CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
RAZOR
I have to pretend like all is well, being crammed in a booth with the two people I wouldn’t mind skinning alive sitting across from me.
But I’m not fine. Nothing about this is fine.
Bunny knowing about the files isn’t fine.
Her apparently seeing a goddamn ghost isn’t fine.
I’m not fucking fine. The urge to burn the files with all our names, all our mistakes, police reports and news articles, all the diagnosis and fucking experimental treatments we went through is scratching at the back of my neck.
Stop looking at me like that. I don’t like it.
You wouldn’t understand. You don’t understand because I’m making sure of that. Got it? We cool? Great. Just keep silently watching. You’re really good at that.
My leg bounces harder, subconsciously brushing my hand up Bunny’s thigh for a pacifying squeeze.
She looks at me, giving me those big eyes that encourage me to break, lay it out all the line and just fucking deal with what’s bound to come afterward.
Us being out for this long, especially all together, isn’t good. Too many eyes.
“Eyes, eyes, eyes, lies.”
“Face the death.”
“Step right up!”
“Freak!”
My jaw pops, the pocket of air clearing my head. I try to smile at Bunny loading chocolate chip waffles into her mouth, but my jaw is welded, and I just look like a big goddamn idiot.
Xene’s stuffed groan shifts me his way, quickly scanning the busy mouths smacking and chomping around us.
“I’ll go take care of the bill,” he grins, his words muffled from a mouthful of hash browns.
I nod curtly, getting one in return from him that says he understands why it’s time to dash the hell out.
He’s a great dude. Honestly, he’s awesome. But him wanting to fuck Bunny isn’t. Or whatever weird cuck shit he wants to do.
The annoyance blazing up my spine turns me to Ora. She slurps the last of her coffee, completely unaware of my internal battle of wanting to grab the shitty little butter knife and ram it into her eye socket.
I’m not gonna be able to let this go. Not until I get even. Even if that’s just scaring her until she hates me. But the invasive eyes of a stranger are distracting me from saying something at the moment.
Bunny and Ora start stacking plates. I grab my cup of tepid tap water, raising the warm brim to my lips and meeting the blue eyes sitting several booths away.
She shamelessly continues her study of us, making it too obvious she’s taking notes in her journal. Notebook. I don’t know what the fuck it is. If you wanna know that bad, you go ask her yourself.
Cash, Aries, Duse, and Gwen are in the booth behind Ora, leaving Cash’s peroxide hair off to the side of the staring contest I just entered with the blondie that’s earning a spot in the wall of vertebrae.
I know Cash is trying to figure out what my problem is. But one quick check over his shoulder has him spotting the lonesome fool that wouldn’t be able to find stealthy waters if she fell off a boat.
Cash turns his head back toward me, our eyes stitching. “What the fuck?” he mouths.
I tip my head toward Bunny, gesturing for him to watch her, then set my glass down and give her leg a little shake, slipping out of the booth with a target on goldilocks that doesn’t have any bears to save her.
She’s in her early twenties, innocent looking. But the guilt draining down her throat and her journal slamming closed as I approach is anything but innocent.
I slash on a smile, dropping my ass to the bench seat across from her, and spread my arms out along the back rest. “She’s pretty, isn’t she?”
She immediately looks toward Bunny, nodding jaggedly and treasuring her secrets close to her chest.
“Staring’s not nice,” I tell her, finally getting her watery eyes back on me. “I know she’s killer to look at, but-”
“I’m not just looking at her,” she cuts me off, throwing a stiff hand out and gaping at me.
“I-I mean, yes, I am, but I’m… Ugh, God, I’m so sorry.
” Fumbling to open her journal back up, she moves quick to find the page she closed on.
“I wanna be a director and I saw you guys come in and it just… You guys inspired something.”
Going through numerous stages of confusion and respect for her boldness, I keep my mouth shut, silently allowing her to twist the pages my way.
She drew us. In our separate booths. With nitty gritty details, all the way down to the texture of everyone’s hair.
That’s sick. But fucking weird. And I don’t trust her.
“Niiccee,” I drone, flicking back up to her wide pupils. “Director, huh? What kind of movie did we inspire within you?” I tack on sarcastically, trying to look for any cracks that might make her bleed out.
Clearly not picking up on my inability to give a shit, excitement blooms through her face and she flips back a page, clearing her throat to recite the gospel, I guess.
Xene slinks up behind her, pouncing over the back of her seat with a big ass grin and ripping the book from her hands.
“Hey!” she whines.
He laughs, playfully twirling his hair and taking exaggerated steps to the edge of the table. “Ooh, Bunny’s the killer.”
