CHAPTER NINETEEN
DAIRE
“I really wish you guys weren’t doing this. What am I supposed to say to Lyra?” Clover did her best to look betrayed. She’d been harping at us for a solid hour now.
“Simple. You don’t say anything.” I mimed zipping my lips shut. “She doesn’t need to know. It’s better if she doesn’t.”
Clover scowled. “I wish I didn’t. I feel like I’m lying to my friend. Like I’ve done something wrong.”
“You’re not doing anything, Rainbow,” Blaze reminded her. “We are. It’s not like we have a choice.”
She pouted, sticking out her bottom lip for dramatic effect. “I know. I just hate all of this. When this is all over, and we’re finally done with Paradise, can we go on a nice trip somewhere? Maybe Disneyland? I’ve never been there.”
I chucked her under the chin before leaning in to bite her pouty lip. “Sure. Disneyland. Anything you want.”
Tonight we were going to meet Jet and get this shit over with. This was the third day since our beef with him on campus. Even though I’d prefer to let the little fucker do his own dirty work, I couldn’t risk him posting that video of Cash and Clover.
One day Jet Reinhart would regret making this move against us. I would make sure of it.
After dark, we dropped Clover off at Raina’s house. I needed to know she was somewhere safe. She did her best to make us feel guilty even though she knew damn well her own ass was on the line this time. She didn’t want that video to drop any more than the rest of us.
“If you get the chance, bitch slap Jet for me,” Clover said when I left her in the front entry of the Gods’ house.
“Give him one for me too,” Raina called from where she stood near the kitchen. “And if you ever decide to kill him, you have to let me help.”
“Noted.” I paused to kiss Clover before vacating the house.
Despite my efforts to neutralize the weird tension between Raina and me, traces of it lingered. Maybe it always would, although she did seem to be lighter around me now. Not so consumed with the need to kill me.
I’d done my best to bring peace between our groups. That was all I could do. The cuts she’d inflicted on me with my own knife were in various stages of healing, slowly turning into pink scars. Along with the bruises on my face, I looked like shit.
Blaze was looking pretty rough too. Poor fucker’s nose was huge. His face bruised and swollen. I had to hold back a laugh every time I looked at him.
We headed to a grocery store parking lot where we were to meet Jet. Lucky for him, he was already there when we arrived. Since I refused to take any of our own vehicles on a job like this, we left our car behind and got into the black Escalade with Jet.
“You actually showed up,” he said, surprised to see us.
“It’s not like you gave us much choice.” I barely resisted the urge to smack him upside the head. On second thought, no, he deserved a smack in the head at the very least. I gave him a good one, knocking his head into the side window. “That’s from Raina and Clover.”
“What the fuck, dude?” Jet shot me a fiery glare.
“Shut up and live with it, or next time it will be a fist.” I sat in the passenger side of the vehicle, glancing into the back at Cash and Blaze. “Where are your sidekicks? Not willing to get their hands dirty for your sick obsession?”
Jet’s mood seemed to change. A darkness passed through his eyes. “They have something else to take care of. Nothing that concerns you.”
“Creepy cult stuff?” Cash asked, leaning forward in his seat.
“Sure. Something like that.” Jet started the Escalade, pulling out of his parking space. “You know, if you guys weren’t so likely to blow the whole thing, I would invite you to join us.”
Blaze scoffed. “There is no reality that exists where we would ever want to do that.”
With a lazy half shrug, Jet exited the lot, pulling into traffic. “Suit yourselves. I can guarantee what we’re doing is nothing like what you’re imagining, but it’s probably better that way. I don’t like outsiders knowing my business.”
“Good call,” I said. “We already know more than enough about you.”
Jet made a face, his laugh mocking. I knew better than to entirely underestimate a guy like him. The fucker ran a cult. He had enough charisma and power to convince people to follow him in whatever endeavor he and his friends were involved in.
On the outside, I saw an arrogant asshole who was obsessed with his stepsister. There was more going on with Jet beneath the surface. I was sure of that. I just didn’t want to know how much more.
“Ryan works part time at a restaurant downtown. He gets off in twenty minutes. That’s when we’ll grab him.” Jet shoulder checked before changing lanes as he prepared to take a left at the end of the block.
“We?” Cash repeated. “You mean you will grab him, and we will wait right here. We’re only here to help you get rid of the body, remember? You’re doing your own damn dirty work.”
“Fine,” Jet muttered. “Whatever.”
The rest of the drive was spent in silence. I had nothing else to say to this guy. Not until this was over. Then I would make my feelings clear.
We pulled into a parking lot littered with cars. The restaurant was relatively busy. Grabbing someone in a place like this was risky. Jet parked near a silver SUV. He checked the time before staring hard at the rear entry of the building.
