The Games We Play

26. Twenty-Five - Tess

Twenty-Five - Tess

I lay on the couch, following the ceiling fan as it goes round and round. Finals are over for the semester. I don’t work tonight, and I haven’t seen X since the party. I feel lost, hollow—utterly alone.

Roxy whines at my feet and I absentmindedly pet her. Have these last four months been a wild hallucination? Surely I didn’t imagine all of it.

But where is he?

Why hasn’t he shown up?

My phone rings and I pick it up off my stomach to see it’s Ryan.

“Hey,” I answer, attempting to sound pleasant.

“Don’t tell me you forgot about our tradition,” Ryan whines, and I sit up, swinging my feet to the floor.

“No?” I say, but it sounds like a question. What day is it? It can’t be that time already.

“Theresa Lynn Wallace,” Ryan playfully scolds, and I roll my eyes. “I will be there in two hours to pick you up. ”

At least he knows me well enough to call with ample time beforehand. I smile despite the longing gnawing in my chest. “Okay.”

I shower and get dressed in leggings with thick wool socks and a sweater. A car horn honks in my driveway just as I pull my hair back in a high ponytail. Roxy whines at the door and I give her a treat from the shelf, promising her I’ll be back later.

“There’s my best friend!” Ryan shouts and my cheeks heat with second-hand embarrassment at his antics. I slide into the passenger seat and place my wallet in the cupholder.

“You totally forgot,” Ryan teases.

I scoff. “I totally did not…realize what day it was.” Crossing my arms, I lift my chin high.

“Only you could forget Christmas.” He shakes his head and blasts Mariah Carey’s ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’, and my cheeks get sore from laughing as Ryan screeches out the high notes.

Mr. Collins is always gone during the holidays. It’s a busy time of the year for banks and more often than not, something breaks that he has to go fix. He used to bring us ice skating every year and when he took the new job, Ryan was determined to keep the tradition alive. This makes our second year of just the two of us.

We pull into the parking lot, and Ryan shuts off the car. “Tess,” he says, and he seems nervous. He won’t look at me and keeps tapping away at the steering wheel.

“Ryan,” I say back.

“Don’t freak out,” he says and I turn in my seat, glancing around like someone is going to jump out at me. “But I have someone I want you to meet, and it’s really important to me that you like her.”

Her ?

I look around the car, but don’t see anybody. Ryan gets out of the car and walks around, opens my door and helps me out.

“Did you get a puppy?” I tease.

Ryan shakes his head and laughs. “Remember how I told you I was seeing someone—at the lake house?”

I try to recall the conversation…but we never got to have it because Mr. Collins walked in.

Is he about to introduce me to his girlfriend? “Ryan, I’m not sure I’m someone she’d want to meet. Maybe I should—” We reach the ticket booth and I try to find a way out of this.

Ryan shakes his hand and grabs my hand. “No. You’re my best friend and I want this.” I try to pry my hand free, but he’s oblivious as he waves someone over. My skin heats and I’m looking past Ryan as someone steps up to him and gives him a hug. She smells of too much perfume.

And Ryan still hasn’t let go of my hand.

“Katie,” Ryan says, pulling me to his side. “I want you to meet my best friend, Tess.”

I finally lift my gaze to take in the girl who has Ryan so smitten. She wears glasses and her hair is braided down each side of her head. To my surprise, she is barely wearing any makeup and when she smiles at me, a dimple pops in her left cheek.

Smiles—like she’s actually happy to meet me.

“Oh Tess! Ryan has told me so much about you! I’m sorry about ruining your plans today. Ryan insisted I come, even though I told him you probably wouldn’t want me here.”

“What? That’s crazy,” I say, but my voice is tight. Ryan gives my hand a reassuring squeeze and I try again. “I’m delighted to meet you, Katie. ”

“See babe. I told you.” He lets go of my hand and takes Katie’s, and we walk side by side to get our tickets. I glance at him in my periphery, noticing how he doesn’t stop smiling, and I catch him staring at Katie with adoring eyes more often than not.

She steals glances at him, too. It’s cute and sweet. As we skate around, them still hand in hand and me slightly behind, my mind continually wanders to X. I could never picture him on the ice, skating around with me, holding my hand or even giving me love-struck glances.

I balk at the sudden pain in my chest.

Holy shit . Do I want that? Do I want the dates and the handholding? I mean, I enjoyed it at the frat party, but I know that isn’t a future I get with someone like X. There isn’t commitment or declarations of love.

My stomach flips at that word.

Love .

Is that what I’m feeling? Is it something more than an infatuation? When the hell did that happen?

The moment you let him cut your chest, probably , I internally scoff.

“Shut up,” I hiss.

“Did you say something, Tess?” Ryan asks as he slides to a stop. Katie peers at me through her glasses and I shake my head.

“Just talking to myself,” I say, and Ryan arches a brow. “I’m going to take a break and warm up!” I skate to the opposite side of the rink and order a cup of hot chocolate. Sitting, I watch people for the rest of the evening. Katie and Ryan are so cute. It’s nauseating, but I’m glad he finally found someone.

I’m a terrible friend for not noticing it earlier. Aside from at school, we weren’t hanging out like we used to, but I had my head shoved so far in delulu land with X that I didn’t notice. Some best friend I am.

I stand to the side by his car as they say goodbyes. They hug and kiss. He whispers something sweet that has Katie giggling.

