Fucking tool.
Meagan stands, forcing my attention back to her as she storms away from the table.
I watch as she makes her way for the exit, stopping at the threshold. She stops short of leaving the diner, pausing with a hand on the glass. She turns and shouts, “I hope you assholes and that stupid bitch get everything coming to you. You all fucking deserve the hell that’s about to rain down on this town!” Then, she shoves open the door and stomps out.
I’d say I was embarrassed, but I’m too busy being happy that this date is over. Brittany wasn’t terrible. We grabbed coffee, and that was that. Sam’s date was- well, it wasn’t. I refused to have that conniving skank within breathing distance. I had her meet me at the diner, then had Mary hand her a note that said, ‘Not even if it would save the world from ending would I be caught dead on a date with you.’
It was worth the screaming Rowan’s dad gave me about the rules. What wasn’t worth it was the punishment the Council gave me. I have to take her out next week or else- and I didn’t want to know what the or else was.
Sighing, I get up from the table and drop my money to cover the meal.
Fuck this dumb ass Selection process.
* * *
A blaring ringing wakes me. I’m not sure when I fell asleep. After the date with Meagan, I came home and tried to do some more work on the lead we got on Madeline. We’re so close to finding her. I can feel it.
The phone stops ringing before I can reach it, and I lift the illuminated screen to see I have twenty missed calls and ten unanswered text messages. Then, just as I’m about to unlock my phone, it lights up. Sebastian’s name flashes.
“What’s going on?” I ask, answering the phone.
“Meagan’s dead,” is his response.
The grogginess I felt a second ago dissipates.
“What?” I question, trying to ensure I heard him correctly.
“We got the call. You need to get your ass down here now. This shit doesn’t make any sense,” he says.
Fuck!
I was just with her.
“I’m on my way,” I mutter, hopping out of my bed to find my keys and head for my car.
This is starting to feel like some B-list horror movie.
It takes me five minutes to pull up to Meagan’s house. The scene mimics Summer’s- cars pull up outside, our security team is running checks and no police presence.
As I step in the door, the pungent smell of cooking skin hits my nose.
“They’re down this hall, sir,” one of the men from security informs me, and I walk down the hallway on the left.
The vile smell increases with each step. The guys are once again clustered together when I make my approach.
“What happened?” I ask.
Rowan and Karl step aside, allowing me access to the room. I pause, waiting for someone to answer, but when I see that no one is going to, I step into the room teeming with security.
Thomas isn’t here. At this rate, the man might put Emma on house arrest.
My focus locks on the half-charred torso of Meagan- still hanging partially from her tanning bed. I’d think this was an accident- that maybe she turned it up too high and fell asleep, but as I approach, I notice her face. It hangs at an awkward angle, and her eyes and mouth are sewn shut. However, that’s not the wildest part of what I’m seeing.
Turning, I ask, “Have you seen this?”
They all step into the room, but it’s Karl who answers, “Yes. Now, what does it mean?”
I turn back to Meagan’s body, leaning to ensure I’m seeing correctly. Embroidered into her forehead is ‘snitches get stitches.’
August steps up and jokes, “I guess they took the meaning literally.”
I snort and then clear my throat to cover it up, trying to have a modicum of respect.
“It’s okay. We all did the same thing,” Karl quips, patting me on my back.
“What the hell did she do to get the rat treatment?” Rowan mutters.
That’s what I’ve been playing in my head.
“Didn’t you have a date with her earlier?” August states.
I nod, “Yes, and she had a bitch fit when I told her to stop acting like a spoiled brat. Then she squawked about how we’d get ours, Emma will, and blah, blah, blah, before she stormed off,” recounting the scene from earlier.
At the time, I thought she was spewing the same whiny bullshit, but then I recall a crucial part of what she said.
“She’s going to destroy you all,” I mumble.
“What?” Sebastian questions, stepping in front of me.
I massage the bridge of my nose. “Before she left, she said, ‘she’s going to destroy you all’,” I restate.
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean and who is she? Elise?” Rowan snaps.
Someone had to be watching- unless this is unrelated, but that can’t be possible. What did she say that made someone take this level of retribution?
“It has to be Elise. Right?” August says, running his hands through his auburn curls.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.