Game of Revenge

Chapter 10

Tray

One hour earlier

My lips curl cruelly as I walk through the field. The holes I dug earlier did their job well, and they’re still screaming from the pointed wooden spikes. No one has bothered to put them out of their misery yet.

I don’t plan to either, there’s something soothing about it that I don’t want to look too deeply into.

They stole Brian away from me. Death is the mercy tonight, the final send off for what they did. Every one of them is responsible for his death, which is why they were invited tonight.

Greedy fucks didn’t know how to walk away from that kind of prize money, which is what we were hoping for.

“The screams are kind of pretty, aren’t they?” Blakely asks, hugging me.

“I was just thinking that,” I admit. “I should have known you’d get it. I was worried it was weird.”

“Nah,” she says. “It's like a pat on the back for a job well done. The screams are just verbal confirmation that you and Frankie dig damn good murder holes.”

Snorting, I can’t help but laugh at her. “I wish I could put ‘murder jokes’ and ‘hunts’ on a job resume,” I tease her.

“God, that would be the dream,” she sighs happily.

“You good, baby?” Meyers asks, pushing up his mask. “Did you have fun?”

“I am!” she squeals. “Are you up for fucking me in the woods while we wrap this up? The screams are really getting me in the mood. At some point, they’re just going to die and take away the perfect sexy time music.”

Meyers grins slowly at her as I chuckle. I have a feeling more noises will be echoing through these woods than just the screams of the dying.

“With or without the masks?” he growls.

Handing me her knife, she winks at me.

“With, always,” she says. “Catch me!”

“Blakely!” he yells.

“Run that way,” I instruct her. She deserves orgasms. “There’s nothing you can hurt yourself on and the mask will light up your way.”

Getting on her toes, she kisses my cheek before fixing her mask and lighting it up. Taking off, I notice Meyers glare at me before taking off after her. She’s been a very good girl, and even though it’s dark, she’ll be safe.

A little bit later, new screams fill the woods, and I grin wildly. Get it girl.

“Murder and sex always go hand in hand for Blakely,” Chuck sighs, wistfully.

“I know you’re really protective, but she needed a mini run sexcapade,” I tell him. “Want to help me kill any of the stragglers?”

“Guns or knives?” he asks, showing that he has both.

“I like to see their heads explode,” I tell him with a dark chuckle.

“Fuck yeah,” he growls. We prowl through the woods picking off anyone not in a pit who may just be holding on.

Blakely’s moans are barely muffled by the loud sounds of the gunshots, and Chuck adjusts his erection with a grunt.

“Little brat,” he mutters. They’re dynamic makes me laugh, because she’s getting them all back for how overprotective they’ve been.

As we’re finishing up, Blakely comes back with a smug smile, her hair a mess to exhibit the really good sex.

“Orgasms always are the best attitude adjustment,” Frankie teases her. “Can we kill the people in the pits yet?”

“Yeah,” she says with a grin. “I’ll come with you to watch.”

Smirking, I see Michael leaning against the tree watching us before he turns and walks away. I’m still not sure how to handle what he said to me. It’s like Brian never existed in his mind or something.

As his back gets further away from me, it feels very final, and I’m not sure why.

Michael

Prowling through the woods, I frown as I walk. Everyone is supposedly dead, but I know Shayna is still alive.

Will she tell my secrets to Blakely?

Listening carefully, I begin stalking her, turning when I hear a gasp here or there. I wonder if she’s lost, or simply trying to avoid people. The joke’s on her though, because all of the fences are electrified to keep people in until we’re the only ones standing.

“Shayna!” I yell, pretty sure I’m far enough away as I listen to the gunshots as people are killed. We are at the end of the night, death is a mercy compared to some of the things I’ve done and seen tonight.

Despite how much I hated seeing the reminders of Brian everywhere, I managed to lose myself in the depravity of the night. I managed to feel like myself for the first time in ages.

Except, instead of feeling as if this was a homage to my twin, I found myself reminded that I like to make people scream.

I think when God gave my brother and I our personalities, he broke something with mine. I’m moody, less likable than my brother ever was, and jealous. I wish I was different, but there’s no way to change things now.

“Please, please be quiet!” Shayna pleads, her weight being held up by a tree. Her legs are trembling with strain, her eyes blown with fear. “She’s going to kill me if she finds me! I swear, I wish I’d never called Ricky. It’s the biggest mistake of my life. I have a kid, Michael. Alexander needs me!”

