“What do you mean? You’re cool as fuck! Look at this spooky ass house you live in! It’s so rad! You know, most people would have probably renovated this place and made it into some sterile, modern version of what it is, but you haven’t. You kept it the way it was, and it’s honestly one of the coolest buildings I’ve ever been in.”
I gaped at him. He thought I was…cool?Literally no one haseverthought that about me. Especially not someone like Cal. Cal looked like an older version of a lot of the kids who had always picked on me in high school.
Tattooed, jacked bad boys who were too cool to show up to class and never seemed to worry about good grades.
A strange, warm feeling twisted in my stomach at the fact that he thought I was cool.
“Uhm. Thanks… I guess? I wouldn’t be able to afford to renovate this place anyway,” I mumbled. I could barely scrape together enough to update my crematorium.
“Oh! About that, that’s another perk about being my, uhm,friend.Here, this is for earlier,” he said, digging deep into his hoodie’s pocket and pulling out a giant wad of cash.
He dropped the money into my hand, and my cheeks flushed as I realized he was paying me for… what exactly?
Giving me a handjob?
Humiliation and rage bubbled in my chest, burning away any good feelings that had been growing.
I glared at him, and he looked confused for a moment before realization dawned on him.
“Oh shit! No, no, no, this isn’t forthat!This is for taking care of that body. That’s another thing I’m sorry about. I shouldn’t have left you to deal with that by yourself. I hope the money helps make up for it.”
I relaxed slightly, but I still wasn’t sure I liked the idea of getting paid to dispose of a murder victim’s body. It made it all feel too real.
Though looking at this stack of cash, I gasped as I realized it was all hundred dollar bills. I was holdingthousandsof dollars in my hands right now. This was more than enough to fix my cremator, which would allow me to take in way more service requests.
Plus, that guy was an abusive asshole who hit Caleb. He totally deserved what he got. I was surprised to find that I didn’t really feel any guilt about helping Cal get rid of him. If anything, I was happy that he couldn’t hurt Caleb anymore.
“Okay… are you sure this isn’t too much?” I asked, still feeling off about accepting payment of any kind from Cal.
“Of course not. How do you think I can afford all my sick cars? Murder pays exceptionally well, Ryan. Know your worth.” He winked at me, and I pursed my lips.
“Does this mean I still have to work for you?”
He sighed. “No, not if you don’t want to. I want you to be my friend because you want to be. But I wasn’t lying before when I said my boss would see you as a loose end if he doesn’t feel like you’re part of the operation. I can try to protect you, but the people I work for are ruthless. It’s way bigger than you can imagine. Even if you relocate, you may never be truly safe from them. If you think you can stomach it and can cremate the odd body for me and stay on the payroll, he probably won’t think twice about you.”
“Why would you even bother trying to protect me from these people? You don’t even know me at all,” I said, feeling shaky again. This wasa lotto absorb in one sitting. I was suddenly feeling glad he had made me sit down.
Cal frowned and stepped closer. I knew I should tell him to stay back, but the words died on my lips. He reached forward and gently skated his thumb over the bruise he had left on my cheek, his dark eyebrows pulling together in a concerned frown.
“I already told you. I really like you. I don’t want you to get hurt, and I don’t want you to be afraid of me.”
I swallowed, resisting the urge to lean into his gentle touch as his eyes locked on mine. “Besides, it’s my fault you got dragged into all this in the first place. You gotta believe me that I didn’t mean for this to happen. I’m so sorry I put you in thisposition, Ryan. You deserve better.” He tongued his lip ring, and my stomach fluttered with something that felt like anxiety but wasn’t.
“Okay, fine. We cantryto be friends.”
The smile that spread across Cal’s face made me forget for a moment how insanely bad of an idea this was.
Theo was going to fuckingkill me.
Alexa, play: Frozen (feat. 070 Shake) - Madonna, Sickick, 070 Shake
After agreeing to let me be his ‘friend,’I left Ryan to sleep. He had narrowed his eyes at me suspiciously when I easily agreed to leave for the night.
I think he was expecting me to try to convince him to let me cuddle him, which… let’s be serious, I would have been all over it.
However, I knew I was already pushing my luck with the whole ‘friendship’thing, and I didn’t want to push too hard in case he changed his mind.
Besides, I had already bugged his entire house anyway. I had several live camera feeds installed before I even texted him that night. Grinning to myself, I remembered how shocked he had been to find me waiting for him in his bedroom.
