“Like get caught? I won’t.”
Runo chuckled, his voice dropping a few octaves. “One week, Finn.”
“6 am. Got it.”
I let the call end before placing the phone on the sink counter to take a deep breath. Runo was still alive and safe even though I knew from experience that he probably had a few more cuts and bruises than last time. He was a menace and his ability to make everything so goddamn complicated always got him in trouble. The fact that he had a different number that was most notablynotthe prison phone told me that he was still playing mind games with people in there.
It didn’t matter. I was back and I wasn’t giving up control.
I sifted into my mind, allowing the other three to surface into a room I had created. The door shut and locked behind me, a square wooden table set in the middle of four drab walls the color of smog. The dim light hovering overhead did little to alleviate the heavy emotions, but I was able to see the other alters and their complete distaste for how I had handled things.
I would have liked to see what they would have done in my situation after being left in a void for three years. I took my seat like the evil villain that I was, watching as Dark, Daemon, and Killian took their respective places. Killian sat across from me, those stupid miscolored eyes staring at me with an innocence that seemed fake, even for him. Dark and his perverted self was staring at me for an explanation and Daemon… he seemed pissed? Or he needed to shit. Probably the first one.
Differing states of bewilderment, fear, and shock filtered through their expressions, warming my cold dead heart.
Daemon also seemed like he wanted to murder me if alters could do as much. To be honest, this whole scenario was fucking hilarious. None of them had even known I existed. Killian had obviously just forgotten and then fallen into his fake life as I waited for him to slip up and slip up he did.
I clasped my hands together and leaned forward, opening my mouth to begin my monologue with a snark I knew none of them would find entertaining, but Dark’s words caught me off guard. “Who’s the original?” His eyes flit between Killian and me, Daemon matching the gesture.
We were identical and yet our mannerisms made it easy to tell us apart. Killian’s innocence, Dark’s pervertedness, Daemon’s darkness, and my psychotic ass.
My frown deepened as I waited for the two to clarify, Daemon taking on the chore as he pointed to me and Killian. “You guys. Who came first? Who’s the real one? Whose body are weoccupying? Who’s just an alter and who’s the one that popped out twenty-some years ago before creating us?” He bit his lip, brow creasing in frustration.
A smirk spread across my lips because I knewexactlywhat they were asking. My gaze rested on Killian, the innocence that brought us our three men, our lovers—the very same ones that betrayed us. “Yes, Killian.Do tell. Which is the original?” A spark of something that could be classified as anything but innocent flashed through his eyes, yet he remained silent. It was probably the wisest choice.
A hard metaphorical slap had my head reeling forward. I clenched my jaw, fists at the ready before I realized a fight in our head would have usalllocked in here for the foreseeable future. I turned to Daemon, ready to chew him out before he cut me off.Again.“What have you been doing? You got Killian locked up and our men freaking out.”
Killian locked up? I spared him a glance. It was almost laughable the other two thought the innocence wasreal.We were all actors and he was probably the best of them all. Then again, I did have Killian on lockdown because otherwise he’d have me shoved into the void again and I was not going to lose this chance at reality. “If you hadn’t stuffed me so far down I didn’t know which way was up, we wouldn’t be here.” Dark let out a long sigh, throwing himself back against his chair, arms dangling at his sides.So fucking dramatic.
Daemon reared back for another slap but one glare from me had his hand halting in midair. “Who were you talking to?”
“Runo.” No explanation. They didn’t deserve one.
Killian sat forward. “The kid we grew up with? Why?” It was a testament that Killian remembered him but the other two alters didn't. I was beginning to understand when the other two had shown up if they couldn’t remember our—my—best friend.
“I don’t fucking expect you to understand but we were best friends before this piece of shit here locked me up. I gave you a strike for that one.” I spat, my gaze still locked with Killian’s. I hope he felt every ounce of anger boiling in my veins.
Killian grimaced. “Your strike board is bullshit and you know it, Finn. Runo kept getting us in trouble. Surprisingly, we didn’t end up in jail right beside him.” Funny thing was, Ihadspent a small stint in jail. It just hadn’t beenwithRuno and I had made sure Killian was locked down so tight he didn’t even know he was missing chunks of our past.
And then it hit me. “Wait—Killian, do you know why he’s in there? He won’t tell me.” If this son-of-a-bitch had something to do with why Runo was on the wrong side of those bars… Killian’s eyes narrowed before his regular innocent expression settled back onto his face. I would have thought I had imagined it if I didn’t know how good of an actor Killian truly was.
AERON
I leaned back in a lounge chair, staring at the box on my kitchen table. Finn had it delivered the same way Jenny’s lungs had arrived but there was no fear exploding through my chest as I stared at the white box. In his own twisted way, he was telling me that he still loved me, still lovedus.The note, however, told me that Finn’s mental state was fragile, one crack away from full-blown insanity.
To my favorite cannibal,
I present to you Gwen. A nurse. I cut them out thinking of you.
Make us something nice.
See you soon.
-F
I was already thinking of several different dishes, most likely with a red wine sauce until I realized he had mentioned making something for us both. Even if Finn was his own person, the other three alters didn’t indulge in my obsession. There was no way Finn was that different from them, right? I snorted as I remembered the destruction Finn had caused and the letters carved into his arm. Finn was on an entirely different level.
We’d either have to embrace it or find out what happened when we rejected him.
