Chapter 8
EIGHT
TASH
"You didn't tell us how you ended up here," I pointed out, looking over at Sanun.
He tore off a chunk of muffin and popped it into his mouth.
"Nothing much to say. I own a nail salon. They wanted us to launder money for them. I declined."
"Didn't like that too much, huh?" Logan asked.
"Nope," Sanun agreed.
"They can be insistent." Bruno finished the last of his muffin and squashed the paper into a ball, which he aimed at the ping pong table and missed.
"I hope you play better than that in the last game," I teased.
He grinned. "Of course I will. Don't worry, we have this."
Did we, though? Did I want us to?
If I made it through this, I was going to have nightmares about ping pong and shooting people in the head for the rest of my life. It was normal for some of the people in Dusk Bay, maybe even most of them, but not me.
I was a humble librarian, trying to live my life and help people connect with the right books. And yet here I was. Stuck in a dank room, with the ridiculous name of 'the arena,' taking part in a ping pong tournament.
"Why ping pong?" I asked.
"Why not ping pong?" Bruno replied.
I swivelled around to look at him.
"It could have been anything. Tiddlywinks. Monopoly…"
"Fuck that," Logan snapped. "I'd rather die than play Monopoly for hours. Monotony is more like it."
"Don't say that too loud," Bruno warned. "You might give the twins ideas about the next torture session. Monopoly tournament, Dusk Bay-style.” He didn't seem to like the idea much either.
"I wonder what they'd do to anyone who tipped the board over," I said with a half-laugh.
Logan was right though. Ping pong was better than a board game like that.
"Uno would be fun," I said thoughtfully. "Maybe poker? Or something outside?"
"What about stand-up paddle-boarding over a school of sharks?" Bruno suggested. "Fall in, you die. Horribly."
"I'm shocked the twins haven't thought of that yet," Logan said. "That's exactly the kind of shit they'd pull. Or standing in hot oil. Not the massage kind." He grimaced and scratched one of his ears.
"I can imagine that," I said with a grimace. "See who can stay in the oil longest, as it heats up. If you get out too soon, you die. If you don't get out, you burn to death."
"If they could hear you now, they'd give you a job as head torturer," Logan said dryly.
"No thank you," I told him. "I prefer library books to listening to people scream."
"I should have guessed you're a librarian," Bruno said. "You have that hot librarian thing going on." He gestured vaguely at me.
"Thanks. That was the look I was going for." I gave him a warm smile.
"Maybe we can get together after this," he suggested. "Have dinner. Maybe catch a movie."
"I'd like that," I said. "If we get out of here alive."
Logan glanced over at Sanun. "We could do lunch or some shit."
Sanun grunted. It might have been a yes, but it wasn't a firm commitment.
Fair enough. It wouldn't be long until the twins returned.
"I have an idea, I whispered. "Something that might get all of us out of here."
"Does it involve rushing at the twins and breaking their necks?” Logan asked hopefully.
"No," I replied. "We wouldn't last long if we did that. I don't think there's anywhere in the world we could go where they wouldn't find us and end us horribly. Possibly with hot oil or sharks."
Possibly both at the same time. That didn't seem very fair to the sharks, but this was the Brantley family we were talking about. They didn't strike me as the animal loving kind.
"What then?" Sanun asked. He looked wary. Okay, he'd looked wary since I met him. But he looked particularly wary right now.
I leaned in and started talking softly, explaining my idea.
We played it cool when the twins arrived.
Picking up our paddles and taking our places at the table, I won't lie, I was nervous as hell. This could all go sideways. We could be completely fucked.
What we were about to attempt? Given their sadistic nature, it might not fly with the twins. What then? How many bullets do they have left in their guns? Did they have enough to fight back if we decided to beat them with ping pong paddles? Probably.
I looked down at my paddle speculatively, remembering the sting on my ass when Logan hit me with it. It felt incredible. I could have taken more for hours. In the meantime, I didn't think killing the twins with ping-pong paddles was a viable option. Death by stinging would take too long.
Although it was four against two.
As if he could read my thoughts, Hunter pulled out his gun and started to toy with it.
Yeah, they had enough ammunition to deal with all of us. They'd made sure of it, and right now they were letting us know, loud and clear.
If we tried to pull anything, they were ready.
Was I still tempted? A little bit. If our plan worked, we didn't need to worry about any of the bullets. Or sharks. Or oil. Maybe we could all go to dinner together and get to know each other better.
