Game Over Boys, page 52
“I’m sorry.” Maxx doesn’t sound sorry. When I look at him, he doesn’t seem sorry. “It’s just, you have such an incredible daughter.”
“Please.” Tess snorts and shakes her head. “Just … leave it at that. Agent Takahashi will be here soon. For now, she’s got people watching the house. If Justin moves on us, he’ll only give himself away.”
“Oh no, he’ll wait.” I don’t know why I say that. It’s just that I know Justin too well at this point for speculation. “You can’t keep me here forever; he’s going to play nice for a few days and then leverage the custody agreement against you. He’ll call the police on you, I bet.”
Tess is staring at me and saying nothing, but she knows that what I’m saying is true. Her face reads like a novel, something tragically titled that you know is going to be sad. A Grave of Roses Weeping Blood Tears.
“He’ll wait?” Tess scoffs and plants her hands on her lower back, stretching and groaning. “Fuck.”
“Cursing around us children? You really are stressed, aren’t you?” Parrish asks dryly, but Tess ignores him.
“Let’s see what Itsumi has to say, shall we?” She purses her lips and breezes past us into the kitchen.
“We’re going to have a long conversation where you apologize to me.” Parrish tickles Maxx’s chin, causing the latter boy to scowl. X slaps his friend’s hand off of him, looking to Chasm instead.
“We’ll talk later,” Chas agrees, shrugging and turning to me instead. “After we get grilled by the FBI. Are you ready for this?”
“I’m ready.” I sound confident, but I don’t feel that way. I’m nervous. Why shouldn’t I be? Agent Takahashi is a scary-ass chick.
“She’ll be fine,” Maxx agrees, smiling at me. “That massive orgasm she just had should keep her relaxed during the interview.”
“If Justin doesn’t get you first, then I might very well kill you.” I give Maxx a dry look, but he doesn’t relent. Instead, he stares at me like he’s had an appetizer and is now ready for the main course. Eep.
“You better have a good reason for trying to die or it’ll be me that ends you.” Chasm stands up from the couch, shakes out his hands and turns to look at the rest of us. “When I brought my duffel over here, I packed it with as much food as I did clothing. I’ve got all the stuff to make kimchi jjigae if you guys want.”
“That’s kimchi stew, for those of us who don’t speak the language,” Parrish purrs, and all three of them chuckle at me.
At this point, I’d chow down on some of Justin’s snails if it meant getting to eat a meal with my boys.
As long as they live through this—even if I don’t—then I can die happy.
“That’s … pretty much it.” I laugh when I say that. I’m exhausted, sorry. Also, when I say ‘that’s it’, it’s sort of ironic because there was a lot.
Agent Itsumi Takahashi—she’s forty-two, born in Osaka, lived in the US since she was twelve, and I know all this because I forced as much small talk as I could to break up the tragedies—stares at me in silence.
A blond man sits beside her, but he’s got as good a poker face as I’ve ever seen. He gives me nothing to work with. I turn back to Itsumi. Tess is sitting behind me in another chair, watching and listening. I’d thought I’d told her most everything up until this point, but there was a lot of gasping and cursing when I mentioned certain events.
“Can you, like, arrest him now or something?” I ask, wishing that she’d just shoot him instead and save us the trouble of a trial. Justin will drag it out. Hell, he’ll probably win it and be declared innocent of all charges. That’s how good he is, but unless Saffron can deliver on her promises (never happened in the past, so I won’t hold my breath) then this is our only remaining option.
“I have your story—and it’s well-corroborated by the boys’ stories—but that’s all I have.” The agent folds her hands on the table’s surface, studying the ring she’s wearing. I guess she’s married, but I don’t know. She wouldn’t answer that question when I asked. “That, and Agent Murphy’s final reports.” She sits back in her chair with a sigh that reminds me of Tess. “There’s absolutely zero evidence that backs up any of your claims thus far.”
“Thus far?” I ask, and then I remember that Tess has been talking to the FBI behind our backs. Good on her, I mean, it was the right decision. But still.
“Tess has been wearing a wire for us,” Takahashi admits, and my mouth drops open.
