Page 151 of Waiting to Lose
“What truth? About Allison?”
“About all the things you’ve done and all the facts that were so unimportant to you. I loved Tessa Rose with all of my heart. She and I were destined to be together. You were just a little blip in our story. But you had to go and hurt her, didn’t you? Before she could see for herself what kind of a bastard you were. You thought you were too good for her too, didn’t you?”
“No,” Jake stated as his eyes closed. “She was too good for me.”
Peter charged him and spit in his face. “Damn right she was too good for you. That accident would never have happened if she hadn’t sped away from you.”
“No, it wouldn’t have,” Jake replied as he shook his head.
“I don’t want to hear your apologies or see your sorry little face. I don’t feel sorry for you, and I don’t feel sorry for Allison. She was just as much to blame as you were. I hope she rots in hell.”
Jake swallowed hard. “What do you mean she was just as much to blame?”
Peter took another bite of his apple as he sat back down on the bed. “Oh, that’s right. You haven’t put the puzzle together yet, have you?”
Jake stared at his face as his mind searched for answers.
Peter’s lips curled up menacingly, revealing yellowed teeth. Dirty like his soul.
“Let me tell you a little story,” he said as he crossed his leg and waved his gun at Jake. “Once upon a time, there was a little blond-haired girl with visions of a future far better than she deserved. She wanted everything everyone else had. She lied and cheated her way through life, never afraid to hurt whoever got in her way. When her classmate Kimberly scored the popular guy Allison had her eye on, Allison had a meltdown. See, that didn’t sit well with jealous little Allison at all. So one day, while Kimberly was at the mall, shopping for a dress for her date, Allison decided it would be a good idea to cut the gas line on Kimberly’s car. See, she hoped that it wouldn’t start and that Kimberly would be forced to miss her date, leaving him for her.”
Jake watched as Peter began to pace the room, chomping on his apple. He was enjoying torturing him. Jake glanced toward the phone on the bed. If only he could reach Rob.
“Are you fucking paying attention to me?” Peter quipped.
Jake nodded his head as he refocused on Peter’s angry face. If he kept him talking, maybe he’d give Rob enough time to talk to Madi.
“So anyway, little Miss Allison was no car expert, and she had a dull knife. See, she cut her brake line, not her gas line. Only she didn’t cut through, just enough to release the gas, in her mind, but not enough to actually cut the brakes completely. Allison was really proud of herself. She sat in her car and waited for Kimberly to return to hers. But see, it wasn’t Kimberly’s car she messed with. It was Tessa’s.”
Jake gasped.
“In her rush to commit a crime, she mistook Tessa’s red car for Kimberly’s. Boy was she surprised when Tessa got into the car and pulled away. Did Allison try to warn her? Nope. She just went on home without a second thought.”
Peter stopped in front of Jake and bent down in front of him to speak directly into his face. Jake turned his head to the side as the foul smell of Peter’s breath lit up his insides. He thought he might vomit.
“See, it took a while for that cut line to make the brakes fail. The fluid slowly leaked out. It was cloudy when she left the mall for you. I’m guessing your fight gave the fluid enough time to drain completely. It must have been raining when she took off. She didn’t even notice her brakes were gone. She was so upset by your ignorance that she sped up. The damn car was so mangled, no one ever knew.”
Jake pictured Tessa’s face and her smile. She died because of Allison’s actions and his selfishness. “I… I never wanted to hurt her,” Jake stuttered.
“Bullshit, you bastard! You didn’t care who you hurt. It took me years to put the pieces together. Years! Did you even give her a second thought? I spent months looking at Tessa’s mangled car, trying to figure it out. She was a good driver. Something didn’t fit. Now, Allison… She made a big mistake. After she saw the report in the paper about Tessa’s death, she got really scared that someone might have seen her. She started researching Tessa and her family. That led her to me. She followed me into a bar one night. She must have had a few too many drinks, because by the time I went to leave, she stumbled into me. She dropped her purse and practically ran from me after she picked it up. But unfortunately for her, she dropped a little something—a picture of Tessa and me. It was enough to get me curious. I watched her. I followed her.”
“How did you figure all this out? You could be making all of this up!” Jake shouted.
Peter sighed. “The dumb bitch kept a diary. Too bad she never learned to lock her windows at night. Got her diary the first time. Gotherthe second.”
“You killed her, didn’t you?” Jake shouted.
He shrugged. “It was her time. She served her purpose. She slept with Caleb like I told her to and produced the video to me. She blackmailed him into drugging you so his wifey-poo wouldn’t find out about his affair. He even tortured Madi with emails and photographs of his own accord. That was a little bonus for me. It seems he didn’t think you deserved to be happy either.”
“Why? Why would you want me to be drugged?” Jake asked.
Peter’s face contorted angrily as he shouted through his teeth. “Because I wanted you to suffer. I wanted you to hurt the way you hurt my Tessa. You destroyed her. When she started dating you, she wouldn’t talk to me anymore. You took her away from me twice. The last time, she didn’t have a choice!”
Jake rolled his head back. Peter was getting more and more angry. Jake needed to keep him calm. He needed to give Rob more time. Just as the thoughts flowed through his mind, he heard a squeak coming from the hall. Peter’s head lifted to the sound. Jake tried to cough to cover it up, but Peter had heard it too.
“Looks like we have a visitor.”
***
