Page 14 of Shattered
“I’m not sure,” I said. “What do you want to do?”
“Why aren’t you sure?”
I looked around the room, as if Iris might be hiding, waiting to pop into my imaginary earbuds to tell me the exact right thing to say: How To Persuade A Club Member Into His Own Fantasies 101.
“This isn’t about me,” I said. “It’s about you, Garrett. Who are you? Why do you want me? Was this,” I gestured around us, “really worth the wait?”
A smile crept onto his lips for the first time that evening. He swiped his fingers across his phone’s screen, then showed me the confirmation message. “I’ve locked this room for the rest of the night. Why don’t you spend that time figuring out what it is thatyouthink I want, and next time, we can work on what’s truly roaming inside of you?”
He walked towards the door, adjusting his suit jacket on his shoulders.
“Where are you going?” I asked.
He nodded at me. “Goodnight, Mel.”
I was dumbstruck. On the one hand, Garrett was easy in that I didn’t have to use any sales tactics to get his attention, and on the other, he couldn’t answer a damn question with a straight answer. He was playing me somehow, and yet I had no idea what the hell I was supposed to do. Was it better to answer his questions honestly, or was it better to try and figure him outright on back, like he was trying to play me?
After a few minutes, I returned to the main floor, antsy to find Garrett and demand that we hash things out like two sane individuals, but he was gone. The main floor was even emptier than before; only a few of the regulars were paired off with their favorite servers, and the others had either left or disappeared into the Terrariums.
Luckily for me, it didn’t matter how well I did. Booking that Terrarium for the rest of the night under my name meant that I was free to do as I pleased, even if that meant trying for more business. I doubted I would be pleasant with Garrett’s nonsense bouncing around in my brain, but it was nice to know that I had the option. And nice to have a break from thinking about the deaths of Colin and Aldrich.
***
At the house, it was hard to be in the silence. Colin used to have music on even when he was sleeping, only turning it off when he left for work. The refrigerator hummed a dull tune, but each breath out of my nostrils seemed to cut through, reminding me of how alone I was.
I slung my suitcase to the side of the room, raising a lazy hand to flip on the light switch. A shadow grew in the corner. I gasped.
Dressed from head to toe in black. Boots that laced around his ankles and made him seem even more powerful, like he could crush me with a single step. The mask tight around his head, that leather, the metal mouth, those blank eyes. Every inch of his body was covered, like there wasn’t anything human underneath those layers. He was something else.
I stayed still, waiting for his move. The vanilla candle burned on the dresser. He must have lit it. How long had he been there, waiting for me? The longer we stood, the more I became convinced that he was other-worldly, a statue come to life, or perhaps frozen in time. The shadows flickered behind him, and it seemed as if his height grew, like he would eventually swallow up the entire room.
“Flick the light switch off,” he said. I did as I was told, the candlelight capturing us in its glow. “What’s your name?” that metallic voice called, eerie and deep.
“Melissa,” I said. My chest tightened. To everyone else, I was Mel, just Mel. Why had I told him my real name? “I mean, it’s Mel.” I shook my head. “Call me Mel.”
“Is Mel your given name?”
I waited for a moment. “No.”
The two of us stood there, waiting to do something. Was there a cord in his pocket? Was this another way to torment me? Had he come to get rid of me, since I had seen him with Colin?
“I’ll call you Melissa, then.”
I should try to be nice to him, right? You had to be nice to someone with that much power. Maybe the killer inside of him just needed some kindness.
No, that was stupid. A killer like him needed more than a nice gesture.
But I would do anything to stop the silence.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“Rourke.”
Even his name sounded powerful. Why had he told me his name? Was he going to kill me now, so it didn’t matter what I knew?
“Have you come to kill me?” I asked. He tilted his head, those vacant globes studying me. My skin was hot under that stare. Sweat beaded on my forehead and arms.
“I’ve come here to get to know you,” he finally said. “What is it that you do, Melissa?”
