Page 37 of Death Kiss

Ellie laughs, which makes me smile.

‘Kat, he’d need to chain me up to stop me from going, and I definitely don’t get those vibes from him.’

I imagine she didn’t get them from Sam either… but I can’t point out how I’d know that sometimes the quiet ones are the ones who will starve you in a warehouse for days.

‘Just be careful, okay?’ I say.

‘I will.’

Dragging myself away from her comfy bed, I shrug on the lime green hoodie, which clashes completely with the autumnal soft pinks I’m wearing. It’s warm as fuck. So I’ll deal with it.

‘Kat,’ Ellie says, a flicker of concern covering her face. ‘Did you like Sam?’

It’s a weird question, and I can only imagine that nimrod Freddie provoked it.

Every honest answer would drop me in the shit, so I plaster on a smile and lie. ‘I liked that he made you happy.’

I daren’t breathe while Ellie mulls my answer over.

‘Yeah,’ she sighs with a wistfully sad smile. ‘Me too.’

‘See you soon,’ I say. ‘Love you.’

With the wolves closing in around us, it feels more important than ever to let her know.

SIXTEEN

LIAM

Our plan to get rid of Alan falls apart the minute I lay eyes on him.

The plan? Wait for him to come outside to pick up the milk bottles on his step, grab him, and take him to the pinned tarp in the woods behind his house to end him. Clean. Minimum chance of leaving evidence.

Minimum pain.

Minimum revenge.

I’m supposed to snatch him, but the minute my hand closes around his checkered shirt, I’m shoving him back into the house and pinning him against a wall.

‘Liam!’ Kat whisper-yells as she comes in behind me, mask in place. ‘What are you doing?’

I don’t know what I’m doing, but with the way my blood seems to be raging through me, I can’t stop it either.

My fist meets flesh with a crunch that soothes me. The sickening cry Alan gives should pain me; there’s a little part of me deep inside that knows this.

Each punch is driven by guilt. Not for Alan, but for the lies I’m telling Kat. For the terrified child I’d been the last time I saw this piece of shit man. For the pressure of the well being discovered if we can’t buy the house. The worry about disappointing Kat when I have so little to offer her in the way of success.

Smack.

Or money.

Thump.

Or a future.

Crack.

Alan slumps to the floor when Kat grabs my arm. ‘Liam, no. Not like this.’