“A wire?! So he knows everything I’ve said?” It shouldn’t matter though, should it? Seeing as I called him out online like an idiot who knew better and didn’t listen to that smart inner voice of hers.
“This.” Agent Takahashi puts … something on the table. I’m not sure what it is for a minute, but I’m a dork at heart, and I’ve seen tape players like this. It’s made of off-white plastic and it’s ugly as hell, outfitted with a clear plastic rectangular drawer that has a white cassette tape inside. “This is a Realistic brand portable cassette tape recorder, circa 1988. There’s nothing here for Justin to hack into.” She pats the item, offering a sideways glance at the signal jammer.
There’s a knock at the door, and one of the agents—there are two others in here with us—moves over to open it. He speaks softly to whoever is outside and turns to Takahashi.
“One of the children is asking to see their mother.”
“Bring them in for a minute.” Agent Takahashi sits back in the leather desk chair with a sigh, reaching up to push her bangs from her forehead.
Kimber is allowed into the room, her eyes drifting to the tape recorder on the desk.
“What is that?” she asks, and I think she genuinely doesn’t know what a tape player is.
“Doesn’t matter. What do you need?” Tess asks, leaning forward and resting her elbows on her knees.
“There’s a car pulling into the driveway. Thought you might want to know.” Kimber’s gaze tracks over to me again, and I smile wanly back at her. I’m impressed with her, I’ll admit. I thought she’d blame me for all of this shit, seeing as Justin is only in her life because of me. Maybe. Maybe not, though. Because Tess seems to be his target. I’m just a means to an end.
“Thank you, honey. I’ll be right down.” Tess’ cheeks flush slightly as she looks to Agent Takahashi. “It’s him, isn’t it?”
“Him?” I almost panic, but Tess quickly reassures me.
“Not Justin,” she promises, holding her hands up placatingly. I nearly fall off the chair in relief.
“Not Justin,” Takahashi agrees. The agent nods before turning her dark eyes to me. I miss Agent Murphy. This new partner is much less interesting. He just sits there beside her with bright blue eyes and a generic half-smile. I think he was introduced as Agent Sam or something? Is that a first name or last name? Does it matter? Am I just beyond hysterical now?
“That’ll be all for now, Dakota.” Takahashi moves to stand up and I do the same, panic racing across my skin in the form of goose bumps. My hands might be shaking, too.
“You don’t have evidence yet, but I can help you find some. Let me take the tape recorder with me.” I gesture at it, knowing that wearing that thing into Justin’s house is akin to signing my own death warrant. But I have to try something. Anything.
“I’m sorry, but I’m not using a minor for undercover work.” Takahashi sighs heavily, putting her hands on her hips. I can see that she wants to believe us, but when it comes to the law, belief isn’t enough to act on. We need hard evidence and Justin is oh so careful. “If it weren’t for Agent Murphy, I’m not sure I’d even be going this route.” She lifts her thumbnail to her lips but doesn’t chew on it, almost like she’s fighting a bad habit she knows that she has. “I’ll be in touch.”
“You’ll be in touch?” I ask, coming around the side of the desk. The other agents don’t seem to like me getting that close to her, and I realize that regardless of who the real culprit is—Justin or Paul—I’ve clearly shown myself capable of being manipulated by the Slayer. Who’s to say I might not try to attack her? “We can’t live our lives with him hunting us!”
“I’ll put some officers on the house, but I can’t arrest a man on words alone. I’ll be bringing him in for an interview, but you have to understand: Justin Prior was seen in public by dozens of people, let alone security cameras, last night. He wasn’t personally involved in any capacity.”
I want to scream. I want to knock everything off the desk and onto the floor. I want to kill Justin. That impulse hasn’t faded. Seeing as literally nothing else has worked, I might still try. What else can I do at this point?
“Who’s here then?” I ask, just as a knock sounds at the door. It opens shortly after and then—color me surprised—Paul Vanguard enters the room. He looks … oddly more buff than he was when I last saw him?
Something strange happens in the room as Tess rises to her feet.
