Page 30

I shake my head. “Can’t say I have since this morning. Why?”

“He was supposed to pick up dinner while I had a shower, and I was hoping he just got lost.”

Vesper’s phone buzzes, and she pulls it from her pocket. When she opens the screen, her face morphs.

I look over to see that a video has popped up: Jensen is tied to a post in the middle of my zone. He’s shirtless, surrounded by floodlights, with paintballs hitting him one after another, fed by an automated machine we have in there to keep people moving.

The Jester’s voice comes from behind the screen. “Come save your pet, Vesper, before the paint turns into knives.”

I laugh since I knew their cat-and-mouse game would eventually lead them to this kind of scenario. Going into a sexual relationship with her, I knew they had . . . whatever it is they have going on, and it suits me just fine. I’m not in the market for anything more than what we have currently—I could never subject anyone to my nightmares, so there is no way to sustain a relationship. No woman would ever want to share a bed at night and risk getting hurt. I may have come to terms with my demons when I’m awake, but when I’m asleep, there is nothing I can do.

“Why are you laughing?”

“You kinda brought this on yourself.”

She smirks at me. “I know, but he has crossed a line, and he knows it.”

I scoff because she crossed the line first and stole Jensen, and from what I can gather, the Jester was supposed to kill him. He had a moral dilemma when Jensen tried to kill himself and somehow Vesper ended up with him, and now here we are. If anything, the entire situation is amusing to watch. She holds out her hand, and I glance down at it.

“What?”

“Don’t play dumb with me, Rue.”

“I’m not sure what you actually mean.”

She shakes her head and smirks at me. “He wants to die tonight.” She keeps her hand out, palm up. “This was my invitation. I need the knife.”

She has a point, and if I don’t give it to her, I’m sure she will find an inventive way to get a weapon. Besides, I’m sort of invested in seeing this play out. I bend and slip the knife from its holder strapped to my ankle. It’s not the biggest knife I carry on me, but it’s the one she is getting.

She takes it without thanking me and walks into the zone. I follow her, as someone has to carry out the dead corpse of the Jester, and she won’t be able to do it.

The zone is dark until we reach where Jensen is tied up. The floodlights illuminate the area, all pointed toward Jensen. His head is down, and he groans each time a paintball hits his bare flesh. There is nothing he can do to stop the onslaught with his hands tied behind his back, but he lifts his head as we walk closer, and the pure relief in his eyes almost makes me feel bad for him. Almost, because if he were smarter, he would have run from these two crazy bastards.

The Jester is nowhere to be seen, but he is for sure holed up somewhere watching. He wants a reaction from Vesper, and this is how he plans to get it. In his mind, he must believe she has been neglecting him this week, but in all honesty, I think she felt discarded after he was away from the island so often. I suspect she doesn’t hate the attention he gives her quite as much as she makes out.

Vesper goes straight to Jensen, using the knife to set him free, while I scan the perimeter, wondering when the fun will begin.

“You alright?” I ask Jensen.

He rolls his wrists and nods. “Paintballs sting more than I expected.”

“They will bruise as well. You’re going to be black and blue tomorrow.”

Vesper tells me to watch Jensen while she goes hunting, then she yells, “Come out, come out wherever you are!”

“Is she going to kill him?” Jensen asks me, and I shrug.

“It’s a high possibility. Come with me. We can watch from the tower.”

Jensen follows me to the watchtower on the north side of the zone. There are cameras up here, and we will be able to see everything even though it’s dark.

We have night-vision feeds here, mainly for when idiots get lost at night. It saves us from having to physically scan the zone for them. I find Vesper easily. She is crouched behind a vehicle prop, and the Jester is standing a few feet away with his back to her.

Jensen stands beside me and watches the screens. He has found a blanket and has it draped over his shoulders. “Do you know what this is actually about? Surely if it was just me, he would have killed me.”

I watch Vesper move from her position. “It’s been building between them since the Jester got here—you just made the timeline move a little faster.”

He is quiet for a minute and keeps his eyes on the screen. “What happens when it’s done . . . whatever this is?”