Page 70 of Off the Rails

Sure, Cyrus had money. Crazy money. She’d been smart about our drug trade earnings, setting herself up for an early retirement. But $1.2 million. It was a lot for any normal person.

A deal that Tess couldn’t refuse.

Not in her circumstances, which Cyrus knew.

Nash and I kept our eyes flicking between each other, Cyrus, and Tess — unsure where the fuck to look.

Having mostly caught her breath, Tess bit the inside of her cheek. “You’ll pay me for every win when I win. No holding my money.”

“Fine.” Cyrus nodded.

She’s not even negotiating.

My heart raced in my chest as I met Nash’s face. All she could manage was to shake her head.

Licking her lips, Tess kept on. “And we hunt once a month. Not every week.”

That point made my head tilt in confusion.

Why would she want to stay longer?

But the answer came just as quickly as the question. She was negotiating a month-to-month lease in our fucked-up amusement park hellscape. My Trinket had nowhere else to go, and $20k would go fast in the real world.

At least here she could start to pay down her debt, to make a little nest egg with her earnings.

Besides, it was a punishment for us too. She’d be stuck living with three Freaks who’d raised themselves in the wild. And we’d have to try to keep our hands to ourselves. One month was a long time to wait for another chance with my little plaything.

My body ached for her already. We’d be desperate, eager. Between my legs, my clit throbbed at the thought of her denying me for another month.

Cyrus nodded. “Done. Deal?”

We all waited for her answer, each of us needing to know what came next.

Tess met my eyes first, through my mask. And I nodded. I would protect her. Nash and I would. If we could help it, we would keep Cyrus away from her.

And we’d get more time with my favorite Trinket.

Her blue eyes moved to Nash, who also nodded.

Looking into Cyrus’s stitched up mask, Tess lifted her chin and nodded. “Deal.”

41

TESS

$20,013.04.

I’d never seen so much money in my account before. At most, I’d deposited a thousand at one point — taking my cash tips and putting them in my checking account to pay my credit card balance.

Leaning back in the metal cabin of the wooden roller coaster, I tried to get comfortable.

A few feet away, Blade was laying on her back with an electrical panel swung open. Her forearms tensed as she twisted the pliers inside the box, adjusting something I couldn’t see.

Cyrus had kept her word, depositing the money as soon as we got back to the house the night of her birthday. My bank had sent a notification warning me about scams.

They were just as surprised to see such a high balance as I was. Twenty grand was certainly more than I’d seen in my life. That kind of money only existed in movies and cartoon westerns.

I had no idea what to do with it, how to really turn it into something.