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It was a stupid hope, wanting to tame and control someone like Gareth. His monster was one that refused to be chained.
Lunch rolled around, and I found myself at my usual table, with Erin’s friends, Angelina, Kaity, and Cherith. The moment she sat down, Cherith turned her pierced nose down, letting her long, dirty blond hair cover her face as she pulled up whatever smutty fanfic she was currently in the process of reading.
Angelina had dyed her hair a deep purple color, which got Kaity to ask, “I knew you couldn’t hold back from dying your hair for that long.” Kaity shot me a knowing look. “At least you give your hair a break.”
I didn’t know about that. Really, it was only Gareth’s doing that I was here right now, let alone here with my hair blood-free.
Angelina huffed as she unrolled her lunch bag, “It’s semi-permanent color. There’s no bad chemicals or anything in it. It’s all vegan. It doesn’t hurt your hair.” She looked at me. “Tell her, Brianna. Back me up here.”
When I was silent, Kaity rolled her eyes at her friend. “Whatever.”
The lunch table got quiet after that, and though I hated to do it, I felt like I had to. I asked, “Have any of you talked to Erin lately?” It was a struggle getting out the words, mainly because deep down, I already knew the answer.
Cherith looked up, furrowing her brow, while Angelina made a weird face. It was Kaity who said, “Now that you mention it, no. The last time I talked to her was Saturday morning.” She pursed her lips. “Which is weird, because any time she’s out sick, she always asks me to grab her homework. Have you talked to her?”
That was directed at me. “No,” I said, shaking my head once. “I tried texting her yesterday, but she never responded. And she’s not here today, so I’m a little worried.”
“I’m sure it’s fine,” Angelina was slow in saying, but as she was saying it, she pulled her out her phone—I assumed to text Erin herself. “Maybe she needed a mental health day or something.”
A mental health day. Yeah, any normal person needed a mental health day after dealing with Gareth, after almost getting killed by him, but something was telling me that wasn’t it.
Lunch passed slowly, as did the rest of the day. Something was definitely wrong. I knew it in my heart. When the end of the day rolled around, I knew I had to talk to Gareth, had to ask him if he knew anything about Erin and the reason she was MIA.
He was going to freak out, get pissed. That much I knew. But I couldn’t let his future reaction stop me. Erin was a good person; she didn’t deserve to die at the hands of a sick psychopath like Gareth Montgomery.
I spent the afternoon steeling myself for it, and when the last bell rang, I hurried to my locker. I tried to imagine all of the things I’d say, the different ways this conversation could possibly go, and the more I thought about it, the angrier I became. How dare Gareth go back on his word and hurt Erin behind my back? Did he really think I wouldn’t find out?
That asshole was probably feeling quite smug right now, thinking he got everything he wanted: me and another kill. More blood to add to his collection in the pool house. If he thought I’d continue to play nice after finding out about his backhanded kill… he had another thing coming. I’d fucking take him down, somehow. I’d…
I’d kill him myself.
Holding my head high, I left the school. Gareth was waiting for me in his car, having already turned it on. His green eyes landed on me, and he watched me get into the car, his mouth a thin line.
“So, you made it through the day,” Gareth said. “I have to admit, I had my doubts.” He pulled onto the road, heading home. When I said not a single word, he glanced at me, detecting my sour mood and the fact something was wrong. “What is it?”
Might as well do it now. Just get it over with. No point in beating around the bush, not when Erin could be dead. “Gareth, I have to ask you something.” The pit in my stomach had morphed into a dozen knives, all sharp and uncomfortable in my gut. “But I need you to be honest with me.”
That got him to toss a confused look at me. He probably wanted to argue with me, say telling the truth was the last thing he was comfortable with, but in the end, he muttered, “Fine. Ask me whatever you want.”
Turning my body towards his, I glared, ready to throw down. I ignored the dull pain on my wrist; it was as if my body was warning me I wasn’t as strong as I could be. Going against Gareth myself right now would be impossible. “Did you go after Erin when I was in the hospital?” I lobbied the question at him.
Gareth’s hands tightened on the wheel, and he bared his teeth at the windshield. “Why the fuck would you ask me that?” Based on how hard he gripped the wheel and the way he bared his teeth, I’d say he wanted to hurt something.
“She wasn’t at school today, and she never responded to any of my messages yesterday,” I told him, refusing to back down, even in the face of an angry, pissed-off Gareth. I would never cower in the face of him.
He barked out a laugh, as mirthless as it was. If anything, it was a ticked off chuckle, telling me I was on the verge of seeing the real Gareth once again, the dark, dangerous one. “And you think I had something to do with it? You think I, what, left the hospital and killed Erin and then went back to the hospital, all before you woke up?”
All I did was stare at him. It was more than possible that’s what happened. Playing the fool about it was pointless.
His foot on the pedal pressed down harder, and we sped up, faster than the speed limit, but he didn’t seem to care. He hardly cared about anything. “You think I killed your stupid little friend to get back at you for what you did?” Gareth flashed me a cruel smile. “Sounds just like me, but I hate to tell you, I didn’t do it.”
“I don’t believe you.” The words left me before I could stop them, and Gareth slammed on the brake. It was a good thing no one was behind us, otherwise it definitely would’ve been an accident.
He stopped the car in the middle of the road. We were far enough away from the school that the road wasn’t busy. Eastcreek really was a small town. He turned his body so that he could glare at me, his nostrils flaring, the skin around his knuckles white as he gripped the steering wheel so hard he might snap it in two.
“You think I’m lying to you?” Gareth’s words had an edge to them, like daggers. If I wasn’t careful, I’d get stuck with the sharp side. “You think, after everything, I’d lie to you about that?”
I could feel the pure, unrighteous fury coming off him in waves, and it took everything in me to stay right where I was and say, “I think you’re a psycho, Gareth. Lying is the least awful thing you’re capable of.”
