Chapter 12

CHAPTER TWELVE

Lakelynn

“ I ’m really sorry about the mask,” I say, leaning forward so Ty can hear me across the table.

After our sex-apade, we found a booth inside the bar we were planning to have dinner at. Ty’s white mask is busted up in the alley outside. I accidentally stepped on it while we were “playing.” It was just a Halloween mask, but I feel awful about it.

He shrugs. “I can get a new one.”

Chances that he’ll be noticed are one in a million in this dimly-lit place, but I’m sure he feels weird without it.

“How long has it been since you went without it?” I ask.

“I got it after leaving the Rylees for the last time.”

I bite my lip, but nod. Remembering the events of that night are not my favorite pastime. I understand why he did it, and honestly, I’m thankful for it, but that night put a mark on me. Losing Ty was the worst.

I’m so happy we’re back together now, though. I won’t let anything come between us again. My feelings for him have only grown from what they were when we were younger.

“What can I—” The waitress’s words cut off on a gasp.

Ty and I glance up. My eyes widen.

“Oh, my God,” I whisper. “Sierra?”

Our waitress turns on her heel and speed-walks away.

“We need to go,” Ty says.

“Wait.” I get to my feet. “Let me talk to her. It will be fine.”

Rushing after Sierra, I ignore Ty calling my name. His voice is quickly swallowed up by the noise of the radio playing in the background. Sierra heads into the bathroom. When I enter a few seconds later, she’s leaning on the sink counter with her head down.

Sympathizing with her, I frown. “Sierra, I’m really sorry.”

“You’re sorry?” Sierra glares at me as if I’m no better than the dirt on her shoes. “After everything I went through because of you two and all you can say is ‘I’m sorry’?”

“Nothing I say can ever fix what happened?—”

“You’re right. It won’t.”

“But I am sorry.” Understanding her hatred of us, I turn to go. “We’ll leave. I don’t want to cause you any more problems.”

I’ve gotten as far as the door and pulled it open when Sierra calls out to me.

“Wait.” She sighs. “You can stay. I’ll come take your order in a minute.”

“Really?” I turn to face her and straighten.

“You’re already here.” She shrugs. “Besides, it was a long time ago.”

Sierra seems much calmer than she was a second ago. I’m not sure what changed her mind, but I’m thankful for it. I’ve wanted to apologize for pushing her in front of Mr. Rylee for years. I’m hopeful my sincerity has finally reached her, and we can move forward with less hostility from here on out.

I exit the bathroom feeling lighter, the weight of our past no longer weighing me down. Ty raises an eyebrow at me as I sit down again.

“It’s fine.” I assure him. “We’ve come to an understanding, so you and I can enjoy dinner without worry.”

He hums in agreement but doesn’t seem to be completely convinced. He doesn’t push the issue, and when Sierra comes by to take our order, Ty just tells her to bring us wings and fries.

I frown as he watches her go. “You don’t trust her, do you?”

“I don’t trust anyone,” he says.

“Not even me?”

He glances at me, his eyes softening. “I trust you.”

My shoulders sag and a smile curves my lips. I’m more than a little relieved to hear him say that.

It takes longer than I’d expect for us to get our food, but I don’t say anything to Sierra about it. I simply thank her. She smiles kindly before walking away.

I glance around. It seems oddly empty in here. Ty and I are the only ones except for Sierra and the bartender. I don’t even think anyone is in the back. After we ordered, Sierra handed our ticket to the bartender, who walked into what I assume is the kitchen behind the bar to cook our food.

I study my plate.

“What’s wrong?” Ty asks.

Looking up at him. I shake my head. “It’s nothing.”

“Stop doing that.”

My cheeks flush. He’s right. I need to be more open with him. I’m so used to keeping things to myself.

With a sigh, I tell him, “I was worried about the food. I was wondering if that’s why no one is in here. Usually even bars are packed on the weekend, even bad ones.”

“It’s fine. Eat.” He picks up a fry and stuffs it in his mouth.

I lower my voice even though no one is around us. “What if its poisoned?”

He smirks. “We’re more alike than I thought. I’ve already checked. It doesn’t smell off or look any different than normal. I’ve also eaten it already, so you’re safe.”

My eyes widen. “What if it wasn’t safe?”

“I’d be dead, and you’d know not to eat it.” He chuckles.

“That’s not funny!”

Still seeing humor in it while I don’t, he nudges my basket toward me. “Eat.”

