34. Crave

Rae drivesthrough the mall's parking lot, then stops her car outside of the Galloway House. She'll come to me soon.

I turn off the mall's surveillance footage; Ned hasn't changed the password yet. He probably never will.

About an hour later, there's a knock on my door. I look through the peephole.

Rae stands with her arms crossed over her chest.

I open the door. She glares at me as if I owe her an apology. Maybe under other circumstances, I do. Right now, I don't speak a word. I want to hear what she has to say for herself.

"What's your name?" she asks. "Your real name? The one given to you at birth?"

I keep my gaze steady. Her lips pull back into a scowl.

"You don't call. You don't text," she says. "You push yourself into my life, and then you act like I don't exist. Do you know how annoying that is?"

She fidgets, and it's like I'm wearing a mask again. Hiding my reactions. Not giving her any clues as to what I'm thinking.

I'll never be like her conquests. She will never be able to manipulate me like them. I'll always be in control.

She turns away from me, her cheeks tinted pink.

"I need your help." She lifts her shoulders. "It's Ned."

A grin spreads across my face. She doesn't have to explain a thing.

"That's my girl," I say.

She wrinkles her nose, her cheeks flushing briefly before returning to their normal color.

"You know how fucked up that is coming from you?" she huffs in a forced angry tone. The upper corners of her mouth lift, showing that she loves hearing me say it. "You're my father. My estranged father. You can't act like you're proud of me."

I widen my stance. I'm not proud of her. I'm proud of myself. For finally getting my daughter to kill someone. For getting exactly what I wanted out of this experiment.

I angle my head toward my truck in the driveway.

"Get in," I say.

I don't tell her my plan. We drive to Vegas, and I let Rae mull over the possibilities in silence. And when we find a red-haired, tan-skinned girl, I send Rae over to her at the bar.

The two girls get drunk, buying each other shots. My girl likes playing with her prey as much as I do. I watch from the comfort of one of the slot machines, biding my time.

Rae grabs the look-alike's arm. "Come on," she says. "Let's go to a strip club. My boyfriend will take us."

"It's a male strip club though, right?" the redhead asks. "I don't know if I can handle seeing another pretty woman."

Rae winks, pushing her breasts together with her arms. Of course, this look-alike is falling for Rae's charms. Rae is a natural at tricking people; I wouldn't be surprised if she's seduced women before.

Rae motions for me to follow, and the three of us slide into my truck. Rae sits in the middle.

I lock the car doors.

"Hey, baby," Rae says. "You got anything for us to drink?"

Rae and I exchange eye contact. I nod toward the water bottles. "Help yourselves."

She hands one to the girl.

"Here," Rae says. "Hydrate, babe. This place—" she laughs to herself. "It's like nothing you've ever seen before."

"I've been to a male strip club," the redhead says as she gulps down the liquid. I smirk to myself, and Rae winks at me.

This time, the bottle contains a sedative. The redhead drinks enough that she slumps down, sleeping on Rae's thighs, snoring loudly.

I shift my hand between Rae's legs, my knuckles brushing the redhead's hair.

"You're evil," Rae says as she spreads her legs, giving herself to me. My thumb teases her clit, the redhead's hair tangled in my fingers and Rae's juices.

"So are you," I murmur.

At the mall, I use my old keys to get into Ned's office. We turn off the security cameras, then we carry the girl inside of the Galloway House and set her down on the living room floor.

I glance around. With the new paint, it's brighter than it's ever been, even at night.

The redhead stirs.

"What is this?" she mumbles. "Where are we?"

Rae hands the girl another bottle of water. "Here," she says. "You passed out. I took you back to my house. I hope that's all right."

"Mmm," the woman says, drinking the liquid down. Then she's back out again, lying on the floor.

We move Ned's corpse right next to her. Then I offer the knife to Rae. She wraps her hands around mine, the handle clutched between us.

"You don't need me to help you," I say.

"Of course not," she says. "I just want to kill this one together."

