Chapter Twenty-One
“Comeonin,Claire.Make yourself comfortable.” He ran his free hand over the barrel of the gun like he was petting the metal.My stomach contorted, trying to turn itself inside out. It took everything in me not to puke my guts up, let alone force myself to respond.
I cleared my throat a few times before I managed. “What are you doing here, Tyler?”
“I came to see you, of course. You’re my favorite whore, my pretty little toy.” He sounded pleased as if we were old friends and this was a happy visit filled with tea and cookies.
I stared at him with gaping, open-mouthed confusion. “How am I your toy?” I spluttered.
“Hunting you has been the most fun I’ve ever had. Watching you, deciding on the right time to strike. Look how scared you are!Fucking delicious.” He tapped the gun against his chin, and his lack of respect for the weapon only increased the fear coursing through me. “I would have come for you sooner, but you’ve been awfully busy spreading your legs for MasonFucking Sharp.So busy, you haven’t even thanked me for my notes andgifts!” His tone mocked me like I was a naughty child. “That’s rude, you know.”
Thoughts battered around in my head in a blur of color, none of them making much sense. I wondered how he learned Mason’s real name, but that wasn’t what was important.Survivalforced its way to the front. All that mattered was getting out of this alive. I needed to keep him talking until someone noticed me standing here at gunpoint. The door was still open, there was a chance a neighbor could help me.
I thought about Lawrence sitting outside the library and prayed Mason might send him to check on me as lunchtime quickly approached. He would expect me. Thinking back to the conversation with Gavin, I wondered how I’d gotten things so wrong. Was this part of the breakdown Mason predicted?
“I don’t think I got your gifts, Tyler.” His name burned like acid on the way out, but I laced it with false affection. “What were they? I want to thank you.” I needed to keep him talking, do anything that might get me out of the situation alive.
He licked his lips as a savage grin crossed his face. “Well, for one, I redecorated your apartment. Anything is better than thispathetichole, but you would know all about patheticholes,wouldn’t you? And having them filled.” He tapped a thoughtful finger against his chin. “Has he claimed your ass? I wanted to be the first, but that’s unlikely with yoursituation.” He laughed as he gestured broadly with the gun lazily clutched in his hands.
I shuddered at his words. Wicked excitement flashed on his sickening face. “He hasn’t claimed your ass? Aw, you left something for me, after all...”
“I, it’s not...” I tried to argue.
“Shut the fuck up, Claire! I’ll take every one of your holes by the time we’re done here, and no matter what you say, I can see it on your face, you saved your ass for me.” I shook my head frantically, and he aimed the gun in my direction, effectively stilling me. “I’m surprised you didn’t notice my gifts all on your own.” He gestured to the “whore” painted in rusty red. It was darker than the night before, oxidized. That wasn’t paint.Whose blood covered my wall?
“You knew I was here with you. I saw the way you looked back and forth over your shoulders when you dressed, making sure I was looking. Don’t worry, I was.”
I shivered in disgust. He was here? How many times? There were a few instances where I felt eyes watching me but I brushed it off. Before the club, I checked the whole place but didn’t find anyone. “You were under my bed.” It was the only spot I didn’t check.
“I knew you felt me with you.” The idea cheered him up, but when I didn’t intuit what gifts he left, his pleased expression fell. “That’s okay, you’re not the brightest bulb, so I’ll explain all the generous presents I left you.” He shrugged like it was the most obvious answer in the world.
“You’re a whore, and whores like cum. So I put mine all over the place. I jerked myself off into your pillow days ago. Did you feel me near you as you slept? Did your cunt tremble when you smelled my cum? Did you notice yourself coming harder when you fucked yourself with that little toy in the drawer of your nightstand? I covered that too.” Tears pricked my eyes, acid raised in my throat, burning the sensitive skin, but the pain was hollow.
“Whose blood is that, Tyler?” I hoped it would distract him from the line of questioning. Sickness seeped out from my soul at the thought of him watching, of me touching his toxic sperm, of any part of him inside me.
“That is the least of your concerns, Claire. How about you explain to me why you’re happy to take loads from a scumbag such as Mason Sharp, but you won’t even thank me for all the loads I left for you?!”
“How do you know his real name?” The question popped out of my mouth, though it likely wouldn’t help me stay alive any longer. I should have thanked him as he wanted. Mason’s fear that all of this went back to his criminal connections seemed so ridiculous with Tyler standing here, but Tyler knowing his secret, hinted toward Mason being right.
He laughed with a manic, terrifying sound. “We went to school together, Rutherford Prep, a place that wouldn’t hire a person like you to scrub the toilets. People thought he was so smart, so attractive, but I’m better than him in everyfuckingway. Tell me, Claire, why is it that people gravitate to him when he’snothing? I have more money than him too, you fucking whore. Is that why you spread your legs for him and not me? You wanted someone to buy your pussy. I’ve paid for better than yours! I’ve sliced up better than yours.”
“I don’t need anyone to buy me, Tyler.” I tried to sound soothing, amicable, but mostly I just sounded terrified.Oh, God, another girl’s blood is on my wall.If he was so rich, why did he work in that office? The thought was nearly crazed, but nothing I was thinking or feeling made any sense. With sickening certainty, I realized it was to give him access to women who trusted him and relied on his guidance.Molding young minds, was what he called it.
A tear slipped down my cheek. I stepped backward, hoping to run, but he aimed the gun at me. “I’ll blow your fucking brains out and fuck the hole in your skull if you don’t get in here and shut the door rightnow!”he screamed so loud that in a normal building people might have paid attention, be concerned about me; unfortunately fights broke out here all the time, and no one paid any mind to what words they used. That’s exactly how he smashed the place up, getting nothing more than a tongue lashing from Mrs. Jones.
I did as he said, stepping inside and shutting the door behind me with a quiet and resounding thud. That was it: no more chance of someone coming to my rescue. I would be dead or gone long before Lawrence came to check on me. My voice shook pathetically. “Tyler, what do you want from me?”
“What I want is for you to sit thefuckdown and shut thefuckup!” I held my hands up as I sank to the floor, and stared up at the man intent on ending my life, cutting me apart in the same fashion he did to the girl whose blood painted my wall.
He stood and strode toward me, a gruesome smile on his face at finally having me where he wanted me. He ran a hand softly over my hair and cheek, tipped my chin up so I had to meet his eyes. “Are you fuckingcrying?” he asked disgustedly.
“No, I’m-”
Smack. His palm came down so hard on my cheek I saw stars. My body flew out of the seated position, sprawling across the floor at the force of the impact. I pushed up on my hands and he leaned down to scream directly in my face. “I courted you like a perfect fuckinggentlemanwhile you spread your cunt forMason Sharp, andyou’rethe one crying?! You should be happy!”
I worked hard to keep the rest of the tears inside. My cheek throbbed and my eye swelled shut by the second. He turned from me, pacing back and forth with furious agitation. I returned to my seated position, leaning my throbbing head against the wall.
“Tyler, I didn’t even know you liked me. I am so sorry I upset you.” I put my hands up in supplication. Ignoring what he said about cutting women up and sticking with the idea that he had beencourtingme.