84. Tess
TESS
With every passing second, the sound of my own blood rushing through my ears grew louder. I’d picked the smallest, darkest spot I could to wait out the rest of Fright Night.
I had no idea how long I’d been hidden, or how long I had left.
But I knew if I moved, breathed too loud, shifted wrong, my cover could be blown.
I’d gotten a good lead on Cyrus. Shock and anger had frozen her at the center of her demented cave, but God only knew how long that would last before her fury had her sprinting through Feverpoint hunting me.
A flash of green seeped into my hiding spot.
It was over. The game was done.
And I had lost.
Sure, I’d escaped Cyrus. But she’d caught me.
I just couldn’t stomach following through with my punishment.
Not when such a monstrous lie was what fueled Cyrus’ urge for vengeance.
Peeling myself out from under the car, I stretched my limbs wide before I tried to get up. Whatever awaited me back at the apartment would be brutal. There was no world in which Cyrus let me get away with breaking her precious rules.
The punishment for not holding up my end of our deal would be worse than whatever Cyrus had planned to put me through.
There was no running from it.
I would honor it.
But I refused to let her continue to believe that lie.
Standing on shaky knees, I rolled my neck to stretch it.
As soon as I was steady, I marched out and into the rising sun’s light.
Digging my hands deep into my legging pockets, I kept my head down as I headed back toward Jungle Jolt. I was going to pack my bag, take whatever punishment Cyrus wanted to give me for breaking the rules, and leave Feverpoint.
I couldn’t live with her. Not when she thought I could do something so horrible.
As I walked through the center of Feverpoint, passing Prize Alley and the decapitated stuffed animals that hung from nooses, Nash and Blade jogged to catch me. With their masks off, they wore massive smiles on their faces.
“You did it, Trinket!” Blade jumped with joy as she walked alongside me.
“Forty-mother-fucker-grand, baby!” Nash whooped as she sidled up, Trixie balanced on her shoulders.
But I kept my eyes forward, my jaw clenched tight.
For a moment, they let me walk in silence.
“Are you okay?” Nash’s brow furrowed.
Shaking her head, Blade tried to catch my eye. “Did something happen?”
There was worry in their faces, at least from what little I could see while I kept my eyes on the path.
We crossed over into Jungle Jolt, rainforest canopy and faux-monkeys towering overhead.
I couldn’t stomach speaking to them.
How could they believe it? That I would do that to Cyrus?
I’d played along with the religious bullshit that kept me safe at Heirs of Promise but I hadn’t believed it. Certainly not enough to turn Cyrus in for being queer.
How fucking ridiculous.
After I’d let Blade and Nash in, the thought of them thinking I was capable of turning Cyrus in made me sick.
It was insulting and just plain wrong.
And none of them had the balls to even tell me.
I pressed up the apartment stairs — my legs exhausted from Fright Night.
At the top of the steps, I threw open the loft door and stormed through the living room.
“Tess, seriously. What’s going on?” Nash picked up her pace, jogging to keep up with me.
I grabbed my work duffel bag and tossed it on the bed, grabbing as much of my stuff as I could and stuffing it into the vinyl bag.
Blade and Nash tried to stop me, grabbing at the bag and forcing me to meet Nash’s gray eyes. “Stop. Just talk to us. Please.”
But my lips refused to move.
Even when Cyrus appeared in my doorway.
Looking at her, her eyes were sunken — somehow even darker than they always were. Small and weak, there was something like defeat in the way she stood.
I rolled my shoulders back, ready for her to gloat and explain that I needed to be punished for running from my duties.
Instead, there was a loud thud as a black duffel slammed into the flow. Its top was open, a pile of cash inside.
Cyrus didn’t say a word, leaving the cash at my feet before turning and disappearing.
But I lost.
Every single fiber in my being wanted to grab the bag and throw each tied stack in her face. I didn’t want her blood money or some pity victory.
But I couldn’t stay here for another day. Couldn’t deal with her believing I was more of a monster than her.
Licking my teeth, I grabbed the duffel of cash, zipped it closed, and grabbed my bag from the bed.
“Tess, please. Just tell us what’s going on.” Blade pleaded, a desperation in her voice I'd not heard before.
Both of them stood in front of the door, a narrow path between them as they stared back at me. Blade’s brows scrunched together while Nash’s jaw tensed.
“Move,” was all I could say as I shouldered past them and back into the hallway.
“No, stop. This is bullshit!” Blade’s voice grew fevered as she jogged after me.
I could hear Nash speaking in muffled tones behind me. “Cyrus, what the fuck did you do?”
But she didn’t answer, instead Cyrus’s heavy bootsteps faded as she walked away.
Not looking back, I kept my eyes on the front door.
Just a few more steps to freedom.
Blade was a couple steps behind me, begging for me to stay — to at least have a conversation before I disappeared.
I couldn’t do it, couldn’t stand another lie from two people I thought I could trust. I thought they knew me, really knew me.
A rough grab stopped Blade’s feet in their tracks. Nash’s voice a deep growl, almost a warning. “It’s her right. She won. If she wants to leave, we have to let her go.”
They wouldn’t fight for me, wouldn’t follow me every step until they got their answers. Instead, they would release back into the world and wait for a new plaything to keep them busy.
For a moment, as my hand gripped the metal door handle, I thought about staying. Maybe I could forgive them, maybe Cyrus would realize how horribly wrong she’d been about me.
Or she won’t.
Pushing open the door, I knew the truth. She’d harbored this grudge for almost a decade. And not once in that time had she considered that her perception was wrong.
What would change her mind now?
Maybe there’s something better waiting for me outside of Feverpoint’s wrought iron fences. Even if I couldn’t see it through the rage.
I let the door slam behind me. I was done waiting for their forgiveness.
Thank you for reading Off the Rails, Book 1 in the Feverpoint Freaks series! If you loved it, please leave a review to help other people find it.