Page 7

Ashe may have been my best friend, Mikey a close second, but Kali? She was so much more.

Living without her felt like existing without breath. Utterly impossible, yet I was somehow still here.

The phone buzzed on the table, the sound drilling into my head with a force that made me groan. Both from the sound and from the prospect of someone else needing me. It took a herculean effort just to reach out and flip the screen upright to catch the name of the incoming caller. I relaxed a bit when I saw it was only Ashe, but that didn’t stop the desire to curl up in a ball and wait until my body gave out. I already felt like I was withering away into nothing most days, why not die that way, too?

Alas, there were still people walking this earth that I cared about enough not to give up. Not totally.

I swiped right to answer the call, then pressed the button that put her on loudspeaker so I wouldn’t have to hold the phone. ‘Ashe.’

‘Uh oh. I know that tone. What happened?’

The breath I released felt shallow despite the length, the constriction around my chest refusing to allow enough air to enter my lungs in the first place. At least, that’s what it felt like. I hadn’t been able to take a full, deep breath in seven long years.

‘My mother called.’

‘Hit me with it.’

‘She hated your getaway sneakers at the wedding. You’re riffraff. We’re in a relationship, and she hates it. Oh, and she’s setting me up at the charity luncheon with one of her rich friends’ daughters.’

‘Good. True. Gross. And is she hot?’

I snorted out a half-hearted laugh. ‘I have no idea.’

‘Chance, if you have the opportunity to get laid, take it. Please, dear god, just take it. You need a decent fuck before your brooding turns you to stone.’

‘I get laid,’ I argued.

‘Your hand doesn’t count. You need a real woman. One with a wet, warm vagina for that tiny prick of yours.’

‘I take offence to that. Also, you’re beginning to sound like my mother.’

‘Your mother talks about your tiny prick?’

‘No. You know what I meant.’

‘Yeah, yeah.’

I clicked my tongue, done with this conversation. ‘Why did you call, Ashe?’

‘We’ve got a new job. It’s close, too, so you can still make it to all thosefamily functionsyour mother keeps dragging you to. Honestly, Chance. I don’t know why you don’t just cut ties already. She’s a fucking soul-sucking leech.’

‘No arguments there, but you know I’m not sticking around for her.’ Blake was the only reason I came back, and he was the only reason I was staying. Despite everything, I loved my little brother. It wasn’t his fault our parents preferred him over me.

Ashe’s tone gentled as the topic took a turn she knew would set me down a dark path if she didn’t tread lightly. ‘He’s married now, Chance. Let Dakota take care of him for once.’

‘He’s marriedagain,’ I corrected. ‘And Dakota does enough for everyone as it is. If I can help, even if it’s just getting Mom and Dad off her back for a little while, then I will.’

‘I know,’ she breathed, the sound dejected. I tried not to think too much about why. ‘Okay, well, this job is in Klamath County. It’s only a few hours’ drive away, so you can still be there when the she-devil summons you.’

‘Klamath County, huh?’ I asked, my interest piqued. ‘Tell me more.’

‘There’ve been accounts of a strange man loitering around the Little Deschutes River down in Gilchrist. Sightings have been reported up and down Highway 97.’

‘Okay…’ I drew out the word, waiting for the punchline.

‘Apparently, according to witness statements, people are dying left and right, and this guy is always at the scene. Yet, nobody can identify him, there’s no evidence of him left behind. Not a single footprint, fingerprint, or strand of hair. Some even claimed that, as soon as they spotted him, he disappeared into thin air.’

‘Wait, so this guy is killing people? Like… still?’