Page 206 of Phobia

“She must have gotten a little suspicious about the pictures and the texts fromGraysin.” He made air quotes when he said my name. “Because a few days later she came intomyhome, snooped throughmythings, and stumbled upon the rest of the pictures. Ones with me in them that…” He shrugged. “They didn’t show me in the best light. Ones that may have landed me in jail. Since she’d seen those photos, things couldn’t just go back to normal. I didn’t trust her. So, I gave her a choice. She needed to permanently remove herself from my life, or I would destroy her pathetic family—you all, as it turns out. She knew I had the means to do so. To make you disappear, ruin your credit, set you up to take the fall for some crime, whatever. She knew I’d do it. So, she left school. It’s notmyfault ormyproblem that she took my instructions literally and offed herself like a fucking moron.”

Devil stalked up to Blaine and shoved him into the railing. It shook when he collided with it, and in the momentum, he pitched over the side. Blaine managed to grab on to the vertical bars, and now hung there with his feet dangling down. The second and first floors loomed below him. I gasped loudly and ran forward. Demon grabbed me and held me back. I threw an elbow into his side, and he let go with a grunt.

Blaine’s eyes found mine as he struggled to pull himself up the bars. His hands slipped on the slick metal, and he scrambled for purchase and held on. “Graysin, please,” he pleaded calmly. “Help me up.”

I knew what I should do. I should walk over there and help him back to safety. He was a human being. But after everything that had happened, everything he’d done, I just…didn’t. I took a small step back. And another. Fury raged in his eyes once he realized I wasn’t going to help.

“You pathetic, naive, weak excuse of a man. How dare you ignore me. Don’t walk away from me!” I backed up several more inches until I brushed against Demon. He rested a hand on my lower back. “Get back here, Thorne!” Blaine screamed. “You fucking owe me!” He was as red as a tomato, as angry as a hornet. Spit flew from his mouth with each word he screamed.

I turned around and faced away from him, resting my forehead against Demon’s chest. He rubbed my back gently. I couldn’t listen to any more of Blaine’s insults.

“Oops.” I turned my head and found Wolfie standing near the ledge with an empty five-gallon bucket in his hands. The lid was at his feet. “It slipped,” he deadpanned. Cleaner dripped from the lip of the bucket, and more importantly, Blaine was soaking wet and sputtering, and his hands were now gripping the concrete ledge rather than the railing. Wolfie tossed the bucket aside. It clattered on the metal floor and came to a stop near the shelves.

Demon patted my back, then moved me aside and walked over to Blaine. He crouched down to his level. Blaine let out a shout. I turned slowly. One of Demon’s boots was crushing Blaine’s left hand. And to his right hand, Demon started bending back his fingers one at a time.

“This is for my sister.”Crack.Blaine screamed, a high-pitched shrill that sounded like a feral animal in pain.

“This is for my brothers.”Crack.Blaine screamed again, the strength behind it weaker this time.

“This is because you’re a vile shit stain and the world is a better place without you.”Crack.No scream. Only the sounds of Blaine gasping for breath, the echoes of which were even more haunting than the screams.

Demon tapped Blaine’s face hard enough to sting until he looked up. “And this is for Graysin.”Crack.

What happened next was inevitable. I turned around and covered my ears, so I’d miss the sickening crunch as Blaine fell to his death and hit the concrete below.

The sounds, the memories, including those that had been stolen from me, it overwhelmed my senses, flooding my brain all at once. Before I could sit down and put my head between my legs, I fainted.

***

When I came to, I was back on the first floor, in an area far from the incident, resting on a blanket. The masks were over in the corner talking in a hushed whisper that probably wasn’t as quiet as they’d thought. And I knew their distinct voices now.

“We’re not about to deviate from the plan because you fucking care about him. Cleaning up all the loose ends has always been a part of the plan.” That, of course, was Devil.

“Livy would not be okay with that, and you know it. He’s innocent.” That was Demon.

“I mean, it sucks for him,” Devil conceded. “But even so, he was a means to an end. If we hadn’t taken him, the truth would have been buried forever. And now he’s a loose end.”

“He’s not a loose end. He’s not going to say anything.” Demon again.

“And just how the fuck do you know that for a fact?” Devil countered.

“I promise I’m not gonna say anything!” I blurted out loud, giving myself and my eavesdropping away. Demon and Wolfie chuckled, while Devil muttered under his breath. I ducked back down on the blanket. My fate was in their hands, and my presence was not required for the decision, it seemed.

“We’ve done what we needed to do, and now it’s time to let it go.” Wolfie.

That’s right. Let it go. Letmego.

I stared up at the highest peak of the ceiling and exhaled slowly. I had to get out of here. I didn’t want to meet the same fate as Blaine. “Please,” I begged. “You can let me go. I promise I won’t go to the police. Please let me go. And my…Kellen. I’m not leaving him.”

“Why not?” Devil asked. His head was askew and though I couldn’t see his eyes from here, I knew he was trying to get a read on me.

“Because,” I said, indignant, “he has nothing to do with any of this. And he’s important to me.”

Devil snorted. “He sure as fuck did get caught in the middle, didn’t he? Wrong place, wrong time kind of thing, I suppose. Poor bastard.”

Wolfie walked over and peered down at me. “Do you love him or something?”

Demon, who’d trailed over after him, smacked him in the stomach. To me he said, “You don’t have to answer his nosy ass.” Wolfie coughed and lightly smacked Demon back.