Page 44

Fuck, what did Nancy do to me?
I twist around until I can slide to my knees, and then her voice cuts through my mind. “Don’t even think about it, boy.”
Hearing it stirs up my nightmares, and even through the fog in my head I can almost see the past replaying for me.
“Such a good boy,” she coos, stroking her fingers down my chest. “I know you’re enjoying a newer model, but what about the original?”
My skin crawls at her words. “Porscha, I’m with Joelle-”
“Yes, yes,” she snaps, cutting me off for the third time. “My daughter. I’ll never understand what people see in her that’s so very special.”
The warning is useless when I hear her voice, snapping myself up until I’m crouched and glaring. When my eyes lock on her, she’s the same nightmare she’s always been but she looks different. It’s more than just the short, dark hair.
My eyes lock on her face. Her chin is more rounded, cheeks sharper, nose slimmer. Her ears are hidden by the blunt cut of her dark black bob, but her eyes are the same. It may have been over fifteen years since I’ve seen her but those eyes are unforgettable.
Jo has eyes of ice, but Porscha’s gaze is the one that looks frozen. Green eyes like a viper glare at me, and belatedly I notice the knife in her hand.
My gaze shifts. Next to me, lying in the back of what I’m going to assume is a van, is Kyle. His throat is cut, and I can see the shallow breaths he’s taking as he fades, panic coloring his dying eyes.
Licking my lips, I turn my eyes back to her. “Porscha.”
“Alastair.” She smiles, and it’s a real, happy smile instead of the predatory one I remember. “Oh, you’re awake! It’s about time. Dragging you through the tunnels was such a bitch, wasn’t it, Kyle?”
Tunnels?
Wallsburg is gasping, but it’s quiet. When I glance back I can tell she nicked the carotid. He’s bleeding out fast, the blood soaking the floor and staining my knees. I’m not entirely sure what’s going on here, but it looks like this partnership went up in flames. She betrayed him.
“You’re the copycat?” I ask, feeling like my words are covered in tar. “Really? You’re re-creating the murders you committed fifteen years ago?”
Porscha shrugs. Her face is a bit older and definitely different under the plastic surgery, but her mannerisms are unmistakable. “It’s Char now. Dr. Char Rowths-Spurig.”
Of course it is.I shake my head, trying to stay focused, but it’s hard around the disorientation clinging to my brain. The longer I’m awake the more confused I become.
I meet her eyes again. “You died.”
“Oh, we both know that wasn’t true, boy.” She shifts around, and suddenly there’s a gun in her hand. I’m blinking rapidly, trying to decide if I missed her moving to grab it or if she’s had it the whole time. The blade still glimmers in her palm, and I wonder how many weapons she’s got hidden from me. The barrel of the gun points in my direction, and I narrow my eyes on it trying to decide if she’s taken the safety off or not. The dizziness is still present, and I’m not entirely sure what kind of drug I’m fighting against.
When she speaks again her voice is sharper. “Now, get up. We have work to do.”
I snort, unmoved. “No. Go ahead and shoot me. I’m in the middle of this because of you. Just get it over with.”
Some of the amusement in Porscha’s eyes dies, and she lunges forward. The blade she was holding clatters to the floor, and she thrusts the gun into my face. “Oh no, Alastair. This isn’t the end of our story. We’re in this together until the bitter end.”
“We?” I ask, scowling. “It looks like you pretended to die while I sat in lockup. Funny how your crimes never end in punishment.”
She smirks, reaching between us. When her hand palms my cock I try to shrink away and, despite the guard dying beside us,thisis what makes true disgust roll through me. “You were such a good boy, sitting in prison for me. But it’s not over yet. We have payback coming.”
“Get lost, Porscha,” I growl. “Just go ahead and kill me. I have zero interest in going with you.”
Her smirk slides away, and she crosses her arms instead. “If you don’t come with me, I’ll find her. I should’ve finished the job before you barged into my hiding spot. If you try to fight me, I promise you I will kill her.”
My eyes widen and there’s no question in my head about what she’s implying. Her final victim became mine, and Porscha wassupposedto die in the fire because I didn’t save her. I don’t understand how all these little pieces fit together, but somehow she got away. She lived through the fire, changed her face, and decided to come back to Citrus Grove…
Why?She got away with that much. She could be free of all this.
Porscha keeps her eyes on me as she backs up, opening the door. It is a large van that we’re in the back of, and afternoon sunlight streams into the vehicle. It draws my attention to Wallsburg again, and the pool of red that spills out when she hops out of the car, sliding out of the bed. Kyle is dead.
“Get out,” she barks. “Come on, come on! We’ve missed years together, boy. We have work to do.”