“Maybe you should have thought about that before you got my brother killed,” I growl. I know ultimately, I have a part to share in this, but I enjoy twisting the truth when it suits me.

“I’ll tell her the truth!” Shayna screams. “If you refuse to help me, I’ll tell her I swear it. Just let me go.”

Tears flow down her face, her arms wrapping around her waist as she gazes into my dead eyes. I don’t care how much she cries, I won’t give her mercy. I’m more important than her. I always will choose myself over others.

I have to be first, and I’ll find a way to become that if needed. Tray is taking Kiernan from me now, and I’m already wondering if there’s a way that I can push him into a pit he dug.

Lips twisting, I congratulate myself on the twist of fate as I pull a knife out from my belt holster.

“You made your bed, why should I suffer for it too?” I ask her, taking another step forward. “You made that call and my brother had his ass kicked. I couldn’t recognize who he was afterward. You’re not innocent.”

“Maybe not, but you killed him,” she snarls. “How could you do that to your twin, the other half of your fucking soul!”

“What?” Kiernan asks, walking out of the shadows with Blakely.

Fuck. This is bad.

“Why are you doing this? You promised me, Mike! I never told. Please. I have a child. Please. I've kept your secret.”

I stand above her holding my bat with a death grip, just waiting until I can bash her skull in.

Blakely steps forward and grabs Shayna by her hair. “What is she talking about,” she hisses at me and I roll my eyes.

“Nothing, she's the one who called Ricky that night. She's the catalyst of Brian's death.”

Shayna begins to shake. She's muttering under her breath, but I can't understand her. Looking up at me she smiles, opening her mouth.

“No. You killed him.”

“She doesn’t know what she’s talking about,” I say. “Shayna is the reason Brian died. She made the call that led to the mob. She told me everything. She was jealous that he found happiness when she hadn't. It’s pretty low to be pissed that your ex-boyfriend is with other men.”

“You’re muddying the waters, Michael,” Blakley says, releasing her hair and grabbing Shayna’s arm when she tries to run away.

It feels as if the trees are closing in on me as people begin to step out from behind them. Chuck, Meyers, Bates, Tray, and Frankie surround me now, looking as if they’re ready to play both judge and jury.

It feels wrong to be on the other end of things and be found wanting.

“It doesn’t change the fact that she’s lying,” I rasp. God, I can’t get enough air. “Kiernan, I swear. I wouldn’t hurt my brother.”

“He was still alive,” Shayna bursts out, so desperate to live that she’s willing to end my life. “I have a kid who depends on me. Please, don’t kill me.”

“Just because I happen to be a baby incubator at the moment doesn’t mean I have to have a soft spot for mothers if they’re shitty people,” Blakely growls. “Keep talking.”

“I was telling Michael how sorry I was about calling Ricky, and he went to crouch next to his brother after shaking me like a rag doll,” Shayna says, tripping over her words. “I thought he was really upset, you know?”

“Oh fuck,” Kiernan breathes, and I can see it in his eyes that his love for me is beginning to die. She hasn’t even said the words, but it’s all starting to click for him.

I was happy after Brian died. Fuck, I did everything wrong. I should have pretended to be sad. I just wanted to be free of the shackles, you know?

The confused and accusing stares are too much to bear, causing me to attempt to save myself one last time.

“She’s trying to keep you from killing her,” I remind her. “Shayna will say anything. You can’t believe her!”

“We haven’t heard everything yet,” Chuck grunts. “Maybe you should shut the fuck up so we can.”

Swallowing hard, I watch as Blakley turns to look at Frankie. They have a silent conversation, and my heart begins to pound, the blood roaring in my ears. Oh God.

“Tell me the truth, Shayna, or I’ll enjoy your screams as you die,” Blakley snarls. “I’m not too worried about your son, because he’ll be better without you if you’re a piece of shit.”

“I’m not lying, I swear,” she whispers. Shayna is having a hard time breathing as she hyperventilates, and I wish with every fiber of my being that her heart will give out or some shit before she can blow up my world.

Maybe I really am a bad person.

“Out with it, girl,” Meyers growls. “We aren’t done killing and cleaning up. Blakely needs her beauty rest.”

