Chapter 6
SIX
I waited only another hour before the drugs wore off and you awoke. At first, you didn’t move, but I saw the way your breathing changed. Slowly, you reached up, feeling the dried cum in your hair and on your face. You smacked your lips together, tasting me, then bolted upright.
I grinned at you from across the room, still lounging in the chair. I wore only my jeans now, no shirt. Your eyes were wide. Scared.
But there was still that smidge of intrigue in them that caught me completely off guard. Usually, at this point, women were scared. They were terrified.
They’d scream and scream, beg me not to hurt them, beg me to let them go. They’d promise they wouldn’t tell anyone, that they wouldn’t go to the police. And I’d just sit and bask in their terror.
But you didn’t give me that.
“So, it is you?” you asked, pulling the blanket up around your bare chest.
I tapped your laptop. “I think you already figured that out.”
“Not for sure.”
“You would’ve.”
Your chest rose and fell in a deep breath. Using the back of your fingers, you swiped at your cheek, wiping the cum that had spilled out away.
“Did you fuck me in my sleep?” you asked, the curse word startling me.
“Just your mouth,” I said, and, strangely, you nodded. That was it. Like you’d expected more and were disappointed when I’d just used your mouth.
“Are you going to kill me?”
You weren’t scared. The question was almost clinical.
I tilted my head to the side. “No,” I said softly.
Not yet, at least.
Again, you nodded. Resigned.
“Why do you think it’s me?” I asked.
You pointed at the laptop, but I didn’t move. I wasn’t going to give it to you yet, and you sighed. “I figured out that these missing women all came here before they died.”
“How?”
“Their social media.” My brows lifted expectantly. “They posted different things, but their locations all showed them heading in this direction. A couple posted that they were getting away for a few days, and when I looked at this area, your motel was the only one I found.”
“There are hotels in town,” I countered, and you shook your head.
“Women wanting a quiet weekend alone don’t go to fancy hotels. They seclude themselves. They hide away where no one can bother them. This is that place.”
You flicked your gaze around the room.
“I’ve wanted to come for a while, but I had to research it first.” I waved my hand for you to continue.
“I knew you were raised by your aunt. I knew that she died and left the motel to you a few years ago, right around the time the first woman went missing. I know you spent some time in jail when you were younger, and that you should be on some kind of registry, but your aunt’s friend dropped the charges. ”
“I never touched her,” I said.
“No,” you agreed. “But you watched her.” Again you looked around, as if you were trying to find all the secret holes. “Your aunt’s friend was…” You smiled softly. “She was an interesting woman.”
“A batty old lady,” I muttered.
“She said she moved into the motel for a while when she was going through a divorce,” you told me, and I nodded. I knew that. “You were only twelve at the time. But she said that there had always been something off about you.”
I ground my teeth together.
“She said she found these holes in the walls, and when she peered through one, she found you on the other side. She didn’t know how long you’d been watching her, but I imagine it had been a while, right? And it hadn’t just been her?”
I said nothing. I wouldn’t satisfy you by giving you a solid confession. Even if you suspected it was me, and I gave you enough to infer that it was, I wouldn’t outright say it.
Unless I was ready to kill you. But I wasn’t totally sure that I was.
Then you threw me off by saying, almost quietly, “Have you been watching me, Aaron?”
My throat tightened. My heart leapt. My palms sweat.
You didn’t sound scared. That was the part I still didn’t understand.
You sounded like you liked the thought of me watching you. And when you ran your fingers over the cum on your cheek, licked your lips again like you weren’t only tasting me but savouring me, I realized that was exactly it: you liked the thought of a dangerous killer watching you like prey.
You wanted to be a victim.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said, and a sly smile spread across your face. Realer than before, but still…not the one I wanted.
You recognized the game I was playing, and apparently, you wanted to play too.
“Do you know what happened to those women?” you asked, your voice gentle.
Coaxing. Almost conspiratorial. So much so it almost made me lower my guard.
But I shook myself, my eyes narrowing as I leaned back in the chair, forcing myself to appear calm on the outside, no matter the maelstrom of chaos warring in my chest.
“Nope,” I said.
There it was. The real smile. The eye crinkling smile. The smile that showed all your teeth, that revealed your gums.
There it was.
My smile.
A laugh spilled out as you shook your head, your hair flying around your face. “Alright,” you breathed, stretching your arms above your head. You really should’ve been more scared of me. “I was telling the truth earlier.”
“About what?” I asked.
“I’ve always wanted to interview a serial killer.”
I stared at you, and you stared back, almost baiting me into agreeing to an interview. Of course, I could give you what you wanted and kill you before those words ever saw the light of day, but how did I know you didn’t have some kind of fail-safe in case something happened to you?
The way you were looking at me, like I was just an object you could dissect, investigate, chew up and spit out…a thing to talk to your friends about over late-night drinks, or a story you could write in your future memoir titled: I Interviewed The Sunny Pines Killer and Survived…it enraged me.
More than anything else in my life ever had. That moment, with you looking at me like you weren’t in danger, like you’d somehow won made me so fucking angry.
I leapt from the chair, and I knew you didn’t think I’d do it because as soon as my hand wrapped around your delicate throat, your eyes widened. Your breath caught. Your face paled.
And for the first time that night, I saw true fear enter your eyes. Your pupils blew out, and your nostrils flared, and your lips parted. You were finally scared of me. You finally understood the very real danger you were in.
I think that was when you realized you’d never leave this room alive.