Page 8 of Embrace the Darkness

CHAPTER 4

It took a lot longer than expected to clean up a murder. Not that I had any experience to go off of. I was restless and ready for this day to be over. Jamie and Louie did most of the work while I was told to pack a single bag of things I couldn’t live without. When I questioned as to why only one bag, Jamie explained it had to appear like I had intentions of coming back even if I wasn’t. I didn’t understand what that meant, nor did Ipush him to explain further. It was an easy task. I had very little I couldn’t live without. My one bag held my laptop, a few albums with old photos in them, a file folder full of important documents, and my jewelry box.

With my task complete, all I had left to do was watch the guys work. That didn’t last long. Once Jamie pulled out a bone saw from one of the black duffels, I took myleave. Louie laughed at my back as I practically ran from the room.

Sitting back on the couch, I scrolled through my phone for hours trying to tune out the sounds of the saw and the occasionalthumpcoming from upstairs. My phone’s battery was in the red when Jamie came looking for me, asking for Tom’s car keys. Then I had to watch him and Louie cart heavy-looking black trash bags to the back of Tom’s Jeep.

They left after the last bag was loaded, with Louie driving Tom’s Jeep and Jamie following in his car. By the time they returned, I had finished off Tom’s bottle of cheap bourbon and was sporting a really good buzz. They walked right in without knocking, startling me. I was about to blow up on them, but the smell of greasy food filling my nose pulled my focus, making my mouth water. Noticing Louie had a brown fast food bag in hand, my body moved before my brain could catch up.

Watching me approach him like a hunger-crazed zombie, Louie quickly lifted the bag of food out of my reach as I went to snatch it. I stumbled a bit, falling against his chest. His free arm circled around my back, steadying me. “Aw, Maura, I always knew you wanted me.”

I chuckled.Man, I missed him.“What’s a girl got to dofor a cheeseburger?” I asked suggestively, yet showed him I was completely joking by wiggling my eyebrows.

The corners of his eyes crinkled before a dirty little smirk pulled at his lips. I knew him well enough to know, he’d tell me exactly what I could do in vivid detail. Which was why I pulled away before he could say anything gross.

I zeroed in on Jamie, who’d taken a seat on the couch to eat his own burger. Before he could protest, I planted myself in his lap by perching my butt on one of his muscular thighs and grabbed ahold of his wrist. While staring at Louie, I took a big bite of Jamie’s burger.

Louie playfully frowned. “Tease.”

A low moan escaped me at the explosion of flavor that hit my tongue. Closing my eyes, I savored the taste. It was a southwestern burger with barbecue sauce, bacon, and onion rings on it. I hadn’t eaten since six that morning before I'd left for class. It wasn’t until that first bite I realized how hungry I was. Ravenous was more like it and I seriously considered stealing the rest of Jamie’s burger.

“How much have you had to drink?” Jamie asked. I opened my eyes to find both of them staring at me.

“Enough to still understand what’s going on but not care.”

Jamie looked to the coffee table, eyeing the emptybourbon bottle.

“You just dismembered two bodies,” I stated.

“You unloaded a clip into a guy’s dick. I don’t think cutting up two dead bodies is what’s really bothering you.”

Oh, the ever perceptive Jamie.He was right. Their methodswere gross but not why I was stressed. As much as I wanted this day to be over, I was also dreading the end of it. It meant this chapter of my life would end. I’d be right back where I started—under Stefan’s rule. All day I’d felt like I’d been waiting for my impending doom, ripping off the Band-Aid slowly, as it were. I didn’t like that. I was arip that sucker off fast so I can get the pain over with and move onkind of girl.

“I don’t want to sound like an impatient child, but are you done yet?” I asked, deflecting.

Jamie relented with a nod. He tried to hand me his burger, but I shook my head. I’d lost my appetite.

“When was the last time you ate?”

My silence was his answer.

“It’s a long drive home. I don’t need you throwing up in my car.”

I rolled my eyes, taking the damn burger, and went to get out of his lap. He stopped me by wrapping his arm around my waist. I questioned his hold on me with an arched brow. He ignored me by turning his attention toLouie. “Throw me another one, man.”

“What, no offer of sexual favors in exchange for food? I’m feeling a little slighted.” Louie pouted, reaching into the fast food bag to get him another burger. Jamie didn’t feed into Louie’s antics. Instead, he looked bored.

As I watched them, I tried to hide my smile. Jamie and Louie had been inseparable since they became friends freshman year of high school. They’d always reminded me a little of yin and yang. Both were polar opposites; Jamie’s dark brown hair and hazel eyes clashed with Louie’s blond hair and blue eyes, and their personalities were just as different. Jamie was stoic and reserved whereas Louie always seemed carefree and charismatic. Where one was weak, the other thrived. Together, they were like two puzzle pieces that fit perfectly.

When we'd been kids, before I'd really known Louie, I'd been a little jealous of him. I hadn't wanted to share Jamie. I’d never really been good at sharing, period, but that was beside the point. I'd been a major bitch toward Louie, but that hadn’t seemed to faze him one bit. In fact, the asshole had encouraged my shitty behavior. It had thrown me for a loop, which had resulted in me liking the goof in the end.

“What’s got you smiling, gorgeous?”

Busted.Sheepishly, I faced Louie. He was sitting next to us on the couch, eating. “I was just thinking back to when we were kids.”

“Hmm,” he hummed while he chewed. “Good times.”

Some of it.