I release a heavy breath but do as he says. It doesn’t take long to finish our food, as the amount is appetizer-sized, but I’m contently full nonetheless.

“Are you sure you don’t want to have a drink or something before you go?” Sierra asks after Ty informs her we’d like the check.

“No,” Ty says in a flat tone.

“But…but it’s on me!” Sierra insists. “I’ll get you anything you want.”

I narrow my eyes. “Why?”

“Oh…well…” she sighs, suddenly plagued with sadness. “I just wanted to spend more time with you both. You know, so we can get reacquainted now that we’ve cleared the air between us.”

“I guess we can stay for a little while.” I glance at Ty for confirmation, but his facial features are as neutral as ever, giving nothing away.

“Great!” Sierra perks up. “But I’ll have to wait until my break to join you. Give me about an hour, ’kay? I’ll get you a snack and drinks while you wait.”

She hurries off. While I’m happy she’s forgiven us, something doesn’t sit right with me. She didn’t seem so willing when we spoke earlier, just acceptive of our mutually bad circumstances.

And I don’t understand why she’d need to wait to take a break either. It’s not like anyone else here needs her attention. The alarms in my head get even louder when Sierra doesn’t head toward the kitchen or the bar; she walks into the back where the bathroom and back door is.

Ty gets to his feet. “Stay here. I’ll be back.”

I open my mouth to protest, but he’s gone before I can speak. He takes the same route as Sierra.

I scoff. They both expect me to wait? No way. Something isn’t right.

I stand and follow them. The bartender is still in the kitchen the last I saw, so there’s no one to judge or wonder what we’re all doing. Ty enters the men’s room. I put my ear to the door. His voice echoes through, but no one else is speaking. He has to be on his phone.

I’m curious who he’s calling, but I’ll have to ask when he comes out. I’m more interested in finding Sierra right now. My gut is telling me her sudden change of heart is not what I think it is.

I check the girls’ bathroom to find it empty, so I head to the only other door available: the backdoor.

Once outside, I search around for where she may have gone. My footsteps falter as a feminine voice reaches me. I follow it to the alley beside the bar, opposite to the one Ty and I fucked in.

“When are they coming?” Sierra demands with a cellphone to her ear and her back to me. “That’s not good enough! I told you an hour ago there was a murderer in the bar, and no one has yet to show up. I can’t stall them forever. Just forget it. I’ll deal with it myself.”

She angrily hangs up and lets out a groan of frustration. I knew she was acting strange. She didn’t want to fix anything; she just wanted to put Ty in jail.

A quiet storm brews inside me. I feel calm, yet angry as hell. Sierra is stabbing us in the back. Yes, her childhood was bad, and yes, we were partially to blame, but we were all kids just trying to survive, and her condemnation is somewhat misplaced.

I’ve been betrayed a lot in my life. By my parents, who abandoned me. By the Rylees, who attacked me. And by the government system, which failed to protect me. I’m done playing the victim. Ty has always stood by my side; he did whatever it took to keep me safe.

Now it’s my turn.

“Will you now?” I ask.

Sierra whirls around, wide eyed. “Lakelynn, I…that wasn’t what it sounded like. I was just calling about the bartender. He’s a real asshole. I swear.”

“I wish I believed you.”

I really do, but I don’t. My fingers wrap around the shovel leaning against the brick wall. It’s probably there to get up trash that homeless people push out of the dumpster nearby when digging for food. I don’t care what it’s used for normally; right now, all I want to do is hit her with it.

Sierra turns and runs the other way. She skids to a halt noticing Ty standing at the other end of the alley at the same time as I do. We both walk forward, caging Sierra in. The metal of the shovel scraps loudly against the concrete path.

“I’ll scream. I swear.” She tries to make her voice sound strong and confident, but there’s a shakiness to it.

“Go ahead,” Ty says. “Cleanup has already begun.”

I’m not sure what he means, but I assume it’s a hint at how we’re going to get away with this.

“You two are crazy!” Sierra screams. “This is all your fault! He loved me. I was his special girl until you showed up and ruined everything.”

My mouth drops open. She’s calling me crazy? A scoff of disbelief bubbles out of me. She can’t be serious.

Trying to measure her psychotic behavior and how deep it runs, I ask, “You do know he was molesting the other girls in the house, don’t you?”

“He wouldn’t have touched them if you hadn’t come along!” Sierra says. “You brainwashed him. He was losing his mind because he couldn’t have you when you sexually enticed him constantly. He only went to the others because he was so confused. Do you know how painful it is for the man you love to think about another girl while he’s making love to you?”

