Chapter 16
Ryan
T he guys made me promise to be on my best behavior tonight. And I had good reasons to be in high spirits that day. It was the day of our pre-wedding party. Not that there would be anyone but us attending. It was too last minute for Eric's parents to get the clearance from their doctors to come, Matt hadn't heard back from his, Ethan's mother sent her best wishes and said she'd definitely be here for the wedding, and my mom, well, my mother was looking down on me from heaven, and I couldn't imagine she was very happy with me.
Eyeing the booze, I wondered why there was so much of it if I wasn't allowed to drink. I would kill—no, no, no—I'd love a drink right then, but I was trying not to let Lily down.
She wanted to celebrate and she figured we could all lift our spirits with reasons to dress up, music, good food and positivity. The drinks were kind of like exposure therapy, to assess how bad my addiction was. I could go without it. There was a separate little table, just for me and her, with mocktails and sparkling wine. I had a sip of one of the drinks, it was damn good. Lily had perfected the art of mocktails. All I had to do was exercise self- control. Focus on the positives. Trust that everything wouldn't come tumbling down. I could do that. To be honest, I was exhausted from running and looking over my shoulders, and replaying the same scenes over and over in my head. I knew I didn't deserve it, but my brain was in desperate need of a refresh.
That day was perfect for that. It was a good day. Things were looking up. I was even grooving to the music, marveling at the way Lily sparkled like diamonds. It had been a while since I'd seen her all dressed up. Her makeup was perfect. It wasn't as dark as it was the first time we met, but it was still sultry. More natural, except for the deep red lips that stood out against the white mini dress. Her long legs were accentuated in white sex heels. I'd drink her in. Let her be the only thing to intoxicate me that night.
I could do this. My body grew loose and I almost forgot my problems, until the doorbell rang, I opened my eyes and Tyler was walking in with his wife. Pandemonium broke loose inside my head.
Tyler
Um...Congratulations?
I can't say the guys look too pleased to see me. Their bodies are so rigid, they're like statues. I enter the house with tentative steps, and hand the wine to Lily after she and the wife exchange kisses and hugs.
"Ahem." I clear my throat as I head toward the guys. Last they heard from me, I fucked up with keeping the bodies hidden and I told them to lay low.
I don't know how the fuckers managed to get hooked on a fisherman's hook. Troublemakers during life and death.
"So, you guys are getting married, huh?" I pick up a champagne glass and take a sip. "How's that gonna work?"
Two of them speak at once.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Ethan grunts.
"It's about time you showed up." Eric hisses.
Ethan scowls at him.
"My wife told me to come. Couldn't really give her the reasons why I couldn't, could I?" I tip my glass toward Ethan. Ann-Marie knows that I'd fed my hunger for blood, but she has no idea of my depraved manipulation of the men. It was hard enough for her to forgive me for going back on my promise. I thought it was best not to add fuel to the fire.
"Thought you up and left to cover your ass and leave us with the mess." Eric lowers his voice and glares at me.
"I wouldn't do that." I scoff.
"Yeah, right. So did you handle it or what? Did you have something to do with the bodies being found? Are you wearing a wire?" Wild-eyed, Ryan steps to me. Instinct has me tensing and ready to attack. Matt slaps a hand to his chest.
"Don't you fucking ruin this day for Lily." He commands and like a puppy with his tail between his legs, Ryan backs off. I note how red his eyes are and how he shakes ever so slightly, like there's a constant subtle vibration on the surface of his skin. His beard is bushier than I remember it and he keeps eyeing my champagne.
"Geez, buddy. Looks like you need this drink more than me. Have at it and chill out." I wave at the table.
All of their gazes darken and they look at me like I just told him to jump off a cliff.
"You did this to me." Ryan growls before storming off.
It's surprising when it hits me. Guilt.
"What's the matter with him?" My eyes follow him as he disappears down the hall. Matt follows after him.
"Like you care." Ethan scoffs. "Why did you really come here? To make sure we don't say anything?"
"Fellas." I throw my hand up in defeat. "Would you like me to make up an excuse and leave?"
"No," Eric interjected. "What I want to know is if you dealt with it, what's the plan? Because we're trying our very best to take your flimsy advice and lay low, but you see that woman in there? She's my life. I can't lose her. This needs to stay buried." Eric spoke between gritted teeth before downing a glass of champagne in one gulp.
"It's best we don't get mixed up in any more of his plans, since we can't trust him as far as we can throw him," Ethan narrowed his eyes.
I had to say, his words landed.
"Look, it's not that I don't want to go barging in and threaten whoever I need to, to make sure no evidence is revealed." Especially since I found out Lily's second kidnapper, Carter, was a Colombine. "But I cleaned the bodies well. Okay?" I moved closer to them. "And I promised my wife, the woman I can't lose, that I'll leave this lifestyle behind. So we just have to trust that they don't have any evidence that points to us. And if they come for us, don't crack under pressure."
"Ha!" Ethan scoffed. "Get out of my fucking face before I really lose my cool. Trust! You?"
I could have reminded him who he was threatening and taken offense to his words, but it turned out I had a conscience. Today was supposed to be their day, and by the looks of it, I had already ruined their lives. I lost nothing by walking out of there.
I had already come up with an excuse in my head when Lily screamed and clamped her hand over her mouth. "Oh, I'm sorry," she mumbled, flicking glances between me and my wife who didn't know I was behind her.
"Pipe down. Tyler doesn't know I'm pregnant," she squealed. "Damn, I don't want to take the spotlight away from your big day. I just found out and needed to tell someone."
Lily winced. "Um. He knows now." She pointed at me.
My wife spun around. 'Walking on Sunshine' started playing in my head for some reason. Odd genre of music to start playing in the radio of my mind. It's not like I listened to that type of music. Okay, I was lying. It's a fucking banger and the perfect soundtrack for the news. Only, it was accompanied by a haunting remix. Because, now, everything had changed.