Uh-oh. I smell romance. Lately, I’ve gotten used to being the one experiencing these sorts of moments, the ones where time stops and the world falls away. I guess I never realized how gross it looks from the outside.
Agent Takahashi clears her throat, but that doesn’t stop Tess and Paul from slowly walking toward one another. He cups her face in his hands and gives her the most genuine smile I’ve ever seen on him.
Parrish is right behind him, standing in the hallway with his mouth hanging open. He looks past them to me, and his expression says something like, I am so sorry you have to see this, Gamer Girl. Also, I think, weirdly enough, Parrish picked up some of his romance skills from his dad.
“You’re my heartbeat, Tess,” Paul whispers as she gazes up at him, covering his hands with her own. “It feels like I’ve been in a deep sleep all this time. Only your face could wake me up.”
“Oh my god, sick.” Kimber turns away with her hand pressed over her mouth, like she’s holding back vomit. Parrish gags, but his parents don’t seem to notice either of them. Instead, they kiss, and while I’m sure it feels amazing to them, it looks gross to me. I turn away, and so do most of the other agents. It gets worse when their arms wrap around one another, and I’m pretty sure they’d move into sex territory if there weren’t so many other people around.
“I’ve missed you,” Tess breathes as they reluctantly pull apart. “God, Paul, you’re my world.”
“You’re my universe,” he whispers back, and Parrish facepalms hard. But like, haven’t we said similarly cringe things to one another? “You’re the only real thing that I have.” Yep. Like that.
Takahashi-sama clears her throat again, moving over to stand beside the fawning couple. I think I hear her murmur something like hazukashii under her breath, but I might’ve misheard.
“Nice to see you out on bail, Mr. Vanguard.” She gives a tight smile before flicking her gaze down to the weird bracelet on his ankle. “I’ll be seeing you around again soon enough.”
She moves past the couple and into the hallway as I study my stepfather and what I think is, like, a house arrest bracelet? So he can’t flee or whatever.
But … Paul was denied bail before. What’s different now?
“How did you get out?” Parrish asks, moving into the room as the remaining agents gather their things and head for the door. Kimber scoots closer, too, but not too close, pretending to be disinterested while desperately wanting to be a part of the team.
“We had a bail hearing, and we won,” Paul declares with a bright smile for his son. When he reaches out to pat his head, Parrish allows it with a slight curling of his lip. I’m beyond shocked when Paul turns to me. I assumed—like with Kimber—that he’d hate me even more after all this. Justin is my father, after all, a fact that I’m sure I’ll never be able to get over. It’ll haunt me with every step I take for the rest of my life. “Dakota, I’m so sorry; I had no idea what you were going through.”
“Me? What I was going through?” I point at myself. “You were framed by my dad.”
“Which is not your fault,” Paul tells me, swallowing like he feels guilty. He adjusts his glasses nervously as he looks back at Tess. “What’s our next step?”
“Your lawyers will be here soon.” Tess checks her watch. Apparently, the one she’s wearing is from the 1950s and belonged to her grandmother. “We’ll talk things over with them and then … I don’t know.”
“Are we actually moving back home?” Parrish asks, staring down at his dad’s bracelet. “What about that thing on your leg?” He gestures at it.
“We’re still moving back. Your father got permission from the judge. Besides, I don’t think staying here a moment longer with your grandmother will do any of us any good.” Tess looks at me and Parrish, over at Kimber. “Stay in common spaces together. If somebody goes to the bathroom, take a same-sex buddy to stand near the door.”
“Mom, seriously?” Parrish asks dryly, but she ignores him, holding hands with Paul as they walk down the hallway. We follow after, but at a much slower pace.
“What are you going to do with your victim when we move?” Kimber whispers conspiratorially, but it takes me like three heartbeats too long to remember what she’s talking about.
“Oh, shit.” I give Parrish a wide-eyed look, and he cringes in response. He forgot about Veronica, too?! Who’s been feeding and watering her then? Should I run after Agent Takahashi and tell her about the teenage girl trapped in a secret vault or will that make us (and Paul) look like the guilty ones?
