Chapter 36
Chapter Thirty-Six
Quinn
The elevator spits me out on the ground floor, and I check my reflection in the mirror across the way.
A smile eases onto my face. I’ll never look at a mirror again without thinking about the way Aven used me.
The bruise on my hip is a delicious reminder.
I close my eyes and brush my fingers over the ache, reveling in the way it hurts just right.
It’s tucked under my pool wrap—a hidden reminder of my man.
It’s been over an hour since he took off after Desmond.
On my way back to the hotel, the girls spotted me and asked me to join them for an impromptu pool party, complete with activities.
I figured it would be a good way to keep my anxiety at bay while Aven is chasing down my stalker and potentially breaking Jim’s rules.
If he pops up and says we need to run away to Scotland, my bag is already packed.
It might not make any sense to the average woman, but when you know, you know. Aven is it for me. Maybe I’m delusional. Maybe I’ve read one too many dark romance books. But I no longer care. As long as I have Aven, I’m going to be happy. I feel it in my soul. He won’t abandon me.
Your mother didn’t abandon you, Quinn . . .
Didn’t she, though?
The smile drops from my face. She was there one moment, holding my hand and remarking on the fireworks.
The next, she was gone. Per my therapist, my mother likely felt she was doing what was best for me by leaving me at the theme park.
She made a difficult choice, and by all accounts, it paid off.
I was well cared for, and the Parkers loved me as one of their own.
I press the bruise on my hip. At least some painful memories are pleasant.
“There you are!” a voice says to my left, and I turn to find Eve coming toward me.
“We were about to send out the search party. You ready to slaughter some Cattle?” She pulls me closer and spins me so that she can get a better look at the bruise on my hip.
“Tell me it was consensual, and I’ll give you applause.
Tell me it wasn’t, and he can join the fucking Cattle. ”
I nibble my lip to hold back a wide smile. “Completely consensual and welcome.”
I’m practically bursting at the seams to tell the girls how everything worked out, so I go ahead and fill in Eve.
“My kinky little friend,” she says with a beaming smile. “Welcome to the club.”
“You like it rough too?”
“I want my lady to toss me around like a rag doll and sit on my fucking face. I feel bad for all of you women who will never know what it’s like to be suffocated by pussy.”
I laugh at that and hook my arm through hers as we start toward the pool. “I’ll just live vicariously through you. Are you currently in a relationship?”
Her smile softens. “Not anymore. I want commitment and marriage, but I seem to only attract women who like to cheat. I’m taking a break from the dating scene while I lick my wounds.”
“I’m sorry, Eve.”
She pats my hand and offers that musical laugh that has a way of setting everyone at ease. “Don’t you worry about me. I go home and cry into my Louis Vuitton pillowcases, so I think I’ll be okay. I just need to make better choices.”
Gentle aloha vibes trickle from the speakers as we open the lobby doors and head toward the pool.
Neon purple lights give the water a pleasant glow as we approach.
The girls sit on the pool’s edge, chatting among themselves.
Frankie and Kindra sport waist-snatching one-piece suits, while Eve, Cat, and I rock bikinis.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more attractive friend group.
We join the others, and Gary brings out a tray of pina coladas as I regale the crew with the tale of two cocks.
As a reward, I’m treated to the story of Bennett’s pineapple lovefest as we wait for Gary to bring out something more exciting than drinks.
We’re all here for one reason, after all—the murder.
I just hope it can take my mind off my worry for Aven.
I can’t talk about his current absence. Aven didn’t have time to give me any rules or words of warning before he took off, but he didn’t need to.
I know that Jim can’t know what he’s off doing right now.
He didn’t need to reiterate the need to keep this silent.
Gary returns to the pool with a few other staffers, and the Cattle trail behind them.
Each victim is dressed in a color-coded swimsuit.
Their hands are secured behind their backs, and they’re connected by a chain around the waist rather than by their feet, which have been left free for once.
Judging by their silence, they’ve had their lips secured shut in some way.
“I don’t quite have Jim’s panache when it comes to games, but I’ll do my best,” Gary says with a nervous chuckle. “What does he usually say?”
The girls laugh, then say in unison, “The game is simple!”
“The game is simple,” Gary says. “You just need to swim the length of the pool one time, then try to kill the sorry shitbag of your choosing. The weapons are in the cabana at the other end.”