Nodding at the SUV, he said, “That’s his car. I’ll grab him. You guys open the back when I do so I can throw him in. Don’t fuck me over.”
“Yeah, yeah. We’ll do our part.” Blaze sounded less than enthused. I shared his lack of enthusiasm.
I tapped my fingers on my thigh, waiting impatiently for something to happen. The waiting really was the hardest part of any mission. I would much rather have been at home with Clover.
“There he is.” Jet perked up, his gaze laser focused on the restaurant’s exit. “Get that door open once I grab him.”
He surprised me by pulling out a syringe filled with clear liquid. I had to hand it to him, he’d come prepared. Slipping from the vehicle, Jet kept himself out of sight, waiting until Ryan reached his own car. That’s when Jet crept up behind him and jabbed the syringe into the side of his neck.
There was a small struggle as Ryan whirled around, his face lit up with shock. He went to take a swing at Jet, but the drug in the syringe was already taking effect. Instead, he slumped against his car before sliding to the ground.
Jet glanced around to make sure nobody would see him drag the unconscious Ryan over to the Escalade. Cash popped open the back from the inside, helping to drag Ryan into the vehicle. In a matter of seconds, it was done.
Once back in the Escalade, Jet calmly drove us out of there. He seemed exceptionally chill for having just abducted a man. I eyed him curiously. What a fucking maniac. I had to respect him a little for how dedicated he was to this task.
“Where are we headed?” Blaze asked when Jet continued to drive in silence.
“You tell me. I can kill him anywhere. You guys are the experts at hiding a body.”
I turned in my seat to face him. “Sometimes we don’t hide them at all. We dump them and let them be found. Of course, in most cases, there’s nothing to tie us to the victim at all. In this case, you definitely have ties. If you don’t want him found, head for the woods. Not the area close to town. Further out. A good hour or more.”
“Seriously?” Jet raised a brow. “That far?”
“Do you want him to be found or not?”
“Not.”
“Then do it.”
Jet muttered something beneath his breath. I wasn’t too thrilled at the thought of spending that much time with him either. If we were going to do this, we’d do it right.
Since we weren’t stupid, none of us had brought our phones. I’d made sure that Jet didn’t bring his either. That would be a dumbass move if anyone looked into phone records. I doubted anyone would consider the three of us in Ryan’s disappearance. We had no ties to him at all. Except through Jet. If that fucker got caught and ratted us out, I would make him regret his birth.
Ryan didn’t start to come around until we’d pulled off the gravel country roads into the trees. We could only go so far before we had to walk. Jet used a string of rope he had in the back to tie Ryan’s hands. Then he shoved the barely conscious man along in front of him as we moved deep into the forest.
Cash carried a gas can from the back of the Escalade. I’d told Jet to bring one and to make sure he obtained it from a place without cameras. He said that he swiped it from his father’s garage.
Since we didn’t have a flashlight of any kind, I tried to use the placement of the moon and stars to help us find our way back without issue. The moon was almost full, beaming down enough light for us to pick our way among the trees.
“You’re a goddamn psychopath, Reinhart,” Ryan grumbled, tripping over a tree root.
He fell down on his face, groaning as Jet grabbed the back of his neck, jerking him upright. Cash, Blaze, and I hung back. This wasn’t our problem. Jet was on his own here for the most part.
“I told you to stay away from my girl, douchebag. Maybe you should have listened.” Jet shoved Ryan along, making him fall again. This time he hauled Ryan up by his hair.
“She chose me,” Ryan spat, doing his best to remain fearless despite the way his shoulders quaked. “Obviously, you weren’t man enough to handle that.”
Jet’s fist slammed into the back of Ryan’s head. “Did you touch her, asshole? Do I have to break your hands before I kill you?”
That seemed to change Ryan’s attitude. “Kill me? Are you serious? Come on, man. This is crazy. If you want me to stay away from Lyra, I will. Just let me go.”
“It’s too late for that. I warned you, and you told me to go fuck myself. Remember that? I am way beyond letting you go.” A twisted chuckle came from Jet, making me do a double take.
Maybe he was the real deal. A crazy fucker capable of giving the rest of us a run for our money. I’d thought maybe he was all talk. Looked like I was wrong about that.
Ryan turned around to face Jet. Even in the low lighting, I could see the whites of his eyes as he gaped at his captor. “I’ll do anything. I won’t even look at her again. Please, don’t do this.”
“Did I say you could stop moving?” This time Jet punched Ryan in the face. He didn’t stop there. Several punches knocked Ryan to the ground. He let out a pained shout before begging for mercy.
