Page 86 of Camera Stays On

So she was in on it too?

“Someone’s dead,” Mick snarled. “The police will want to see them, I’m sure.”

“All they’ll see is that Sawyer is innocent,” Juliet said firmly. “He didn’t set those traps.”

“Bullshit,” I snapped. “If it wasn’t you, then who was it?”

“P-P-Purdy,” Gavin groaned.

Sawyer bolted up so fast his chair flew backward. It hit a cabinet with a boom, causing everyone to startle. He pulled out his gun and aimed it at Gavin.

“I told you to stop talking badly about my wife.”

Without another word, he pulled the trigger.

Chapter 37

Andi

GAVIN’S BODY SLUMPED forward, landing on his plate with a loud thump. Smoke rose from the wound in his head. No one dared twitch or scream or shift. Blood splattered everyone’s faces, and brain matter was scattered on those directly beside him, and still we forced ourselves not to react.

He. Shot. Gavin.

Gavin. Is. Dead.

My thigh began to ache, a deep, slow ache that made me bite down a cry. Under the table, I reached for Ash’s hand, and he shoved me away.

“Sawyer, you need to give me the gun,” he said slowly, raising his hands in innocence. “We don’t need anyone else getting hurt.”

Sawyer rolled his eyes, blew on the muzzle of the gun, and sat back down.

“I told him he wouldn’t get another warning. No one talks bad about my Purdy Doll.”

My gaze jerked to Juliet across the table. For the first time since we’d arrived, she looked shocked. She was staring at the hole in Gavin’s head, her lips trembling. Sawyer must have seen me look over because he snapped at me.

“What, has she been saying something? Did Juliet say something to you, Purdy?”

Juliet’s gaze whipped to me in horror, and I quickly shook my head.

“N-No,” I stammered.

“Good.” He returned the gun to his jacket and retrieved his chair before sitting back down. “Now, it’s time to discuss how we move forward. Obviously, we’ve had some cast hiccups that we’ll need to adjust for.”

My breathing began to escalate. What in the actual hell was going on? Every time I thought I had a grip on what was happening, Sawyer opened his mouth, and something even more ludicrous came out. Ash took my hand under the table. I gripped it tightly, then quickly released it and put my hands on the table when I caught Sawyer staring.

“Hiccups?” Asher asked. “Sawyer, you just killed someone.” He seemed to be the only one capable of speech. I scanned the rest of the table. Mick was staring off blankly, and Darius’s jaw twitched as his eyes narrowed into slits. He was planning something. I hoped, anyway. Had he figured out how to get us out of here?

My mind raced, trying to figure out how to escape this house with everyone. Not only was Bea close to losing her foot, I still wasn’t walking well. There was no way I could run.

Sawyer ignored his brother and stepped over to Gavin’s body. I flinched as he lifted his head by the hair and shook it, almost playfully.

“Oh, come on. It’s not that bad. It was a mercy killing. He’s thanking me.”

“Sawyer, give me the gun.”

“This was all part of the plan, you know.” Sawyer let go of Gavin, and his head dropped back into his plate with a sharp thump. “Most found footage has a slow build. And I think we got that. I’ve got footage of the casting, our arrival, our prep. You see, this isn’t the movie I told you it was. I wanted to film something meta.”

“Meta?” Mick looked up. “What the fuck are you talking about?”