I liked all three of them. They were attractive, smart and knew how to get me off. What more could a girl want?
"All right, let's get this last match underway," Hunter said, standing beside the centre of the table, his arms crossed.
He nodded at Sanun, who'd be the first to serve.
Sanun nodded back and served it neatly across the table.
He and Bruno volleyed back and forth a few times before Sanun won the point.
When it was my turn to serve, Logan and I did the same thing. Back and forth like we were having a leisurely practice session.
We both knew what we needed to do. Logan let me have the point, equalling the game early on.
Then it was Sanun and Bruno again. Point for point. Until we both reached nine. As we'd agreed, Bruno and I won the first game, nine points to eleven.
Hunter and Parker were both looking bored. If we weren't careful, they might shoot us to get this over with.
We started the second game. Like the first, we played point by point, alternating who won until the last two. This one went to Logan and Sanun.
In the fifth game, we volleyed slowly and carefully back and forth for as long as we could, dragging out each and every point. This time, when we both reached nine points, we continued to alternate.
Ten points.
Eleven points.
Twelve points.
Neither team could win unless one of us scored two more points than the other, so we kept on playing.
Thirteen points.
Fourteen points.
Fifteen points.
"All right," Hunter snapped. "What are you playing at?"
I was about to serve the ball. I stopped, held it, and looked over at him.
“Ping pong," I said innocently. "Was it supposed to be something else?"
Yes, I was poking the hornet's nest, but if he killed me, he had no reason not to let Logan and Sanun walk out of here.
Right?
"One of you is supposed to be winning." He glared at me. Then at the guys. "That's the point, remember? Two of you win and walk out of here and two of you die."
I placed the bat and the ball down on the table in front of me. "What happens if it's a tie?"
Parker choked back a laugh.
Hunter glanced over at him and frowned. "You think this is funny, Park?"
"Funny?" Parker's smile widened. "I think it's fucking hilarious. Think about it. Who else has had the balls to question any of this?" He spread his hands to either side, gesturing around the room in general.
"Now we have this woman insisting on playing doubles and leaving the game in a tie." He cocked his head at me. "It was your idea, wasn't it?"
"Yes," I answered in a small, careful voice.
He responded with a slow clap. "Fucking brilliant. I vote we let all four of them leave."
I knew which one was my favourite twin.
Hunter sighed. "I guess it was pretty clever. We might let you leave, but on two conditions."
"What are they?" Logan asked, giving them both the side eye.
Hunter counted them off on his fingers. "First of all, don't tell Reuben. In fact, stay out of his way for a while. At least three of you are supposed to be dead right now. Second, don't tell anyone about this." He winced. "It will come back and bite us in the ass next year."
I didn't really care if it bit him in the ass, but if it did, it would probably come back on all of us. That was a sacrifice I was willing to make.
"Is there anything else?" I asked.
All of that seemed too easy. Especially staying away from Reuben Brantley. Unless he wandered into my library. Since I'd heard his library was even bigger than Dusk Bay's public library, the chances were basically non-existent.
"Keep your noses out of trouble," Hunter said. "And don't forget to support your local sporting teams. Parker and I own most of them." He grinned and gave a half-bow before gesturing toward the exit.
"Get the hell out of here before I change my mind."
We all hesitated for half a second, waiting for him to contradict himself. When he didn't, Logan grabbed one of my hands and Bruno the other. With Sanun right behind us, we all but ran toward the elevator and out of this ping pong hell.
"Two words I never want to hear again," Logan said as he hit the elevator button with his finger. "Ping and pong."
"Oh, I don't know," I said lightly. "I think the three of you might be Lords of Pong."
"That would make you Lady Pong," Bruno said with a smile.
"I think I'll stick to Tash," I said, laughing. "Do you guys want to have dinner together?"
"Fuck yeah, we do," Logan agreed. "I'm going to grab life by the balls and live the hell out of it. The three of you should come along for the ride."
I grinned. "I'm in."
"Me too," Bruno agreed.
Sanun grunted, which I assumed was agreement.
Somehow the elevator opened and made it back up to the street level without stopping, breaking down or plunging us to our death.
Bonus.
Together we hurried the hell out of the building and into the evening air.
We played the most deadly game in the world and we all survived. With these three men by my side, life was going to be a whole lot more fun.
It was a nice night to be alive.