Rule 16 - Koi

"Ican"t do it." I took a drink of my beer and stared into the bonfire. "She"s too fucking nice. Probably the only decent one in that fucking family." I wiped my brow. I hadn"t stopped thinking of her since we got out of that bath. If my chief and the other guys weren"t there, I would have slid our underwear to the side and fucked her in that ice-cold water.

"You don"t even know." Swayze pulled a cigarette out and lit it. "I had to spend all day with her telling me all about her life, only to be thinking the whole time about how I"m supposed to end it. And I have to do it all over again tomorrow! It"s everyone else that deserves to die, not her."

"You saw that list on her phone, right?" I asked. She"d updated it today. Before, it was just names, but now, alongside them, there was something she wanted to do for them. Housing, reuniting them with family, mobility aids, all sorts of shit. It didn"t make much sense to me until she titled it when she was done.

"Reasons to stay." Swayze sighed. "She came back to help all those fucking people."

"What do we do then?" I turned to look at him. We"d given so much of our lives to this place. Our time and our bodies. So many of our memories were created here at the camp and the park. If we told Marisol we weren"t going to do what she wanted, she"d fire our asses.

"This isn"t how I imagined this all playing out. Leaving in disgrace," Swayze said.

"Yeah, but what choice do we have?" We were interrupted by a loud group coming over and quickly filling the circle. My mood fell as I took inventory of who was there.

Chitra, the nerdy girl. Beth, the goth chick. Andrew, whose nose was shoved so far up Marisol"s ass it should have been stained brown. Marisol, much to my dismay. Blane, the blond, long-haired skater, and Ruth, the girl who peaked in high school. Lastly, someone I wasn"t expecting entered the circle, taking her seat directly across from me. She stared at me with a smug grin from across the fire.

"Hello, boys."

"Grace?" I blinked. What was Dennis"s sister doing here? She"d really grown up. She was pretty, but the scowl on her face made her significantly less attractive. Plus, she looked too much like Dennis for me to be interested.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"With Leeanna having to leave, there was an empty bunk. Grace is a new ride operator," Marisol said. "Does that bother you?"

Of course, it did. Which is exactly why she picked her name out of the list of applicants.

"What do you want?" Swayze glared at her in annoyance.

"I just thought it was time we all had a little talk. I"ve been patient, but nothing is happening, and I"m not happy."

"What are you talking about?" I huffed, looking around the circle. Everyone looked more amused than anything.

"We want her gone," Grace blurted.

"Who?" Swayze asked.

"Don"t play dumb." Ruth brushed her blonde hair into a messy bun. "We know you were supposed to kill Domino, but now, you"re too chickenshit."

Chickenshit?

"More like horny." Andrew snickered. "Is that your game? Fuck her before you gut her? Look, if you"re not going to do it, I have no problem taking the money. Any of us will."

"What exactly has she done to any of you?" I motioned around the circle. Grace, I understood, but no one else had any motive for wanting her gone.

"Marisol said—" Andrew started, but I interrupted him.

"Pussy-whipped much? Give me an actual good reason."

"I need the money." Beth shrugged. "I"m heading to Cali in the fall. I need a car to get me there."

"Same." Chitra raised her hand and cringed. "I"d like to visit my cousins back in India. Her birthday is coming up and it"s always so much fun."

I stared into the fire. First, it was just Swayze and I, but now Marisol had brought in a whole crew? This was getting out of hand. Someone was bound to spill their load on what was going on.

"I don"t understand what"s going on. If you"ve got all these people you"re paying, you clearly don"t need us." I looked at Swayze, and he started to get up from his seat.

"I don"t, but I want to give you the chance to do right." Marisol stood and pushed Swayze back down, straddling him. She put her arms around his neck and he shoved them away from her in disgust.

"What, you too good for me now? Or don"t want my little sister seeing you like this? I"ve seen how you look at her. You want her."

"Don"t do this, Marisol." Swayze shifted uncomfortably. She shifted to face us but remained on his lap.

"I had to pull in help because it was obvious you two forgot all about what we"d agreed on. I want her dead and buried underneath the Cyclone," she snarled and stood. "The seven years she was gone were the best I"d ever had. I spent my entire childhood dealing with her. Domino, the baby, the bastard, Dad"s favorite, his blessing. He and my uncle were always so focused on her, I was no one to them. I"m not doing it for the rest of my life now that she"s back. You two"—Marisol pointed at us—"are going to finish it. And the rest of you are going to make sure they do. Or better yet, convince her to kill herself. I"d love to see her hanging from one of the water slides. Make her life a living hell, and make sure they do too."

She stepped out of the circle and stomped away. Presumably back to hell where she crawled out from.

"Let"s go. Fuck all of you." I stood and motioned for Swayze.

Andrew and Blane stood up; fists clenched at their sides. I paused, looked between them, and burst into laughter.

"For real? You think I"m scared of you? Try me." I stepped up to Andrew. He was the bigger of the two. He was hesitant, but stepped forward, our chests bumping. "What are you gonna do, Andy?"

I heard the clipped swish of a switchblade, and I responded, shoving my head into his belly and rushing forward, taking him off his feet. I grabbed his hips and threw him over me. He hit the hard ground right next to the fire with a loud thud. I pulled my boot back and swiftly swung it forward, kicking him right in the stomach.

"Try and be my fucking babysitter." I looked around and smirked. "I"ll kick any one of your asses. You think I couldn"t get away with making you pay for annoying me? How many injuries and deaths back at the park do you think were accidents or intentional?"

The circle grew deathly silent. It was a good question. There"d been a lot of deaths at Risky Rush Amusement Park. I knew for a fact that sometimes people used the park"s notoriety for nefarious reasons. I could too if I wanted.

Blane scrambled up and brushed the dirt off him. "Who"s to say we don"t do that? Any one of us could facilitate a fatal accident for her."

"Facilitate?" Swayze came to stand by me. He laughed. "That"s a mighty big word for you. You lay a fucking finger on Domino, and I"ll cut it off."

Chitra stood up and brushed her short, wavy hair back. "Look, if you want us out of your hair, just do it. Stop screwing around and overthinking. A quick slash to the throat and she"s gone."

Everyone stood and made their way out of the circle, mumbling and talking shit about Swayze and me. We stared into the fire, silent, for a long time.

"Well, it sounds like our plans have changed. Again."

He pulled out a joint and lit it, offering it to me after he had a hit.

"That it has."

"I never pictured us as killers. Considering the line of work we"re going into after this summer." I chuckled dryly. Me, a firefighter, and Swayze, an EMT. We were meant to save lives, not end them.

"So, we agree then? We just kill everyone else?" I looked over at him, taking the joint again. He nodded.

"Yep."