“It was really nice to finally meet you, Tess,” she says.

“You too,” I reply with a smile.

I slide into the passenger seat while they finish their goodbyes and rub my hands together to thaw out my fingers.

When Ryan finally climbs in, his eyes are full of light and he’s grinning so widely, his cheeks probably hurt.

“So, tell me,” he says as he starts the car. “What did you think?”

“She seems really nice and you clearly really like her.”

“I really do.”

I don’t have to fake the smile that lifts the corners of my lips. “Where did you meet her?”

“At Haunted Nights,” he admits. “She helped me look for you.”

I sit back, stunned. That is certainly not what I was expecting. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

He adjusts his grip on the steering wheel and shrugs. “I never want our friendship to change and…I was worried that it would come between us.”

“But it should,” I tell him and his mouth falls open. “Our friendship will change, Ryan. She should come between us, because she should be the person you pick over anyone else. It doesn’t mean we’re any less than best friends, but things should change and it’s okay.”

My heart aches at the realization that Ryan won’t be there for me because he has Katie now.

He has someone and all I have is a fantasy that what I have with X is more than it is.

** *

I slowly stir awake and Roxy stretches up the length of my body beside me on the couch. It’s dark outside and I pat myself down for my phone. The time shows after eight and I push up on the couch, Roxy huffing in annoyance.

X hasn’t showed up for weeks. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel disappointed.

I distract myself with a long shower. After washing my hair and shaving everything, I’ve killed nearly thirty minutes. Staring at my reflection, I trace the X on my chest and for the first time envision what my future looks like in this fucked up situation I’ve found myself in.

What happens after X? Is there an after or are his plans still to kill me when he grows bored with me? Do I want there to be an after?

I shake my head and push this derailed train of thoughts away. Nothing good comes from questions like these. I’ll ruin everything if I bring them up.

An unsettling feeling wafts over me as I sit on my bed and I drum my fingers on my knees, pick at my cuticles, bounce my leg, anything to expel this unwanted energy.

Then it clicks.

I need to hunt.

The overwhelming urge of adrenaline that blasts through me has a smile spreading on my face.

I’ve never gone solo before. Maybe now is the time to spread my wings and try hunting myself. Unfortunately, I don’t have a ready list like X or the means to find people like he does .

But I know where one person at least lives that would make perfect prey… Ryan and the football team did a prank on his house last year and, per usual, I was the tag along. Well, tonight, I’m going to be lurking in the shadows, working as death’s personal right-hand woman.

***

I wear the mask X gave me, but keep the lights off as I slink across the backyards of Professor Brady’s fancy subdivision, shimmying between hedges and keeping my hood up to avoid being seen. I remember his house number because I was in charge of standing watch while the football team threw raw eggs and toilet paper across the property. Ryan’s friends made snide comments about why I was even there. As usual, they badgered him about what it was about me that has him so whipped. He easily shrugged them off, and I kept my back to them so they wouldn’t see just how much it bothered me. More like I always felt guilty for him getting so much shit.

What would they think of me now, knowing I’m the monster terrorizing the town?

The Whispering Pines Serial Killer.

A giggle escapes me in the night and I have to clamp a hand over my mouth to muffle the sound. Laughter and low voices catch my attention. I crouch low and peek through the cracks of the privacy fence surrounding the pool and the hot tub of my target’s house.

My blood heats when I spot Professor Brady in the hot tub with none other than Casey Driskel with his hands on her bare breasts. Is this what came of the meeting she had with him the day Seth accused me of cheating? Just in time for finals.

I don’t miss the way she looks away from him as he leans in close. It’s subtle, just a shift of her eyes and a slight angle of her chin. To Professor Brady, it probably looks like she’s exposing her neck more for him, which explains why he moves to kiss and lick up her throat.

I graze my fingers across the hilt of my dad’s old hunting knife. I didn’t plan for him to have someone here, and I don’t want to kill Casey. The idea of her blood pooling at my feet doesn’t give me the same satisfaction as watching Beady-Eyed-Brady beg for his life.

So I’ll wait. X told me patience makes everything sweeter and I’ll test that theory tonight.

Each exasperated moan that slips out of Brady’s mouth makes the taste of his death a honey glaze on my tongue. His hands disappear under the water and heat blushes across Casey’s cheeks. When he sits on the edge of the hot tub and pulls her between his thighs, forcing her head down on his cock, I tighten my hold and force myself to breathe and wait. Once she leaves, he lingers around the pool with a glass of whiskey and music playing softly on the speaker system. On bent knees, I walk around the back of his fence.

My phone vibrates and I tense, worried that somehow Brady could hear it. I pull it out to a text from an unknown number.

You’re breaking curfew.

I glance at Professor Brady again, but he’s gone. The glass sliding door that leads to his pool left cracked.

Shit .

I lock my phone and almost have it back in my pocket when it vibrates again.

What are you doing, Puppet?

My stomach clamps down and excitement zips through me.

He texted me. After not hearing from him for weeks , one little excursion of fun has him reaching out.

Wouldn’t you like to know? I ask, and lock my phone, intent on finding Beady-Eyed-Brady. I squeeze through the crack in a loose fence board and race across the deck around his pool and pause at the glass back door.

I pull my black face covering up over my nose and adjust my hood over my head. My pocket vibrates once again, and I grin under the mask. This is going to be so fucking fun.