Page 71 of My Girl

Crave will be here.

And he’ll kill Officer Gaines.

“Nice costume,” Officer Gaines drawls. He nods towards my nightgown. His hands are on his hips. This time, there’s no gun though. It’s just his regular stun gun. I’m relieved.

“Yours too,” I mock.

He grunts. I shake my head. He doesn’t have any power right now. There are too many people at the Galloway House. Too many witnesses.

I’ve been so obsessed with finding out where Crave is that I forgot why I wanted to ask him for help in the first place. I had planned to ask Crave to murder Officer Gainesfor me,but now, I realize it wouldn’t have been as satisfying to watch Gaines die. I want to kill him together. I want to kill GaineswithCrave.

Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if Crave killed my father. Maybe I’m better off, morepowerful,because of Crave. If my father was still alive, I would never have met Crave.

It’s not like I knew Michael Hall. He’s half of my DNA, sure, but he’s nothing more than that.

And Crave means so much more to me than a sperm donor.

“You’re right,” Officer Gaines says, his voice softer than usual. He motions toward the house. “It’s a nightmare.”

I scrutinize him, waiting for the anger to boil under my skin, but the negative emotions fizzle. I don’t feel anything right now. The mall cop doesn’t have much longer to live anyway, and being here, standing with him, is still better than being around a bunch of strangers pretending to be my friend because I’m holding a murder party. Officer Gaines is a fucking rapist asshole, but he doesn’t pretend to be anything else. I’ve seen his true colors, just like I’ve seen Crave’s.

No,my brain argues.Officer Gaines pretended to be good. He pretended like he was going to help you right before he blackmailed you into eating his ass. He’s a security guard who turned on you the moment you were behind closed doors. He hides his true colors just like everyone else.

I clench my fists. All of my thoughts are right,butI hide myself too. I don’t feel guilty for tricking others, stealing from them, or even for the murderous thoughts I have about Officer Gaines. Why would I care if the mall cop pretends to be good when I know I’m going to kill him soon?

For now, I’ll pretend to be good too.

“You’re working tonight?” I ask dryly.

“Something like that.” His upper lip twitches. “You?”

“Sure.”

And with those words, it’s almost like we’re friends now, because we both work at the mall and we both hate seeing strangers crowd our space like that. Still, my skin crawls. I may be able to relate to him right now, but I still don’t like him.

“I’m not letting you rape me tonight,” I declare.

“And I suppose you’re not murdering anyone tonight, either,” he says.

I lock eyes with him. He studies me back. The power exchange between us keeps us tied together.

Me: a murderer in his eyes.

Him: a blackmailing rapist.

My eyes skim over his lips. My tongue throbs in my mouth, remembering the ridges of his ass. His hairy cheeks smothering me. Using me. Taking what he wanted from me.

“You enjoyed it,” he says in a husky voice, as if he can read my mind.

“I wasn’t thinking about you,” I say.

“That so?” He chuckles. “You seemed mighty focused on sticking that dirty tongue deeper into my hole.”

My cheeks burn, but I don’t look away. I can’t. That would show weakness. I want him to know that I’m not going anywhere. He will pay for what he’s done.

“You won’t get away with it,” I say.

“I don’t doubt that for a second,” he says. Another chill runs down my back. I keep my focus on him, pretending to be unafraid. “But you’ll enjoy that revenge, won’t you?”