“Oh…okay,” Shayna says, gulping. These assholes are more worried about Blakely’s sleep than anything else, and I can’t help but think about how surreal this all feels. “Michael kept yelling at me to shut up, and I swear that Brian whispered to him, asked for help.”

“He was alive?” Kiernan asks, his eyes watering. “How is that possible?”

“Brian was weak, but he was holding on, I swear it,” Shayna says.

“What happened next?” Kiernan whispers.

This would be easier if he wasn’t glaring into my soul. My knees collapse on me, so now I’m crouching on the ground in an attempt to get away from his gray gaze. I’ve never felt a shred of sadness about what I did until now.

Because I can feel the ice beneath my feet cracking, and I’m afraid I won’t be coming up for air when I fall through. It’s clear no one will catch me, there’s accusation in everyone’s eyes around me. They fully believe the slut telling my secrets.

It’s simply not fair. Why won’t anyone understand my side of the story?

“Michael, oh God,” Shayna whimpers as Frankie pulls out her gun. “He heard his brother begging for help, but it was so quiet, and I was crying. I watched him hold Brian’s nose and mouth closed, watching as he struggled. Until… he stopped breathing. I swear, when I found Brian that night, when I went to throw out the garbage, he was alive. I was coming in to find you all.”

“Why were you going to do that?” Tray asks, his voice ravaged by emotion. “Did you suddenly find yourself feeling sorry that your actions brought together a mob? You’re just as guilty, Shayna. You need to think shit through.”

“He’s right,” Blakely grunts. “Stay, if you move after I release you, I’ll start blowing holes into your body. You're fully in control of whether or not you continue to live.”

Shayna nods wildly as she’s released, her breaths coming so quickly, she sways. No one comes near her to help, avoiding her like the plague.

“You’ve been a very bad boy, Michael,” Blakely snarls.

“It all makes sense, yet I think I’m going to be sick,” Kiernan whispers, rubbing his chest as if it pains him.

“Do you want to do the honors, Kier?” Blakely asks as she takes the offered gun from Frankie.

“I can’t,” he rasps. “I loved both of them, I just… I’m shattered that Michael was so jealous. Why would you do this? Answer me!”

I flinch, climbing to my feet, as Kiernan screams at me, and finally tears begin to prick at my eyes. I don’t deserve these tears.

“You don’t understand what it’s like to be the black sheep to the golden twin,” I whisper, gasping as emotion threatens to take me under. “I always had to share a smaller slice of everything with Brian. You, my mom, everything. I thought it would be better if he was gone, but he still takes everything!”

My soft voice builds until Kiernan shudders at my screams.

“It sounds like not even therapy can save you,” Blakely mutters, snickering. “You are one fucked up evil bastard.”

“I can’t do it,” Kiernan says again, taking another step back. “Do whatever you think is best, but I can’t kill someone whose heart I kept safe.”

He turns and disappears, giving me his back as each stride takes him farther away from me. Tray stands stoically, ready to witness what happens next.

“Welp, I’m not fucking him, so I can,” Blakely says with a grin. Skipping toward me like the crazy bitch she is, she looks over her shoulder where Shayna waits. “Oh yeah, I almost forgot about you. Leave Jefferson, girl. Take your son and go. You don’t know who he’ll grow up to be, who he’ll love. Give him a chance at a better life than what that life can provide.”

“Does that mean I can go… like now?” Shayna asks, her eyes bouncing between Blakely and I.

Newsflash, honey. It’s never that easy with the Queen of Revenge.

“No, I don’t think so,” the crazy bitch says. She pistol whips me behind the head, so I’ll drop to my knees, and I wince. It’s asking too much that Blakely Campbell simply kills me. She has to make a spectacle of me.

“I can do it,” Meyers says, stepping forward to take the gun.

“If you take it, I’m never touching your dick again,” she growls. It would be funny how quickly he steps back, except the cool steel of the gun is now touching my forehead.

Tears slide down my skin, but I won’t ask for mercy. Blakely won’t give it to me either way.

“I would say that I hope Brian can forgive you when he sees you, but he was so much of a better person than you are. Say hello to the Devil for me, Michael. I’ll dream of all the uncomfortable demon dick you’ll be fucked with,” Blakely says with a smirk. “This is going to hurt just a bit.”

With that, she pulls the trigger, and it happens so quickly, all I feel is darkness.