“Give that back!” she swats at the book in his hands, growing red in face as he dodges each swing. “That’s so not cool!”
My brows furrow, watching her lazy attempts at getting her precious back. “Weren’t you just drawing strangers without consent? And making up some weird little fantasy you’ll probably fetishize later?”
She stops, whipping her fury at me.
“Uh-oh, Raze. You die first,” Xene hums, turning the scribbled pages my direction and bumping his brows.
“That’s nice,” I say dryly.
Jadedly cutting my eyes to her, she curls her bottom lip in, lowering her lids like I’m the annoying one. “I don’t fetishize my work, I-”
“Oh, you have other work?” I cut her off for pay back, taunting her with a grin and bringing my elbows to the table, resting my face in my hands. “Tell me about your other films.”
“This is why she wants you to die first,” Xene laughs.
“That’s fine. She can make up whatever silly shit she wants,” I respond to him, not tearing my eyes from her.
“You die because your girlfriend grows to hate you,” she bites out, giving me a smirk, as if the little bitch is satisfied with herself.
Guess she doesn’t know the enemy she just made, how serious I take things with Bunny.
Anger burns beneath my chest, the heat of my rage blowing through my arms and throat, my posture getting tugged straight. I stare at her, cocking my head to analyze the skin that would look great dehydrated and stretched over a book. “You know—what’s your name?”
“Cassi.”
“Well, Cassi, most narcissists project. Seems like maybe your boyfriend, girlfriend, whatever the fuck you’re into, grew to hate you.
Fuck, I would. That’s embarrassing.” Pointing to the book still in Xene’s hands, my upper lip curls, my knuckle knocking on the table as I support my casual slide out of the booth.
I can feel her furiously staring at me, but, man, it’s a sight turning around to my little bunny waiting for me back at the booth. Her lean legs are glistening against the dim light, the muscles prominent from her resting sideways into the seat Gwen and Duse are still in.
A natural smile breaks my face, stopping in front of her and slipping a hand along her lower back. “Ready to rock?’
Warmth burns up through her dewy cheeks, her lips folding to shun a grin. But she’s distracted. Everyone’s chatting and moving their meat to head outside, yet Bunny is eyeing that girl like she can sense her wicked intent.
“Tell me,” I encourage her, my smile slipping with the jam of my brows.
She twists her lips, lightly tilting her head and sweeping her analytical gaze up to me. “She looks familiar.”
Has she been to Vore? Has she seen us there? Does she know where we live? Has she been watching us? Creeping peeks through the windows?
Frowning, I shake my head, shooting a subtle glance back to Cassi shoving her bag up onto her shoulder and scampering away from the booth she was in.
“Cash said she was watching us…”
Giving Bunny my attention again, I shake my head to soothe her worries, but she’s tossing a stern finger up at me before I can utter a fucking word. It kind of turns me on, watching her become fierce enough to shut me the hell up.
“Stop doing that,” she hisses, her candied voice rough with anger.
It has everyone else stopping in their tracks, collectively being put on edge and splitting their side-eyes toward Bunny violently staring at me.
Keep doing that. Let it all out on me, crazy girl.
Against my will, my cheeks tense. I try to stretch them out, but I’m grinning right in her face, waiting for what she wants to say next.
She swallows hard, her eyes gaining an extra mist from the courage that’s quickening her breaths. “I’m not a little girl. If I have a weird feeling, don’t dismiss it for the sake of making me comfortable. I’ll never be comfortable where we’re at. Got it?”
“Yes, ma’am,” I nod.
“I need to go change my pants,” Xene whispers behind me.
Not hearing him, Bunny says, “I wanna know more about her. I’ve seen her face before.”
I don’t like that. And I don’t like Bunny getting involved. But old habits clearly die hard. So, she’s not gonna stop until she gets what she wants from this. I’ll just… need to grow an extra eye to keep full watch on her.
After doing a shitty job at nodding and cooing in agreement, we slip outside into the torrid night.
The guys are already launching themselves into the bed of the truck with Ora and Aries.
Which would be a good thing. But I completely missed where the little maggot ran off to, so there’s no telling if she’s watching us from a dark window.
I pull Bunny closer to me, scanning the few parked cars in the lot and ushering her to the driver’s side door, unable to make out any mischievous faces lit up from the streetlights.
Call me paranoid, but I can still feel her eyes on us.
Making sure Bunny gets in the middle safely, I pull out my pack of cigarettes and burn a cherry into one, wedging the filter within my lips to tuck my pack away into my pocket while cranking the window open.
Yes. A crank window. Fuck off.