I bite back the paranoia strumming in my mind and convince myself that I need to give Ryan the benefit of the doubt. We’ve been together for years now, and he knows me better than anyone. He’s right. I tend to distance myself from others, and quite often I don’t give them a chance.
They’ve been decent company the whole time we’ve been here, and tonight has been the best night.
I calm my mind and peer over at Ryan, taking him in with affection.
Smiling, I notice he has already downed two beers, and I, on the other hand, have half of my seltzer left, so I gulp the rest of it down.
Sternly, I mutter to Ryan, “Last one, then we are headed back to our campsite.”
“Do you have a bedtime I don’t know about, or other plans?” He leans over to me and lightly caresses my collarbone.
Gawking at his bluntness in front of everyone, my cheeks redden.
“Yes, it’s called sleep, so we can do something tomorrow. We only have one full day left.”
“Alright, alright. Whenever you want to go.” He winks at me. “You know you call all the shots.”
He arches his neck, wrapping his hand around my jaw and pecking me on the lips. Relief swims through me.
About twenty minutes pass, and my eyelids start drooping, black spots appearing in my vision. As I try to stand, I’m overcome by intense fatigue. I collapse on my knees, toppling forward, my hands slamming against the ground to catch myself.
I open my mouth to speak, but only mangled syllables escape; I’m a broken, incoherent mess.
The last thing I see is AJ, now mere inches from my face and tilting his head. His thumb drags down my bottom lip while his pointer finger lifts my jaw, holding me in his intense gaze.
“Embrace the darkness,” his whisper slices through my ears.
Pain explodes as my head hits the ground, my eyes closing, swallowed whole by a suffocating blackness.
CHAPTER
TWENTY-SEVEN
I scoop Marley up with desperate eagerness, my heart racing in my chest.
Jared accepted that I would be first, having already noticed my fixation on her. Georgia is thoroughly brainwashed and glad to please me, with her emotional dependence centered around me. Cora and Jared take hold of Ryan’s arms while Georgia lifts his feet.
I open the RV door and keep it propped open with the cooler.
Carrying Marley inside without effort, I guide her body so that she is headfirst, not wanting to jostle her.
I slow my pace, not wanting to trip, and take her back directly to the OBGYN chair.
Lying her down gently, my eyes roam over her tight body, scanning over every crevice.
I search around for the special scissors that EMTs use to cut off clothes with ease, known as the Leatherman Raptors, and place them on the cart beside us.
I remove her shoes and socks first, tossing them in the direction of the door, and elect to start by cutting her leggings.
Clutching the scissors, I open them, and my stomach begins fluttering with desire.
Starting at the bottom beside her ankle, the scissors glide up to her waist, and I do the same thing to the other side.
Lifting her body, I wiggle the leggings off.
Setting my sights on her oversized sweatshirt, I do the same thing I did to the leggings, then her bra and thong.
I expand her legs a bit and hunch over her cunt, deeply inhaling her scent.
