“Please, Kody, you need to listen to me.”
But he didn’t. His expression changed in a flash, morphing into the hard lines of rage. “Until they got in the way!” As he spoke, he pointed at the phone still pointed at the bed.
“What do you mean?”
“You and all those fucking followers! Facebook. Twitter. Instagram. Snapchat. YouTube. They all want a fucking piece of you. They act like they deserve to talk to you. That they deserve even a second of your attention! And you gave it to them. Handing out pieces of yourself like some cheap whore!”
Kody rolled off the bed and jumped to his feet, standing over Geoffrey as if he meant to hit him again. Geoffrey tensed, waiting for the blow, wishing there was some way he could defend himself. His feet were still free, but he was saving that. He had a feeling things were going to get far worse and if he was going to have any chance of escape, it was better if Kody didn’t think about his free feet.
“That’s why I had to do it,” Kody continued in a low, cold voice.
“What?”
“The video.”
“You drugged me. You took that fucking video and released it for everyone to see. You molested me! I said no! I begged you to stop!” Geoffrey yelled. Tears streamed down his cheeks, blurring his vision. He jerked against the strips of cloth holding him back. Wood creaked and groaned. There was the soft sound of tiny fibers ripping, but it wasn’t enough. He wanted to fucking kill Kody with his bare hands. “How could you do that? You said you were my friend!”
“Do you think I wanted to release that video?” he shouted back. “That was just supposed to be us. A beautiful moment for just us. But you forced me to show you the truth. If you’re going to whore yourself to the world, then you had to know what they really thought of you.”
“Fuck you! You’re nothing but a rapist!”
Kody balled up his fist and hit Geoffrey hard across the jaw, knocking him back down to the bed. Pain exploded across his face, but it barely registered in comparison to the betrayal and rage burning in his chest. He’d trusted Kody, would have defended him endlessly against accusation from Sven and the others.
“I love you!” Kody shrieked, his voice cracking and shaking.
“You don’t know what love is.” Geoffrey murmured. He brought his face closer to his right hand, wiping away a line of blood that had started to form in the corner of his mouth. His jaw ached and it felt like his lower lip was split.
“I’ve waited two years for you. I tolerated you dating that fucking idiot Brendon because I knew that you didn’t really care for that asshat. I tolerated all your other vapid, self-absorbed friends. I tolerated you sleeping with anyone that caught your eye because I knew you’d find your way to me.”
“Why didn’t you say something like a normal human being?”
“Because you would have run. You wouldn’t have taken me seriously. You weren’t ready to accept the magic we felt that first night. I fell in love with you that night, and I know you loved me that night too.”
“No,” Geoffrey croaked. He slowly shifted on the bed so that he was sitting up again. “I love Sven. I have never and will never love you. I love Sven.” He meant it. He would scream it at this fucker with his very last breath if he had to, but he loved Sven. He’d fallen for the damn man over the past two weeks, and all he wanted was to get back to him so he could tell him in person.
Kody’s hand shot out and he twisted his fingers in a thick hunk of Geoffrey’s hair. Pain burst across his scalp, forcing Geoffrey to turn his head to ease some of the pulling. “You don’t love him,” Kody snarled through clenched teeth. He got in Geoffrey’s face again so that he was just an ugly blur of color and heat. “You never loved him. You’re just confused.”
“I love Sven.”
Kody suddenly released him and straightened. He carefully ran his hand over his wrinkled blue button-down shirt. He looked like hell. Dark circles underlined his eyes and his pale face seemed leaner and more haggard than Geoffrey had ever seen him. A tremor shook his fingers, but there was an unsettling calm sweeping over his face that frightened Geoffrey more than his outbursts could.
“That’s why he’s got to die,” Kody said, his tone low and even.
“No.”
“He’s confusing you. We’re supposed to be together. We’re perfect for each other.”
“No!”
“It’s better he’s dead. He can’t be in the way.”
“Sven’s coming for me!”
An evil grin slowly spread across Kody’s face and he leaned over Geoffrey. A line of sweat ran from his temple to his jaw. “I’m counting on it. If he didn’t die in your pool, then he should be racing here right now. I didn’t exactly try to hide this place from his co-workers. They’ll find it. And they’ll die here.”