Page 120 of On Edge

“What was it you gave me?”

“I didn’t…” But I can’t speak.

“Something that takes a fucking long time to kick in, that’s what.” He sighs, leaning back in his chair.

I don’t move.

“If you’ve come to finish the job, hurry up.”

“Troy—”

“No? Well fuck off and leave me in peace then.”

“Just tell me what happened to her. Please.”

“All you had to do was ask.” He goes quiet, and for a second I think he’s out cold, but then, “You look like her, you know. At first I thought…” He trails off, shaking his head slowly. “But you’re not. She would never—” He stops himself, reaching for his glass and then realizing. “Fuck, I need a drink.” His fist grips the armrest instead.

“She would never what?” I press, still standing there, less than two feet away.

His grass-green eyes find mine, glassy but intense. “Kiss me like that.”

“L-Like what?”

He lets out a bitter laugh. “Like you hate monsters.” The drugs are pulling him under, his words starting to slur, though his jaw tightens, even through the haze. “Hate me. What kind of sick fuck would I be if I took it when you hate me so damn much?”

My stomach churns.

I want to run, but I need to keep him talking. This was starting to go somewhere. If I can bring him back to Nell, I mightget some honest answers for once. “Troy. Troy please. What happened to my sister? What happened to Nell?”

He blinks slowly, fighting the weight of his eyelids. “The girl who isn’t afraid to be a monster herself.”

Is he talking about me or Nell, now? I have no idea.

I step forward. “Did you kill her?”

His words fade, chest rising and falling deeper now. He sighs. “No.”

“Did you… accidentally push her?”

“No.” The word is barely a whisper. “I tried…to save her.”

His eyes drift closed fully now, and his breathing slows. I’m losing him to the drugs. I sit there for a moment, my mind in chaos.

Troywasthere.

Nell fell from the tower, and Troy was there. But he tried to save her. But if that’s the case, now what? Everything I’ve done for the last year has been about revenge.

And now….

I blink, feeling like I’ve been shot in the chest.

He’s lying. He has to be.

Then I remember why I’m here—the scars, the swan key.

“Troy?”

But he’s gone, his breathing evening out, becoming deeper. I shake him just to be sure.