“Relax, guys, I took care of it.” Kimber saunters past us down the hallway as I gape at her back.
“I totally forgot about that particular clusterfuck,” Parrish murmurs, looking over at me. “Should we just tell Tess about her and be done with it?”
As far as I can tell, this is the last secret we have as a group.
But if we tell Tess about Veronica, the pissy little brat might end up dead. On the other hand, we might actually get in trouble for kidnapping. It’s one thing to claim that Justin made us do it, but who stole the Benzos? Who squirted them down her throat? Who’s been keeping her captive?
Us.
“Probably. But not right this second.” Not with the FBI around. I want to tell Tess without them, so she can help make the final decision. This is a big deal. Justin is playing around with me right now which means he still feels like he’s got some control, but if he learns that we fucked with him on the Veronica thing … I can barely fathom his rage.
“Well, my vote is that we tell her. Talk to Chasm and Maxx, see what they think. Just remember that when I said you shouldn’t go back to Justin on Monday, I was the one who was right.”
Finding time to take care of Veronica isn’t easy with Tess on high alert. She spends a lot of time in the kitchen, making phone calls, using her laptop, and talking with Paul and his lawyers. Once all of that is done, we’re corralled into the living room and forced to eat a meal together—even my grandparents are there.
I’ve been tiptoeing around them all day which isn’t fair, but I’m afraid to sit down and really talk about Justin. I might break down, and I don’t have time for that right now.
“She’s in the bathroom—go!” Parrish hisses, glancing back into the kitchen and waving at me and Maxx. Chasm is watching the other doorway, buying us the briefest of moments to get into the cellar.
The atmosphere in that dark room is decidedly different than the last time we were in here. I can feel Maxx at my back, and all I want to do is turn and kiss him, let him lift me up and make love to me against the wall. Oh. Wow. Racy.
My face burns as I key in the code. X slides his arm around me from behind, and I go completely still.
“I’ve never ached for someone the way I ached for you,” he whispers to me, kissing the side of my neck as I fight to stay on my feet. My knees are so weak, I’m not sure I’ll be able to stay like this for long without melting into a puddle. “I’ve never hated myself the way I did when I was hurting you.”
“That’s how I’ve been feeling about myself since the day I first spoke to Justin via Mr. Volli.” I turn suddenly, and Maxx leans in, pressing me against the hidden door with his muscular form. Even though it’s hard to see his face in such low light, I can read his intent in every line of his body. “Don’t let that hate fester. Forgive yourself. I’ve already forgiven you.”
Maxx drops his face to mine, sweeping his tongue across my lower lip but withholding the kiss I so desperately want.
“Let’s go feed our pet,” he quips with a wry twist of lips. X releases me, leaving me cold and hot all at once. I curse him out inside my head as I turn and head down the steps.
Veronica doesn’t even look up when we come in, her elbow propped on her knee, a Goosebumps book in her hand. I may or may not have stolen some of Ben’s books to give to her. Tess has been ordering crates of them to keep her son occupied. I’ve been sneaking a few here and there. It’s better than Veronica deserves.
She’s twisting her hair around her finger with her free hand, deigning to look at us only when Maxx puts the bag he had slung over his good shoulder down and starts unloading food.
“Wow. I’m fed worse than a convict.” She snorts at the array of sodas, water bottles, and prepackaged foods that he tosses over to her. We rarely get within touching distance of Veronica—for obvious reasons. If she could get me in a chokehold, she’d go in for the kill.
“Nice to see you, too.” I sigh heavily as I work myself up to go for the toilet. I dart forward and snatch it, dragging it across the floor and out of her reach. She seems to like that, smirking at me from her position on the air mattress.
“At least I can get some pleasure out of the fact that you’re cleaning up after me,” Veronica quips as I remove the inner chamber of the toilet. The way this thing works—according to Maxx—is that the inner chamber is filled with microbes that break the waste down until it can be safely composted. This model has a removable inner chamber so that we don’t need to even open the lid. It’s set aside until it breaks down to a proper level, then it can be dumped and reintroduced into the system. All I have to do is put the new chamber in and take the old one away.
