The Games We Play

38. Thirty-Seven - X

Thirty-Seven - X

I lay in the passenger seat, grabbing my side, and hiss when Puppet takes a curve too hard.

“Sorry,” she mutters and rechecks the rear-view mirror.

“We need to go to this address,” I say, handing her the paper I found in my seat.

She waves it away and shakes her head. “No, I have to get Roxy. Dad locked her in the basement.”

I groan and double over, my head nearly resting on the dashboard. “I already got her,” I grunt.

“What?” she asks, her house nearly coming into view.

“Before I came to get you tonight. I checked your house. Roxy is…with a friend.” I hand her the address again, knowing I’m fading out of consciousness. “Here.”

She rounds the cul-de-sac and slows down. A car sits in her driveway. It’s one of November’s .

I place a hand on her thigh. “Don’t stop, Tess. I’m bleeding out. I’m fixing to lose consciousness, and I need to know you’ll be safe if I do. Please. I promise…Roxy is okay.”

She glances at my hand on her thigh. Her beautiful blue eyes are full of mistrust. How can I blame her? It was all a lie. A fantasy. She was a ploy to get to Darius—until she wasn’t. But the after doesn’t matter. Only the beginning. And I chose to use her. I relax a little when she listens and keeps going, accelerating as she adjusts her hands on the steering wheel.

The car rattles from an explosion, and I instinctively drop my head before looking behind us. Her house is nothing more than a ball of fire and smoke, and headlights turn onto the street.

“Shit,” she mutters, stomping on the gas as she makes her way toward the highway. “Where am I going?” she asks.

“It’s out in the country—an abandoned farmhouse.” I slur, my head falling to the side. She slaps my chest, and I jolt. It hurts like hell, but I’ll take it.

“How do I get there, X?” My blood hums at her nickname for me. I thought for sure she’d revert to calling me Mr. Collins like she has since I’ve met her. But now is not the place to celebrate or count that as a win. “Stay awake,” she demands, and my eyes spring open again.

“So bossy,” I quip as I blink the world outside the car into focus. “Right up here, then two more streets make a left. Once you’re out of town, find Route 202 and stay on it until you get to Greere County.”

I’m so tired. My body is too heavy to move.

“X,” she pleads, and I manage to move my hand to her leg.

“You did so good, Puppet. You’ve got this. We’re almost there.”

She takes my hand in her and squeezes, and I let the darkness around my vision take me .

I did it. I saved her.

I’ve never had the image of someone I killed burned into my mind. It’s like the moment I pull the trigger, and they’re dead, my mind wipes the memory of it completely. It’s a convenient reset button.

But watching Ryan’s body fall to the floor and Puppet cradling his head as he took his last breath will be something I’ll never forget. Even now, as I stare at the back of my eyelids, I see it as if I’m right back there.

I let Ryan down. In saving Puppet, I broke a promise to my brother.

It seems no matter what I do, someone gets hurt. No matter how hard I try to do the right thing, someone dies.

November assured me she would have people guarding the house, but that was clearly a lie. I left Ryan with a mock security of safety. I hid this world of monsters from him and thought he’d be better off not knowing.

I kept my home life and work life separate, and it got him killed.

I thought lying to him was the right thing to do. That is something I’ll never be able to forgive myself for.

“X,” Puppet jostles me, and I mumble something. Warmth spreads through my body, and her hand squeezes mine. She seems so far away, just out of reach, but I’m so fucking exhausted. I spent a year hunting the man who killed my brother, only for him to take my nephew from me tonight.

He won. I lost. But he won’t ever have his daughter again. She’ll be free and hidden away. Safe.

“Don’t you dare leave me,” she whispers. “Please, you’re the only thing that matters now and—” her voice cracks and I want to open my eyes. I want to tell her I’m not worth it. I never was. “I think—no, I know—I’m in love with you. ”

Love is for fairy tales, and I’m no prince . But you have my heart , and you have since you carved your initials on my chest . I’m yours forever .