Page 49 of Fatally Yours
“You’renotgoing to be there. One way or the other.” His voice was dark. Her shoulders fell as I swore she was going to shrink back into her body. She wasn’t stupid—she knew exactly what he was implying—even if she didn’t know if he meant it.
“O-oh. I gotcha. No problem. I’ll just… walk to work. That’s fine.”
“Get Wes to drive you,” he said flatly. “Tell him he owes me.” Mandy rolled her eyes and bundled her breakfast back in the bag, propping her head on her elbow with a sigh.
“God, August comes back to life, and I assume everything is gonna go back to normal. What was I thinking?”
“You’re dating a serial killer. How can you think anything is normal?”
“Well, I’m glad to know you’re not acompleteasshole now.”
“Hey, I’ll put you in the ground, girl,” he said with a smirk. “But I’m sureyou would like that.”
“I could get used to it.”
I put my palm to my face, wanting nothing more than to stop this conversation. Even though Mandy appeared revolted by our crimes, she also seemed intrigued by our lack of life. And the only way she could get there was by dying, which I was not ready to allow her to do. It was hell incarnate to die, and if I could save anyone from a premature end, it would be her.
“Would you two stop it, please?” I demanded. “August, you are not putting her in the ground, and Mandy, you are not enjoying it. Dying is not fun, I promise you. And if Mark ever gets out, he better not come after you, or I’ll show him how much fun it is to die.” She shook her head as if she was actually going to deny that she was entertaining the idea of being snuffed out by herlove.
“No, Tash. I’m the one he likes. You should know how that is, considering August has killed or threatened to kill basically everyone in our lives for you. Including me.” My eyes slipped to the side as my lip pinched between my teeth. He glanced at me, and then his gaze fell to her.
“Okay, so we’re taking your car. We’ll drop you off at home. And you’re gonna pretend you never saw us, got it?” he said. Mandy’s eyes turned to slits.
“Are you threatening me again, asshole? Just because you’re dead doesn’t mean I’m completely scared of you,” she declared. August gave her a bitter glare, making her confident stance crumble. “Only a little bit…” His steely expression fell after a moment, and he gave her a grin.
“You shouldn’t be. But everyone else should.”
XXIII
In life, one of my favorite activities was cruising along the dusty highways beside August while his silky voice serenaded me into a state of bliss. Now, that activity was muddled by our sins. It felt like we spent more time in the car in the past few days than we ever did in life, and now all I could think about was spilling blood and a hunger for revenge instead of how much I wanted to doze off, wrapped in the embrace of his voice.
“My sinister lady of the stars. She brings her doom on a silver platter, served to me like her love would be…” The sun was slowly falling over the horizon, illuminating the sky with an array of pastel colors, lined with an ember glow lacing around the clouds. Just like before, August was singing atune, joyful as ever to enact our ominous plan. My head was pressed against the cool glass, staring into the endless highway leading us to our goal.
“I’m tired,” I muttered, tossing a scrunched-up map from my lap onto the floor. And that was the truth. Even if it wasn’t a physical need or craving for rest, I felt like I couldn’t shut my mind off. My thoughts were supercharged, like someone hooked up a car battery to my skull and was filling my head with endless torments.
“No, you’re not.”
“Yes, I am,” I said, lifting from the window. He tore his eyes from the road and gave me an unreadable look.
“Have you been hungry once since you died?”
“No…”
“You shouldn’t be tired either.”
“I’m… emotionally tired.” And that was the truth. The mood swings from being anxious about what we were doing and my death-induced wicked behavior was almost too much for me to handle. I stuck out my lip in a slight pout, but he didn’t seem to notice. He stayed silent as we rode on. His lack of response did nothing to quell the electric thoughts zapping through my lobes, and I set my hand on his leg in a poor attempt to get his attention.
“What are we going to do after we confront Randy?” I asked. He didn’t tear his gaze from the road, making my shoulders droop.
“Kill him.”
“I knowthat,” I said.“After.”
“Whatever you want.” I took in a breath but couldn’t find the words to speak. Whatever I wanted? He knew fully what that was, but it seemed like an impossibility we could no longer achieve in our undead state. There was no going back to normal after this. No normal life, no normal situations, no normal thoughts. We could get close, but in the grand scheme of things, there was no returning to what I wanted. He continued.
“We could get jobs, find a place, get married—”
“Get married?” My chest tightened, and I swore I thought my dead heart would restart from the sheer excitement of that word. We discussed it on occasion, but that was just in passing or in plans for the future. It was distant,but this confirmed that it was closer than I could imagine.
