Page 36 of River of Deceit

These photos are burned into the back of my eyes. All of Rachel’s body parts, where they’d been found in the trash, as well as the picture from the coroner where her body parts had been placed together like a grotesque jigsaw puzzle.

Some of the pieces were missing, though. They never found her left foot, for one, and a few fingers had been chewed off by animals.

“Fuck,” River whispers. “That’s…”

“It’s disgusting,” I say. “Those monsters treated her like trash.” I unfold the copy of the coroner’s report Uncle Slayer had acquired for me, the one he hadn’t wanted to give me until I’d threatened public violence.

Signs of sexual assault.

I squeeze my eyes tightly and take a breath to steady myself. “I’m going to do worse than this to whoever touched her,” I say steadily. “You know I will, River.”

“I know,” he says, his voice harsh. “And I’ll be right there to help.” He reaches out to take the coroner’s report from me, taking his time to read it over. “Sick fucks,” he snarls when he’s finished reading.

“She fought back,” I say. “She remembered my lessons and she fought back, but it wasn’t enough.”

I wish Rachel had trusted me enough to introduce me to the mystery man she’d met at this university lecture. According to her notes, he had called her ‘very mature’ and had been absolutely charming.

That sounds like an older man preying on the young and vulnerable to me.

River reaches out, squeezing my arm. “She hated you teaching her,” he says quietly. “I wish we’d pushed harder to teach her more.”

I flip back a few pages, and I stop on a photothat’s equally painful. It’s me, Rachel, and River, smiling in front of a photo spot by the New Bristol Zoo. We’d gone on a whim because we were all bored and I’d heard the zoo had gotten a new species of snake for the snake house. I trace the lines of River’s face.

He’s even more handsome now than he’d been back then.

“I wish I’d noticed she was hiding something,” I admit. “I failed her. I was so absorbed in my own crap, and my best friend was out there getting murdered.”

“You didn’t fail her,” River says harshly. “If anything, her fucking parents failed her.”

“Like I didn’t know her parents were crap,” I mutter. I rest my head against his shoulder again. “It’s been so…lonelythis past year, River. First with Rachel, and then…”

When River had disappeared.

I know better than to mention that, though. My hand brushes against my pocket, and I press against my charm through the fabric of my pants.

“Oh, no. You don’t get to claim loneliness. You could’ve had me. I was going to apologize. I was going to fucking grovel for hurting you.” He pulls away from me. “You didn’t even give me a chance, and that’s all on you.”

I internally roll my eyes. “I already told you, you can get your revenge on meafterwe’ve put Rachel’s killer six feet under. If you’re going to be a little bitch about this?—”

He grabs me by the throat, then cuts off my words with a harsh, demanding kiss. “I am not a little bitch,” he snarls against my mouth.

I bite his lip. “Yeah? Prove it. All I’ve got right now is you whining and whining about how mean I am.”

He’s stronger than I am, and even though I fight him just to put on a show, he forces me down onto the bed. He pins my arms above my head, and I wonder if he’s still boxing or if he abandoned that. He’s still fit, though, and he’d always loved the sport, so I doubtit’s something he let go of.

“Shut up, Pandora,” he orders, straddling my legs so he can lean down and kiss me again.

I groan and roll my hips up, struggling against his grasp. I’ve already mapped out how I could escape if I wanted to, but I’m happy to open my mouth for him and let him take what he wants from me.

He sits back up, and his hands go for the button of my pants, then the zipper.

For someone who insists he could get laid anywhere, for someone who hates me, he’s quick to try to fuck me.

River places his hand on my hip, over the pocket that holds the charm. I see his brow furrow, and I quickly grab that hand to kiss it—to kiss the stub of the missing pinky and lick all over it.

It’s his turn to jerk back, and he glares down at me. “Don’t, Pandora.”

“It’s so hot,” I admit, running my tongue along my upper lip. “If you use that hand to finger me?—”