When Jet got him up again, I saw that he’d been stabbed in the side by a pointy tree branch or maybe a sharp rock. It was hard to tell in the darkness. Ryan limped along as we continued deeper into the forest.
“This is probably good enough,” I said, drawing the group to a halt. We’d reached a small brook that ran through the forest, driven by the river in the distance. “There’s always the chance of a hunter finding what’s left of him, but if you take the teeth, they may not be able to identify what’s left. You can also toss the bones in the river. Your call, Jet.”
Ryan had a meltdown then. He turned to the three of us pretty much screaming. “What the fuck is wrong with all of you? How can you do this? I don’t even know you guys. What did I ever do to any of you to deserve this?”
I’d done this kind of thing enough times in the past that I had very little emotion when it came to begging and pleading. Unless it was Clover, I really didn’t care. I’d learned long ago to detach myself from such situations. I wouldn’t be able to do what I did if I hadn’t.
“It’s nothing personal,” I said. “We’re not here by choice either.”
Ryan put up a fuss then, begging and flailing, doing all he could to get Jet to grant him mercy. Jet was entirely unmoved. In his mind, Ryan had committed the greatest sin, and there was no coming back from that.
We stood back and watched while Jet took out his rage on Ryan. The beating went on a little longer than I thought necessary, but hey, it wasn’t my vendetta. Finally, Jet tired of his efforts when Ryan lay sprawled on the ground and made no effort to get up. Not that he could do much with his hands tied behind his back.
That’s when Jet pulled a large hunting knife from his hoodie pocket and slashed it across Ryan’s throat. The blood began to pour, pooling beneath him. He wasn’t even dead yet when Jet began to pour gasoline all over him. Lucky for Ryan, he was dead by the time the fire was sparked.
Flames engulfed the body. I’d chosen a spot near the water for safety purposes. Starting a forest fire sure wouldn’t help us keep this on the down low. The fire seemed isolated to the body itself. We would stay until it went out and then deal with what remained.
When all was said and done, Jet decided to take the skull so he could remove the teeth later and dispose of the rest on his own. Or so he said. For all I knew, he would be using it in his creepy cult activity. The body he kicked into the brook, submerging it in a deep area, where the current would take it back to the river.
“We are done now. Anything that happens from here on out is on you. You will not throw us under the bus with you if this comes back to haunt your ass. If you get caught, we are not going down with you. I will fucking kill you before they can ever lock your ass up. Got it? I want proof that video has been deleted, and you don’t keep a single copy stored anywhere. I fucking mean it, Jet. You’ve gotten as far as you can go with us. Fuck with us again and you’ll be the next body in the woods.”
I was in Jet’s face all the way back to the city. He smiled and nodded, incredibly agreeable. He seemed to be riding the high of the kill.
“For sure. No worries. The video is gone as soon as I get back to my phone. I needed to make sure this was done right. I didn’t want to get carried away and mess something up. Your help was valuable. We’re all good.” Jet sped down the highway toward home once we’d left the country roads behind. His mood had changed considerably. Now he was grinning and relaxed. Fucking maniac.
Was this his first kill? That kind of thing changed a person. Some people fell into it, like an addiction. Others lived with guilt and shame. Jet struck me as the kind of guy that would be the former.
For me, it was a necessary means to an end. Nothing more, nothing less.
When we got out of the Escalade in the grocery store parking lot, I paused to add, “Do not ever try this again. You’ve pushed us as far as you can. Do the smart thing and stay the fuck away from us.”
I slammed the door shut, not giving him the chance to reply. I’d had more than enough of him. He could’ve handled this on his own. Maybe he didn’t trust himself not to leave evidence behind, or maybe he simply wanted to exert some power over us. It all felt like mind games to me.
Jet rolled down his window, his smirk a mile wide. “One more thing. There is no video. I never had a spy cam. That was just a regular necklace.”
“Are you serious?” Blaze gaped at him in disbelief.
“Hell yeah. I needed a job done, and I didn’t want to bear the burden alone. So I did what I had to do to get it done. Thanks again, boys.” Jet put the car in gear, but I was already tearing him out of the driver’s seat.
I flung him to the ground, reaching in to slam the car into park before it rolled away. Right there in the empty grocery store parking lot, the three of us took turns beating the shit out of Jet Reinhart. The manipulative bastard had conned us into this entire thing. In some way, it came as a relief to know he didn’t have any footage of Clover, and yet, that somehow only made me want to kill him more.
Jet did his best to cover his face and head with his arms. I kicked him hard in the ribs, enjoying his shriek of pain. We should have known better. This motherfucker ran a cult. Clearly, he knew well how to manipulate people into doing his bidding.
We left him there bleeding and battered. Without a glance back, we got into our own vehicle and drove away.