Page 1 of Wicked Deceit
Twelvemiserablehoursandcounting since Zepp and Seger took off with my girlfriend to their mansion on a hill. They practically kidnapped her from under my nose. One second, she was in my arms, and the next, she was in their backseat, begging me to save her from her evil twin kidnappers. I can still see the fear in her eyes and hear her screams of protest as they drove away manically laughing.
Okay, well—she didn't need the saving part. And she didn't really do the screaming and protesting parts, either. Shit. Fine. Kaycee went willingly, with a dopey smile on her face when they promised her a twin sandwich. She didn’t even put up a fight. It’s driving me bonkers because I’m fucking jealous. My Sunshine, who lights up my entire existence, hasn’t been in my vicinity in twelve hours, fifty-five minutes, and three seconds. Instead, I was stuck with my sister. Who I love dearly, by the way. But... but… My Sunshine!
It was their idea to leave me here with my sister, Ainsley. Don’t get me wrong, I know we needed time to deal with the fallout from my dad’s arrest. The fact that the FBI didn’t really have him, and he was in the grasp of a secret government agency, Veritas. And that we had lost everything since the wonderful government had frozen all our assets and taken our home. Yeah, okay. We needed time to bond and heal.
But I miss Kaycee.
Shit. I think I’m going through withdrawals. Does that happen when you miss someone? Kaycee’s like football—kind of. No, not really. Shit! I forget what her voice sounds like or her laugh. I need to hug her ASAP and hold her in my arms. Or I might die a painful Kaycee-induced death. Dramatic? Absolutely! But they should be back from their field trip from Casa West by now.
My eyes scan my phone, hoping for a call or a text or something. For shit’s sake. I scan the time and date: Saturday, 11:59 P.M. It’s a minute away from being another day, and I’m about to experience it without her. Shit! The last text they sent me was a picture of their enormous pool, with a hidden cave and waterfall. Oh, and Seger’s bare ass cheek. Thanks, bro—just what I wanted to see. From there, I can only guess they went skinny-dipping. And dare I say, I bet they had hot, pool sex! WITHOUT ME! The audacity of my boyfriends-in-law! I should make a new rule: no sexy time unless we’re all included. Is that too much to ask?
Apparently, my Sunshine’s thing is breaking and entering to find clues of her best friend’s murder… oh and the psycho cult that’s after her. I may have missed out on the first time when they broke into Shaw’s office. You know, that time they left me sleeping on the couch, and went off and had fun without me. I whined enough that they finally decided to include me in the Crowe break in. Shit, my heart was in my throat as I sat in the car listening in through the earpiece to everything Kaycee was experiencing–then when she was caught, I thought we’d all be in a shit load of trouble. Thank fuck Kayce is a good actress… and a god damn phone thief–can’t forget that. She never misses an opportunity to sneak her sticky fingers into someone’s pocket and take their phone. But thanks to her sticky fingers, we got into Crowe’s secure computer–which turned up jack shit–through Carter’s crazy spy disc thingy and got to mirror his phone. Shit. What a senior year….
We have to do it again, anyway. One spy disc in Carter’s dad’s office and one super spy disc in Shaw’s before the Christmas charity event we all somehow got invited to. I still can’t believe Carter got his hands on those cool discs AND is a damn genius. How many geniuses does one boyfriend-in-law group need? Two, apparently. So, where does that leave me? The jock? The cool one? The…. shit, what am I to this group?
I heave a sigh, working myself out of my frantic thoughts. Blinking rapidly at the white ceiling of the Maze House, I let the darkness of the room settle on me. The wind howls between the bushes of the maze, making finger-like shadows dance along the ceiling. Shivers dance down my spine, and unexpected goosebumps prickle my skin.
An unexplained douse of anxiety churns in the pit of my stomach, sending an uneasy feeling through my tingling limbs. I’ve tried to sleep for the past two hours, promising Ainsley when I walked her home that I’d sleep. But something is nagging at me in the back of my mind. Like an itch I can’t scratch, and it’s driving me batty.
I blink at the ceiling again. What the shit is going on? I reach for my phone again on the table and unlock it. The bright light illuminates my face, almost blinding me. But shit, there are no messages and no phone calls—still. I swallow hard, my heart beating against my ribs. It’s almost one in the morning on a Sunday. They never mentioned staying over, and they’re never this late. So, where the hell is my girlfriend? Oh, and Seger and Zepp—yeah, them too. I swear to God after this, they sure as shit aren’t allowed to leave me out of their group activities. No Chase left behind, damn it! Especially when they pull this whole, I’m disappearing until late into the night. Shit. It’s stupid because now I’m here wallowing away in my stupid self-pity with anxiety that makes me want to claw out my own damn eyes. Shit, I think they’re twitching. Do eyeballs twitch?
