Chapter 10 #2
When my shift ends, and I’m driving home, I realize I still don’t have a solid plan for killing Mason tomorrow. Honestly, I should probably just do it tonight. I could poison his food with a cleaning chemical or something, then deal with the body while it’s dark out.
But I’m so tired after staying up late last night because of that damn book.
I know it shouldn’t matter, but I sort of feel like I need to let him finish it so he knows how it ends. I make him dinner like normal, no poison involved, and he’s as flirty and chatty as ever.
There are four hours left in the book, so I skip the timer and let it play.
The fiancée’s dad and brother come, and it’s revealed that the dad was forcing the man to marry his daughter to settle some gambling debt.
The kidnapper offers to pay the dad instead, but when he refuses, the man who was kidnapped ends up killing his own father.
The brother reveals that he also hated the dad and promises not to tell anyone, saying he’s finally free now too.
I don’t know why they believe him.
Then the psychos confess their love and run away together.
It’s all crazy. And they didn’t even offer me any tips for hiding a body. Totally glossed over that part. Such a disappointment.
The narrator thanks everyone for listening and promises the brother’s story in book two.
I’m not going to lie. I am a little curious about it. I bet Mason is too.
Grant
You’re off today right?
Grant
Can you come by the brewery ASAP?
Grant
I told Eric I submitted the liquor license stuff like two weeks ago, and I swear I did some of it, but there’s different ones for the city and state and this shit is so confusing
Grant
I just want to make beer, ya know? This business shit is so much harder than I thought it would be. I’m so glad you’re helping me. I can’t imagine if you didn’t agree to come with us
Grant
Are you ignoring me?
Grant
I’ll buy you lunch. But I do actually need you to do some of this, I’m not just being lazy. They do a criminal background check on anyone who owns 10% or more of the business so you need to fill out your info.
Zane
Fuck dude I was asleep.
Zane
Be there in thirty mins
Holy fucking shit. I punch my pillow before holding it up to my face to scream into it.
A criminal background check. Today? When I’m supposed to be killing someone?
My heart feels like it’s going to beat right out of my chest, and I can’t seem to remember how to breathe.
I’m sitting on the edge of my bed, hunched over.
I rake my hands through my hair, yanking on it to try to feel something other than sheer panic.
Pete trots over on the bed to lay his head in my lap, comforting me.
Because I’m freaking the fuck out about killing his owner.
Shit. Okay, I need to focus on the facts.
I can’t let panic take over. Logically, I know I have two options: kill Mason or let him go.
Despite what he claims, I don’t believe for a second he won’t turn me in.
I’ve held him captive for days in my basement.
So, really, my options are to kill him and maybe I get away with it, or let him go and definitely spend the rest of my life in prison.
I really don’t want to go to jail, and I don’t want to ruin my best friends’ lives if I do.
I’m left with one option every time I think about my choices: I need to kill Mason and cover it up properly.
But first I need to go fill out all my information for a fucking criminal background check.
Fuck my life.
I hurry through my new morning routine of feeding Pete and taking him out. I don’t have time for a real breakfast today, so protein bars it is for Mason and me. I walk downstairs, and all the hope in his eyes is crushed when I hold out the bar.
“Ugh. These again? You must really hate me.”
I roll my eyes, but I can’t stop a smirk from pulling at the corner of my mouth.
I think a part of me might actually miss his attitude when he’s dead.
As fucked up as it might make me, I have kind of enjoyed having him around.
“It’s this or nothing. Your choice,” I tell him.
I don’t have time to chat today, so I drop it next to him on his air mattress, certain he can reach it.
“Have fun at work, Daddy,” he calls after me as I walk up the stairs to leave. “Bring me back something yummy!”
I snort a laugh. Fucking psycho.
But the whole drive I think about what I could bring him to eat since I’m not going to the restaurant. His favorite thing I’ve brought him so far has been pizza, so maybe I can just pick up a pizza on the way home again for his last meal.
Whatever, I’ll have to figure it out later because I find Grant sitting at the bar surrounded by papers with his laptop open in front of him.
“Oh, thank God. I was starting to think you abandoned me.”
“It’s nine fifteen in the morning and it was supposed to be my day off,” I remind him. “I’m only a few minutes later than I promised you.”
“Fuck, I know. Thank you. And you’re the best best friend ever because I don’t understand what half of this means, and I need your help.” His smile is as wide as he can make it, but the distress in his eyes is obvious.
I’m definitely not the best friend ever because I’m probably going to be the reason his business fails and he loses all of his money, but on the off chance I am surprisingly great at the murder thing, I should probably help him now and make sure everything is properly set up for the opening.
Turns out there was way more than the liquor license left to apply for with the city.
We work through lunch, and I don’t leave until almost five p.m., with Grant endlessly thanking me, but all I can think about is how Mason must be starving.
I’ve never left him for this long with so little food.
I decide to pick him up pizza and a salad on the way home so he doesn’t have to wait for me to make him something.
There’s no way I’ll have time to kill him and properly dispose of his body tonight though.
Plus, the whole background check kind of freaked me out. It just doesn’t seem like the right time. I still don’t have enough of a plan in place to feel like I’ll successfully pull it off. Fuck, I should probably figure out a better setup for him in the meantime.
I see the sex store I went to that first night ahead—god, that feels like a lifetime ago—and have an idea. He can wait a few more minutes for food. I think he’ll appreciate my new plan more, so I pull into the parking lot.
Three stops later, I bring my new purchases down with me as soon as I’m home.