Page 17 of Until Death Parts Us (Dysfunctional)

Kaspian

Six months later

“We gotta go to Willie’s Bait & Tackle and then we can go home.”

“Good. I’m starving,” I complain, rubbing my stomach. “We just need the fishing line, right?”

“I already got that. We’re gonna get fishing rods.”

“Are we actually fishing?” I ask.

“No, but the guys you’ve been watching have been spending most of their day fishing down at that pier. We gotta be down there looking like we’re also fishing.”

“Maybe I could actually catch a fish,” I muse.

“We’ve lived up here for years, and not once have you ever gone fishing.”

“I bet I could do it though.”

“Well, if you catch one, you’re cleaning and skinning it.”

I make a face. “Or I could just throw it back.”

Quin chuckles. “You can’t manage to gut a fish and clean it out, but yet you’re planning on strangling those guys with fishing wire?”

“It’s different.”

He shakes his head as we walk inside.

Along the left wall are a bunch of fishing poles, so that’s where we go.

“Some of these say fishing rods. What’s the difference between rods and poles?”

“We’re getting rods,” Quin states.

“Okay, but these are split up. These are casting rods, and these are surf rods. Oh, and this says fly rods.”

Quin rubs his head. “It doesn’t matter.”

“What if these guys think we don’t know what the hell we’re doing because we’re out there with the wrong rods?”

“Then maybe they’ll get closer to help us,” he says through gritted teeth, trying to keep his voice down.

“This one already has the reel attached. This one says you can buy your own reel.”

An exasperated sigh is Quin’s only response.

“Well, I don’t know shit about which reels go with which rods, so I’m getting a combo. What about you?”

“Sure, that’s fine.”

“I just don’t know if I want the red one or not,” I say, holding two different ones in my hands.

“For the love of god, Kaspian, just pick one,” he says in a not-so-quiet whisper.

“Fine. You’re lucky I love you, Quin.” I say his name with the same frustration he said mine with.

He rolls his eyes. “You pay and I’ll wait outside.”

After he storms off, I take another minute to debate which rod I want, and decide I’ll get them both. Quin needs one, and since he clearly doesn’t care, I can change my mind on which I’ll use when the time comes.

I stroll to the counter where a girl with black hair and a face devoid of emotion stands. When she sees me, she forces a smile on her face.

“Find everything you need?”

“Yes, thank you.”

She rings them up and tells me the cost. After I’ve paid, she says, “Thanks so much for shopping at Willie’s. Would you like to fill out an informational card for a chance to win a free trip to Las Vegas?”

“No thanks,” I reply immediately, just wanting her to give me the rods.

“Are you sure? It includes hotel accommodations just a block away from the Luxor Hotel.”

She slowly hands them over, and I grip them in my fist as a plan emerges. “Really?” The girl nods with a fake smile on her lips. “Well, in that case, maybe a little vacation would do us some good.”

I don’t know how I’ll even bring this up to Quin. He’s not been excited to plan another trip since we got back from Montana. Which I get. It didn’t exactly go as planned, but we’re both healed now, and my branding marks have been covered up as best they could be by new tattoos.

The case in Montana went cold after a few weeks.

Turns out Tim and Larry—the guy who was going to kill me, were budding serial killers themselves.

They had been at Trego for a few weeks and killed two people before we got there.

Both of the victims were women, and evidence was found inside their cabin that linked them to the bodies that were found.

I know, from what I overheard while bound and blindfolded, that they only took me because I saw them disposing of evidence.

Daniel, the guy in the cabin, was simply someone Tim found on some hookup app and invited over for sex.

He had no clue what they were up to. The man in the tent that Quin killed was just another person at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Authorities assumed Tim and Larry killed both Daniel and the man in the tent.

There’s no true evidence to prove who killed either one of them.

The fire ruined anything that could possibly be used.

We’re in the clear, but Quin’s not in a rush to leave Alaska anytime soon. The Vegas trip wouldn’t be for a while anyway. I might as well give it a shot.

I hand her back the card, and her face contorts.

“Your name’s Grayson?”

“Yeah,” I reply with a nod.

“Oh. When you were by the fishing poles with your friend, I thought I heard him call you Kaspian.”

I glare up at her, my eyes narrow and full of fire. She heard too much and hopefully she knows better than to make this a bigger deal than it needs to be. Quin won’t be happy to hear that someone overheard us use our real names. She’ll have to go if she isn’t smart.

“No. It’s Grayson,” I state simply, leaving no room to ask any more questions.

It takes a few seconds, but she recovers. Her shocked face morphs into something else. Something akin to interest. “Okay.” Her lips form a devilish smirk. “Don’t worry. My name isn’t Shawna either.”

My eyes slide down to her name tag and then back up to her face. Her forced smile is gone. The expression she has now is more authentic. There’s a darkness behind those eyes. Alaska seems to have gained another person seeking a new start, running from a past they hope doesn’t catch up.

I tilt my head slightly and give her a smile. “Have a nice day.”

“You, too. Thanks for shopping at Willie’s.” The faux personality is back.

I turn around and walk out, passing a blonde woman who’s entering. Quin is leaning against the driver’s side door of our truck, staring out at the water.

“Got ‘em,” I say, holding up the rods.

“Good. What do you want to eat?”

I put them in the bed of the truck before I come to a stop in front of him. “Would it be annoying if I said you ?”

He snorts, his lips lifting into a smirk. “You can do that later.”

“I kind of want pizza,” I say as I steal the keys from his pocket. “And I’m driving, so I’m in charge.”

“Is that so?”

I nod.

“Hmm. We’ll see if that changes later.”

I bite my bottom lip briefly. “Mm. I kind of hope it does.”

Quin smacks my ass as he walks around me, making his way to the passenger side.

Once we’re leaving the parking lot, I say, “So, what do you think about a trip to Las Vegas?”

“Kaspian,” he growls.

I turn and grin at him. “No murders. Just a vacation. A vacation from murders, if you will.”

He shakes his head and looks out the window. “We’re not going to Las Vegas.”

“We could ride a gondola in the Paris Hotel.”

“We can ride a canoe out here anytime we want.”

“We could go to the top of the Stratosphere.”

“We could climb a mountain.”

I sigh. “We could watch a magician make things disappear.”

He turns and looks at me, amusement in his face. “We make things disappear all the time.”

I grin, debating saying what’s on the tip of my tongue. He won’t like it. He’ll either get mad or shut down. But I can’t keep it in. He turns back to the window, assuming the conversation is over.

“We could go to the Little White Wedding Chapel.”

His head swivels around so fast, I think it might spin all the way off. His eyes study my face, but I have to look at the road. I can feel his gaze burning into my cheek, but he doesn’t say anything. And somehow that’s worse.

“Until death parts us.”

The words emerge quietly from his lips. Almost a whisper. When I turn to face him, he’s got this intense look in his eye. His lips form a small grin then he grabs my hand and brings it to his lips, kissing the knuckles.

“Mine.”

My heart races in my chest, but I have to focus on the road so I don’t kill us both before I figure out what the hell is happening.

Did I just propose?

But most importantly, did he say yes? He definitely didn’t say no.

When I glance over at him, he has a tiny smirk on his lips, and then he turns to look out the window, his hand still gripping mine.

Well, whatever happens, I know it’ll be perfectly imperfect. Just like us.