The knife plunges into the girl's body, mashing into her stomach. Blood splatters to the side, painting us red, and I lock eyes with Rae. My little girl's eyes grow hungry, and my dick bulges in my pants.

She's evil, just like me. And god, I want to rip her open right now.

"Let's go," Rae says feverishly. "We need to get out of here."

I squirt gasoline from the canister, dousing Ned, the redhead, and the house.

In the entryway, Rae lights a match and throws it on the ground.

Flames swallow the house, and the two of us run back into the desert night to watch it unfold. The fire burns orange and yellow, smoke lifting into the black sky. Rae clings to me, my sweet little girl's breath escaping her in short bursts. Fear. Panic. Violence. Arousal.

Sirens whistle in the distance. The fire truck pulls up, the horn blaring into the night. I wrap my arms around Rae, grasping her breasts, and she leans into me. A boulder and cacti obstruct our view, but I maneuver us so that Rae can see the chaos unfold. I want her to witness every depraved thing we've accomplished together.

I slide my hands in the front of her pants. She's soaked.

"They think you're dead," I say.

"I am," she whispers. "And you're a suspect, Officer Gaines."

"Do you like that?"

She presses herself into me, primal need oozing between her legs. A mix of pride and irritation swells in my chest, knowing that she does enjoy the fact that I'm a suspect. She likes having that power over me. She may still be planning my arrest.

It would be interesting if I finally ended up in jail because of her. I wouldn't have suspected that.

"Roderick Galloway," I mutter. She freezes, latching onto that information. "The Galloways adopted me from birth."

Her eyes drift back to the burning house. It transforms into a black carcass in front of us. Rae knows the details about the Galloway murder-suicide, but she doesn't know that the adopted son was the real killer.

I smell her neck, tasting the sourness on her skin. There's a bitter aftertaste to her, a primal rejection written into our blood so that we don't fuck each other. But I've never liked sweet things. I've always liked sour, bitter flavors. I like the way those flavors cling to my tongue.

I honestly don't care what Rae wants, as long as she's mine.

And I know Rae needs more from me too.

* * *

one month later

At the rental, I open the front door. Soft noises come from the bedroom closet. I expect them now.

Rae sits on the floor of the walk-in closet, watching television from a thrift store tablet on wifi stolen from one of my neighbors. A pile of comforters, old t-shirts, and blankets surround her. She holds up the device.

"Look," she says.

A news reporter stands in front of the mall.

Police have finally ruled that it was yet another murder-suicide, determining it to be another case of bad luck,the reporter says. But some residents believe in a story far more nefarious. Some even consider it a curse.

A short young woman with blonde hair grabs the microphone. Penny, Rae's teenage minion.

It wasn't an accident,Penny says. Someone is out there. They didn't like that Ned and Rae got so close to the truth.

And what truth is that? the reporter asks.

All the victims were murder victims. There was no suicide. They faked those deaths. The real killer—or killers—Penny stutters. They're still out there.

I raise my brow at Rae, and she points back at the screen.

The victim's brother has said that they now plan to destroy the house and expand the mall's parking lot,the reporter says. This is Vicky, reporting from Nye County. Back to you, Steve.

Rae clicks off the screen. "So?"

"Your friend knows too much."

She shrugs. "She's just a girl."

"You're just a girl too."

"I guess."

"We should kill her."

"Not yet. Is it time for us to move on now?"

I straighten my stance. Rae is small on the closet floor, like a doll waiting for someone to play with her. A daughter waiting for her daddy to tell her what to do.

This last month hasn't been easy, keeping her locked inside of a small house. Rae understood that it was for the best. Keeping her in the closet. Both of us sleeping in that enclosed space, hiding her from the world.

We'll get rid of Penny eventually. Right now, I have other things on my mind.

The imbalance lingers, filtering through my veins. Especially now.

In this world, I'll always be the one others trust. Men trust other men; they will believe me over Rae. And physically, I'll always be stronger than her.

It can't stay like this forever. The power dynamic is too simple. Boring. Predictable. And I like it better when things are interesting.

I grab my duffel bag from the top shelf of the closet. "Let's get the fuck out of here."