My fists crumble the picture, and I will myself not to launch myself at him. My questions come out in a flurry.
“Why do you have this? Were you stalking her? Did you have someone stalk her?”
He laughs, leaning his shoulder against the door. “I told you, Casen. You weren’t the only one infatuated with her. I knew the whole time. I knew what she was doing, and while I sat there in college watching you sulk over her, I knew exactly where she was. When you asked Ian to find her, I knew just where he would. She was so fucking close. Just right under Patrick Strickland.”
It’s too much. Imagining Embyr with all those men. Seeing her with Ian on the tape, the guy in the picture, and now the vision of her and Patrick. It’s getting to me. She’s mine.
“So what, you were stalking her?” I glance at the wall again, everywhere I look there is a new picture of her.
He waves his hands around. “Stalking is such a strong word, Casen. I prefer admiring her from afar.”
“It’s stalking, asshole. When she doesn’t know it and when she sure as fuck doesn’t want you, it’s not admiring from afar.”
I hear the click before I actually see the gun pointed right at me. Reece pulled it out so fast that I had no time to respond. All I can do is raise my arms in surrender.
“Reece, man. What the fuck are you doing?”
He wipes his mouth with his shoulder. “You know Ian said the same fucking thing. I wasn’t STALKING her. That fucking tease wanted me to watch her. She left her curtains open every single night. She played hard to get, saying no to me and yes to Ian. But he RUINED it by fucking her. They had to be punished.”
My whole body is trembling with fear. “So what? You released the tape on purpose? Did Ian know you wanted her?”
He steps closer. The gun aimed straight at my chest. “He knew. He held that over my head for years, Casen. YEARS! Every chance he got he made sure I knew he popped her cherry. Even after he found out Embyr was Annie. I had already known, but he still fucking pushed me.” He waves the gun. “He still wanted to talk shit after he found out. Told me how sweet her pussy felt. He thought it was a joke, and it wasn’t. He learned that really fast.”
My stomach sinks. Ian found out a few days before he sent me the package. “Did you shoot Ian, Reece? Tell me you didn’t.”
His head drops for a moment but comes back up with resolve. “You would have too, Casen. He was saying the most disgusting things about your girlfriend. How at his birthday party he was thinking of all three of us banging Embyr at the same time. How, now that he knew she was Annie, we could live out our high school fantasies with her. He pushed me, and I pushed back. He won’t say that shit now.”
My arms are beginning to tire as I hold them up in surrender. “You’re fucking crazy,” I whisper.
He drops his arm to the side. “Crazy? I’m crazy? No, I’m just seeing things fucking clear now. Casen gets everything. The job, the girl, the nice condo. Every. Fucking. Thing.”
“I don’t understand, Reece.” I watch the gun at his side. “We make the same amount of money. What is going on here? Why do you have nothing in your house, even after all those extra shifts? If you needed money, I could help you.”
“No!” he screams. “No! That’s all I need is a handout from Casen Parker. I’m doing fine on my own. My parents need the money and I’m getting it to them. I just needed to work the shifts to help them through it.” He starts to cry, and I take the vulnerable opportunity to step closer to him and maybe grab the gun.
“None of this makes sense to me, Reece. Why tell me to forgive Embyr? You told me what she did was just as forgivable as what we did. You have Trinity. Do you still want Embyr?”
He hits his forehead a few times. “I don’t know! I don’t fucking know. I don’t want her anymore, but I’m sick of you getting everything. Ever since we were kids, you got it all. The looks, the charm. You were homecoming king and got a full ride to college. I was always compared to you by my parents. Always! I was never good enough. My mind is clouded. Nothing is clear to me anymore. I can’t think straight. All of this is tearing me up inside, and Trinity…she makes me feel like I’m worth it. For the first time in my life, I felt good enough for someone, and now that’s gone. She’s gone.”
“We can work this out,” I gently tell him, but I’m not sure that can happen. He killed Ian. He sent that video of Embyr, and from what I can tell, he’s lost his fucking mind completely.
He must not like my suggestion because he raises the gun. “No, you’re going to tell everyone. I can’t let you do that.”
“Reece, don’t do anything stupid.”
He laughs manically. “Like, what? This?”
I hear the bang.
I smell the gun powder.
I feel the pain.
I see nothing but black.
I thought I knew the depth of deceit. I had no. Fucking. Clue.