“What are our options?” I ask.
Gary glances back toward the cabana. “I scrounged up a couple of power tools, the gun that bird used to kill a guy, some—”
“No, not the weapons,” Kindra says. “The Cattle. What did they do?”
“Oh, right!” Gary raises a finger and nods. “I forgot you guys like to know their crimes. We’ve brought a serial rapist, two dog-fighting assholes, a child molester, and a lady who got her kicks from abusing the elderly.”
I feel a little foolish, as I was asking about the weapons. I don’t really care what these assholes have done.
“Dibs on the child molester!” Kindra yells, and the man in the pink speedo wets himself.
Eve turns to me with a shimmy of her shoulders. “What’s your poison, honey?”
I shrug. “Doesn’t matter to me. I’m a bit different from you guys. I definitely enjoy righting wrongs and killing bad guys, but I’m fine with killing for the sake of killing.”
“A woman after my own heart,” Eve says. “Those three need a reason, but I just need the motivation.”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” Frankie says.
Eve goes to her bag by a lounger and pulls out a covering for her hair, which she fastens in place without a mirror.
Not a single micro braid pokes out, and she still looks stunning, so I’m becoming more convinced that she knows magic.
“Not a bad thing. Just different. Different doesn’t have to be bad. ”
“You got another one of those?” Cat asks. “I really don’t want to have to wash my hair before the event this evening.”
Eve tosses a second cap to Cat, and the girl begins tucking away her blonde hair.
“I kind of feel like it’s the other way around,” I offer. “The differences, I mean. Like, maybe we’re looked down on because we aren’t choosy.”
“I don’t look down on you. My mother always said that folks who look down on others must feel silly up on their self-made pedestals, so I’ve always tried not to stand on one.
” Cat tucks the last of her hair into the cap, though she doesn’t look half as cute as Eve.
She looks more like a Kewpie doll, but I’ll never tell her that.
Frankie nods in agreement. “Besides, have you seen the penis-to-vagina ratio at these shindigs? I refuse to alienate another woman who could become a sister.”
My heart squeezes when she says this. She has no idea she has a sister in the most literal sense. We secretly share the same DNA.
A few of the men stroll by the pool, and Bennett is among them. He sees Cat and immediately begins laughing.
“Who made my girlfriend look like a fucking Kewpie doll?” he yells toward us.
Cat reaches up to snatch off the cap, but Eve covers her hand and stops her.
“The cap makes her look like an adorable doll. Meanwhile, you look like a fucking moron all the time by nature’s design,” I yell back.
Eve nods, then looks at him. “At least she can take off the cap, honey! You’re stuck with that melon head.”
That earns a laugh from all of us, and Cat lowers her hand. Thanks, she mouths to me.
“Don’t mention it,” I say as the men shuffle off toward the hotel.
“You guys gonna line up to begin?” Gary asks, and we all remember that we’re supposed to be playing a game, not bonding.
We hurry to the shallow end of the pool.
The entire thing is massive, and I’m pretty sure I’ll be winded after swimming the length of it.
I’m also nervous about how I’ll kill any of these people when they have legs to kick with, but then I see that Gary is busy buckling their ankles together as we prepare to start the swim.
He looks up from the first set of legs, and I nearly laugh at his excitement as his buggy eyes bulge. “Try not to make it too bloody, as I’m a bit squeamish. I’m trying to get over it.”
“We’ve got you, Gare Bear,” Eve calls. “Let’s get this train rolling!”
He moves to the next Cattle and starts fastening the woman’s legs, but she kicks out and lands a blow to the dented side of his head. Gary crumples to the concrete with a groan.
Eve is on her way over before Gary has a chance to get to his feet again.
“This motherfucker,” she mutters before snatching the woman by her hair and looking straight into her eyes.
“Didn’t your mama teach you to keep your hands and legs to yourself?
If she didn’t, you’re gonna learn today, bitch.
If I spot a chainsaw in that cabana, you’re gonna pay for what you did to him in the most excruciating way. ”
“I might need to go to the infirmary,” Gary says with a nervous laugh.
“Yeah, you might,” Eve says as she releases the woman. “It’s definitely getting bloody now.”
Gary hurries off as we consider the best way to run the game without our officiant. What we come up with is a different game altogether. We’ll each take turns removing a body part until the bitch is dead. The one who makes the final cut is the loser.