Page 22 of Poisoned Pawns (The Gamemakers Trilogy #1)

Desmond-Memories & Graves

Being arrested and accused of killing Katie was not on my bingo card this week. For hours they questioned me, and I had to think fast as to why I was at her grave with shovels. Luckily, my stepfather made it to the precinct in a timely manner and pulled some strings to get me out of holding.

Now, sitting in the back of his limo heading towards our house, I feel uneasy. Being in his presence makes me feel like I’m eight years old all over again. Afraid and docile. Why couldn’t my mother have come? Oh, that’s right, she’s probably drunk or hopped up on pills. Too fucked up to care.

“Son, you know I can’t let this go unpunished,” he states, and I fold into myself, knowing exactly what that means.

I’ve stayed off his radar for months. Leaving that house as fast as I could the minute I got my diploma, but even that didn’t stop him from doing what he wanted to me.

My whole life he’s had it out for me. I’m not sure if it’s a sick fantasy or because his daughter loved me more than him.

He still blames me for her death, even though she died at his hands.

It’s a memory I keep buried deep, never wanting it to swim along the surface.

But I think of all the happy memories I had with her to get through the abuse.

Now that she’s gone, I use sex with others as a coping mechanism to feel in control.

“Did you hear what I said?” he growls, taking me out of my thoughts.

Without looking at him, I nod, keeping my eyes cast down, too afraid to look at him.

One day—one fucking day—I’m going to rip his eyeballs from their optic nerves and shove them up his ass.

I hate feeling so weak, so afraid of him.

I’m not a child and I shouldn’t give him this power over me.

“Answer me!” he shouts, reaching for me and wrapping his hand around my throat, forcing me to look at him.

Spittle flies from his mouth, landing on my cheek as his nose grazes the side of my face.

“When we get home, you are to shower. You smell disgusting,” he orders, releasing me and sitting back down in his seat.

“Understood,” I whisper, still refusing to look anywhere else but at my feet.

“Good. Then once you’re finished, meet me in my office!” he says, fixing his tie.

A few minutes later, the limo comes to a stop, and the driver opens the door. Sal gets out first and I follow, walking up the few steps into the house and up to my room. I shower like a good boy, but fuck him if he thinks I’m going to meet him in his office to get beaten and raped. Fuck that!

After getting dressed. I grab my phone, climb out my window, and scale down the gutter. Once my feet hit the grass, I take off through the yard, around the front of the house, and down the driveway. I’m not sure if Silas’ truck is still at the cemetery or not, but I need fucking wheels.

Walking out of the neighborhood, I wave to Larry the security guard and hand him a fifty-dollar bill in hopes he won’t tell anyone, specifically Sal, that he saw me leave the development.

Every time I’m around that man, all the memories flood between the abuse and Laura, the only girl I ever truly loved.

“Promise me when we graduate, we will leave this place behind and it will just be me and you forever.” She smiles up at me as she lays in the grass surrounded by wildflowers. I look down at her, returning a smile of my own.

“I promise, lovebug. It will be me, you, and our baby against the world,” I tell her, reaching down to rub her flat stomach.

She told me a few weeks ago that she was pregnant.

Our relationship has been a secret for years.

Not even Millie knows. So when she told me we were going to be parents, I had to come up with a plan.

A plan to get us out of here safely. No one would understand our love.

They would just judge us and tell us we are disgusting because we are stepsiblings, but I won’t let anyone harm my family.

So in a few months, we will walk across the stage and disappear.

I’ve already started moving money to an offshore account, slowly as not to raise any alarms about what I am doing.

I had to go through some illegal channels to get us new identities, but there’s this girl and her brothers that go to school with us that have the connections I needed to get it set up.

Laura found us a house in California on the beach and I put in an offer on it, which was accepted today.

Everything's falling into place. We just have to bide our time before our escape.

Scooting over closer to her, I cup her face and look deep into her light blue eyes.

“I love you, Laura, always,” I tell her, bending down, pressing my lips against hers.

We kiss for what feels like hours, until the sun sets.

Rising to my feet, I stick my hand out and help her to hers, and then we walk hand in hand out of the forest to the park.

I sit on the swings and watch her walk home.

Tears pour down my face thinking about the last time I saw her—the last memory we had together. Wiping my face, I finally make it to the cemetery parking lot, spotting Silas’s truck. Fuck!

Running to the truck, I look inside and see no one in it, but it definitely looks like someone has gone through it. Clothes are thrown around, the glove box and center console are open, and their contents are spread along the seats and floorboards. Shit!

Taking out my phone and powering it on, messages upon messages pop up on my screen. Ivy texted and called a million times. Pressing her name, I put the phone to my ear as it rings.

“Des, oh my god. Where the fuck have you been?” she yells.

“Get to the cemetery now and come alone!” I growl.

“Okay, okay, I’m on my way,” she says, out of breath before the line goes dead.

I hope she got him out in time. She had to have seen me get arrested the other night.

Where did they even park? This is a fucking mess.

I swear if it's not one thing, it's another. My phone pings and I look down to see it’s from Pierce.

I cannot deal with him right now. One fucking issue at a time.

Goddamn it. But my anxiety gets the best of me, and I read the message.

Pretty Boy:

Hello, you’ve been ignoring me and I don’t like it. Where are you?

Me:

I’m fine. I’m sorry. I will message you later. I’m in the middle of something.

My phone rings and his name flashes across my screen.

Hitting the red button, I slide my phone into my pocket just as Ivy pulls into the parking lot.

She hops out of the car wearing a short red dress, hair curled over her shoulders, and dark makeup covering her eyes.

She looks stunning. She runs over and throws herself on me, hugging me.

“Jesus Christ, Des. I’ve been so fucking worried!” she yells, hugging me tightly. Wrapping my hands around her waist, I give her a squeeze while inhaling deeply, taking in her sweet scent of flowers.

“I’m okay, Ivanna. Did you get Silas out?” I ask, and she pulls away with wide eyes.

“What do you mean, did I get Silas out? You said you were,” she growls.

“I got fucking arrested. What the fuck?” I yell, stepping into her space.

“Wait, what?”

“Yes, arrested. Where the fuck is Silas?”

“Fuck!” she yells, taking off for the cemetery.

We both run around the building to the back and through the headstones, coming to a complete stop when we get to Katie’s.

She falls to her knees, then looks up at me.

“Where the fuck is he?” she cries as I stand there looking at the empty grave.

No coffin, no bodies. Nothing but a fucking hole.

My phone pings and I take it out. Swiping to the left, I open the message and growl.

Unknown:

You’re too late. He’s mine now!

I roar, squeezing my phone so tightly the screen spiders out.

“This motherfucker!” I yell.

“Des, what?” she spits.

“Silas is Checkmate’s now. We were too late,” I say, falling to my knees, dropping the phone, and putting my face in my hands.

“No, no, this can’t be happening. We have to get him back! Fuck Checkmate!” she spits, and I shake my head.

Checkmate is winning, and we are nothing but his pawns in this game. He’s going to clear the board, taking us down one by one, and he started with the weakest link. Silas. Fuck!