My stomach turns, and anxiety blares warning sirens inside my head. It’s one in the morning, Chase. They’re dead on the side of the road in an unavoidable accident. Shit! They got abducted by aliens, and they’re harvesting their organs and probing their unsuspecting buttholes as we speak. Oh, well, shit… no, not that one.
Although, I think aliens could definitely exist up there. But that’s beside the point. Maybe they were kidnapped this time, and they’re missing… Or they—I close my eyes and take a deep breath. Shit. I can’t go down this spiraling road of bullshit. This happens every time my anxiety spikes, I end up thinking the worst of every situation, and then I panic. Or fall deep into the depths of my depression and barely make it out alive.
The only way this anxiety will go the hell away is when my Sunshine is back in my arms and cuddling into my chest to ease this tension mounting inside of me. The moment she walks through that door, I’m scooping her up and locking us in Zepp’s room. Screw them for leaving me here. Alone. I don’t need Chase time right now; I need Kaycee time. My bottom lip juts out. and I’m fucking pouting again.
I grind my teeth, pulling up Zepp’s contact information. I haven’t called anyone in years. Am I still doing it right? I mean, who calls people anymore? Old people, that’s who. Sorry, Grandma, I don’t want to have a thirty-minute conversation about the gators you caught, or whatever they do down there in Louisiana.
I take a deep breath and hit the call button. Out of the three of them, Zepp’s the one who is responsible and answers a phone call. Putting my phone up to my ear, I frown when it rings and rings and then goes to voicemail. My bottom lip sticks out again. Fine, shithead, I’ll try Seger. Except I get the same response. Nothing. Nada. Shit!
The anxiety in my gut explodes when I pull up Kaycee’s contact information, and her picture stares back at me. She doesn’t know I took it. Shit, she’d probably kill me if she knew I used it. But I can’t help the ease it brings me just looking at the smile lighting up her face. Crinkles form around her eyes, and her head is thrown back in laughter at something Seger said. She looks so damn beautiful in her oversized sweater and leggings. This girl, man. I don’t know what she’s done to me, but she’s done something. She’s infected me with her entire being, and I never want to be without her.
I dial her number and curse under my breath when it rings and rings and rings and then finally goes to voicemail. I try again and get the same response.
What the shit is happening right now? Are they breaking up with me? Is this a twinsome now, and they’re fucking me over? I should tell Grumpy! He’ll go kidnap her with me. Us against them. And then… Nah. They wouldn’t. Wait, would they?
Shit. I look around the room, praying they’ll come through the front door. Come on, come on! I mentally will them to come through the door in: five, four, three, two, one. Shit, I’m not magic. And this only means one thing, I have to call him. At one-something in the morning. He’s grumpy on the best of days. But if I interrupt his sleep? He’ll bury me under a hedge, and I’ll never be heard from again. Here lies the body of Chase, torn apart by a grumpy asshole whose sleep was interrupted.
I frown, staring at the number I don’t want to call but dial it anyway.
“Fuck you want?” he barks into the phone with so much damn authority, I swear my balls shrivel into nothing, and my dick ceases to exist.
I look down and lightly tap my balls. It’s okay, boys. He won’t take you away today.
“Jesus, Man, is that the way you always answer the phone?” I gasp, jumping to my feet.
Between his grumpy voice and everyone else missing, I can’t help but move around the room.
“When it’s you calling, and it’s one thirty in the morning, yeah. That’s exactly how I answer the fucking phone. So, I repeat. What the fuck do you want, Elf Ears?”
I wrinkle my nose and touch my offended ears. “Why Elf Ears? Seriously? That’s offensive to the elf community, asshole.”
“I am not having a fucking conversation with you about elves and their fucking feelings!” He huffs out curses, and then silence greets me.
I take the phone away from my ear and stare at my brightly lit background with a frown and scoff.
“Shithead hung up on me,” I growl, with my heart pounding against my ribs. “Asshole!” I shout to the ceiling, tempted to throw my phone across the room and smash it to pieces. But I stop my arm mid-throw because violence never solves anything. Unless you're Seger and Carter who think their fist solves everything. With a heavy sigh rocking through my chest, I call the dickbag back. Crawling back to him on my fucking knees.
