired of talking. Killing monsters was so much better. Whoever thought thirty-year-old guys were too old to game could go fuck themselves. It was my stress relief.
An hour later, Brysen had to stop playing to go to work.
“I already miss you bitches,” he said into the headset before logging off.
“He’s a mess,” I said.
“Yep,” Kyler agreed. “Do you want me and Dec to come see you for a few days? He should be finishing up filming for his new movie by the end of the week.”
“No.” I didn’t hesitate in my response. “I don’t know if the psycho butchering people is still in Addersfield, but if he is, I don’t want Declan here. The sick fuck targets and kills public figures.”
Kyler didn’t say anything for a while, but his soft breathing into the mic let me know he was still there. Then, I heard him sniffle.
“Kye?”
“Sorry. I just hate this.” His voice trembled with his soft cries. “I hate feeling so helpless, you know? My two best friends could be some psycho’s next victim, and I’m just over here in LA doing shit to stop it.”
“The killer isn’t after us,” I tried to reassure him. I forced a light tone to try to make him laugh. “Brysen is pretty, but he’s not a public figure. No matter how much he thinks he is.”
“Yeah…butyouare.”
My blood ran cold.
Of course, I’d thought the same before, but it hadn’t fully hit me until right then.
“I’ll be okay,” I said. “The killer’s probably gone by now. I’m sure the FBI showing up scared him off.”
I hope.
By the time Kyler and I stopped playing, it was nearly two in the morning. I should’ve gone to bed, but I was wired. And yeah, freaked out, as well. Hearing Kyler verify my own thoughts about the killer made me want to board up my house and stay indoors until the sick bastard was caught.
The sudden pounding at my door almost made me shit myself.
