Chapter 39
Chapter Thirty-Nine
ABIGAIL
Ifelt lost. I was torn between following my head and my heart. My head told me I should go to my parents or even hide away completely. Go somewhere they couldn’t find me. But my heart said, ‘You’ve come this far, Abi. Don’t fall at the final hurdle. You’re so close to this all being over.’
But when would it be over?
And how the fuck was this going to end?
Because, when all was said and done, I’d started this without thinking about that. It was a situation I was dreading. He was targeting my work. He knew where I lived. He wanted me gone. I was a loose end that’d come out of the woodwork, and now, he wanted to wipe me out for good.
Dread pulled on my insides like hooks in a carcass swinging in an abattoir.
I tried to ignore the stabbing pains of impending doom as I sat watching the local news on the TV.
The reporter was interviewing a neighbour, who thought the fire had been an insurance job.
But it was all too convenient. This wouldn’t go away so easily. I knew it.
How long before they traced it back to me?
What if the body in the lake was found?
How would I explain that to my parents?
I couldn’t bear their disappointment. No, strike that. The utter devastation that the daughter they thought they knew was a monster.
I threw my TV remote onto the sofa and let out the longest sigh, running my hands over my face and wishing my life didn’t hurtle from one shitstorm to another. I picked up my phone and started to scroll to find a distraction, and that’s when his message popped up.
Isaiah
I liked playing games with you yesterday.
How did he do it? Always swooping in when I least expected it, finding ways to distract me.
A grin crept over my face despite everything.
I couldn’t deny he was a distraction that was interesting, fun, and being with him last night had been an experience that’d been replaying on a loop in my head since I’d woken up and found those dice.
Me
You liked winning.
The three dots started to dance on my screen, showing he was responding right away.
Isaiah
I do. Fancy playing again?
Did I? Was losing myself in a man like Isaiah exactly what I needed right now, or was this something I might regret later down the line?
Me
I’m a bit busy today. Work is manic.
I started second-guessing myself as I waited for a reply. And when someone knocked at my door, I almost jumped out of my skin.
I shot up off the sofa and walked to the door, then hesitated. I wished I had a spy hole to look through to see who was knocking.
“Who’s there?” I asked, debating whether to duck into the kitchen and grab a knife from the drawer for protection.
“It’s me,” he said, his dark, deep voice sending chills down my spine, making the stabbing pains inside turn to sparks of anticipation.
I unlocked the door and opened it just a little, and there he was, standing outside my door, holding a carrier bag, with his head tilted in that way he always did and a shit-eating grin on his face.
His eyes darkened with a wicked shimmer as he said, “I think someone needs to remember who the fuck they are.”
“What do you mean?” I narrowed my eyes at him, keeping the door ajar, making him work for it.
“I mean, you left work early. Don’t ask me how I know, just accept that I do. And now, you’re sitting in here debating your life choices and stressing over every little detail.” He took a breath and lowered his face a little to give me a more intense stare. “Am I right?”
“I am allowed to do that,” I replied defensively.
“You are. But you shouldn’t.” He moved closer to the door and asked, “Are you going to let me?”
“What happens if I don’t?”
His low, sultry snigger made the sparks inside me fire hotter.
“I do like a challenge.” He glanced down at the lock. “I think I could pick that in under two minutes.”
“It’s a brand-new lock. The best on the market.”
“So I’ve heard.”
The way he smirked was so cocky, but that smirk did things to me, and right now, I needed to forget everything.
Maybe he was my lucky charm, sent to pull me out of the horrors of my life and into the deliciously dark and twisted world that he’d appeared from.
A tailor-made devil ready to take my hand and walk me on my path to hell.
“I suppose you could come in for a little while,” I said, trying and failing to sound nonchalant as I pulled the door open.
“I think we’ll need longer than a little while,” he retorted, walking past me and leaving a cloud of sandalwood in his wake. I took a deep breath as I closed the door, hoping he didn’t see me. God, I loved that smell. And on him it was delicious.
He took a seat on my sofa, put the carrier bag on the floor at his feet, and sat back, spreading his legs wide and putting his arms across the back, settling himself in like he lived here.
“Comfy?” I raised a brow, and he mirrored my expression.
“Almost.” He tilted his head to gesture to the space next to him. “I’ll be better when you stop biting your nails and pacing the floor and come and sit with me.”
I moved my hand, not even conscious of the fact that I was biting my nails. I didn’t want him to think I was nervous.
“Why did you come home early?” he asked, leaning forward and regarding me with curiosity.
“I had the afternoon off.”
He narrowed his eyes, pointing at me as he said, “Do you know, when you tell lies you touch the back of your neck?”
The hand I had rested at my nape shot downwards, and my heart started pounding. I had no idea I did that.
“I’m not lying,” I replied, cursing the fact that my voice sounded whiney and disingenuous. “I took some time off.” That was closer to the truth. No lies there. “And I wanted to stay here and rest. I didn’t get much sleep last night.”
He nodded, grinning to himself, then he rubbed his hand over his jaw.
“I make no apologies for that, but I think something’s bothering you. Is it the old witch from last night? Because you know that’s dead and buried, right?”
“No. It’s not that.”
“You really like making me work for it, don’t you?” He sat back again. “If you’re not ready to talk, then I think we should play a game.”
“What’s the game?” I asked, glad of the distraction, excitement and nerves spiking.
“Sit down here and I’ll tell you.” He patted the space on the sofa beside him.
I paused for a moment, then sat down and turned to face him.
“Am I gonna get the chance to win this time?” I asked, and he held my gaze as he replied, “This one is a total winner for you. But first, we need to relax a bit.”
He reached down into the carrier bag he’d brought in and pulled out two bottles of beer. “Got a bottle opener?”
“Of course.” I stood up and went to the kitchen, took the bottle opener out of my drawer and walked back in. “Isn’t it a bit early to start drinking?” I asked as I sat down and passed him the bottle opener. I wasn’t resisting that hard.
He looked at the watch on his wrist, then shrugged. “It’s five o’clock somewhere. And both of us have the afternoon off. It seems a shame to spoil it.”
We started to drink, and before I knew it, it was getting dark outside and I had drunk way too much.