“Is that why you ran away?” Ty chuckles, getting a kick out of her insanity. I have to admit it is kind of mind-boggling to witness. “You were upset he didn’t love you?”

“He did,” she persists. Pointing at me, she adds, “You cast your voodoo magic on him!”

“What the fuck?” Is all I can manage to reply to her rant.

Part of me feels sorry for her. Sierra must have been with the Rylees far longer than I knew. Maybe even Mr. Rylee’s first victim. He somehow convinced her he loved her and mind-fucked her into believing she loved him too.

“You didn’t deserve his attention. You took everything from me.” Sierra rushes toward me. “And I’m going to take everything from you!”

Lifting the shovel, I tighten my grip on it. I don’t want to hurt her, but I also won’t let her attack me without fighting back. As she gets closer, I swing it out, slamming it into her face. Sierra’s feet come out from beneath her and she falls backward to the ground with a heavy thud; she’s out cold.

Ty grabs the shovel from me. Positioning the sharp tip at her throat, he shoves it down with a grunt. It lodges into the ground, Sierra’s head on one side and her body on the other.

He rubs his gloved hands over the handle, erasing my fingerprints. Ty glances at me. On the surface, I see worry, but beneath it there’s a spark, like he’s enjoying this. The sight is breathtaking. Happiness suits him.

Clearing my throat, I ask, “What’s wrong? You seem anxious.”

He shakes his head. “I was worried you might throw up or something.”

I laugh out loud. I can’t help it. I feel fine. Actually, I feel great. I realize that’s not a normal response to what we just did, but as fucked up as it is, I have no regrets about what we did. Sierra had it coming. She was so far gone in her head.

No one who has endured what we have would come out unscarred, but at least I know we were victims. Sierra was holding onto grudges on behalf of our rapist. In her eyes, we were the monsters. I hate that it ended this way between us, but she threatened us. I lost Ty once; I won’t lose him again. I’ll do anything to keep him safe and us together.

And that’s what I did. I have no guilt.

Ty smiles as he disposes of Sierra’s body, head, and the shovel in the dumpster. I offer to help, but he tells me no because of my fingerprints.

“What about her coworker?” I ask.

“Unfortunately…” Ty dusts off his gloves after closing the dumpster. “He’s got to go, and quick, before the cops show up. Are you sure you’re up for this? You could go home and pack.”

“It will be faster if we both do it.” Stepping up to him, I wrap my arms around his neck. “I promise I’m fine. It’s kind of a stress reliever, to be honest.”

He chuckles. “I know.” Leaning down, he kisses me, long and hard. With a slap to my ass, he says, “Let’s go.”

I untangle myself from him and go to the backdoor. Ty passes me his switchblade, the same one he used on Keith. To the naked eye, it looks clean, but I’m sure if we used a blacklight, it would reveal the blood that’s actually on it. I’m curious to know how many people he’s killed, but now is not the time to ask.

I hold blade tightly, my knuckles turning white. Killing Sierra was a necessity; she wasn’t innocent. I know nothing about the bartender, but I trust Ty. If he says he needs to go, then he needs to go.

My heart races and my palms sweat as Ty enters the kitchen. The man is standing with his back to us, washing dishes. I assume it’s from our dinner. I stay by the door while Ty creeps up behind him. He picks up a butcher knife off the counter. Finally, sensing Ty, the man turns around.

They struggle for the upper hand; Ty tries to overpower the bartender, but he’s a good bit bigger than Ty, giving him an advantage. The man kicks Ty in the kneecap. With him off-balance, the man punches Ty in the face. Ty falls back into the counter.

Seeing an opening, the bartender bolts toward the only available exit, behind me. I move to the side, giving the man false hope of escaping. When he’s within reach, I stab him in the stomach with the switchblade. He doubles over.

Recovered from his momentary defeat, Ty rushes up behind the man, yanks his head back, and slits his throat. I jump as blood sprays my face and clothes. Ty lets the bartender fall to the ground. The blade still in my hand is warm from the blood coating it. My gaze connects with Ty’s.

Silence fills my head; there’s not one thought, just peace. I see the same reflecting in Ty’s eyes. Our demons are satisfied. I want to live my life with Ty like this, in peace. He seems to feel the same way, as he sets down the knife and takes my hand. Taking the switchblade from me, he puts it in his pocket.

We walk to the front door, and before leaving, he flips over the open sign hanging on the door to closed.