Chapter Forty-Six
Marisa
“Dream Team”- Niykee Heaton
The cashier checksout the last of the groceries—Justin’s beer. She doesn’t tell me the total, she’s too busy texting on her phone. I want to yell at her, but I don’t. I look at the total on the register, stick my card into the chip reader, and when it beeps I pull it out, snatching the receipt from the printer myself.
The bell to the shop jingles when I walk out into the cool evening. I can’t stop thinking about how he wants to name the baby Gage. About how perfect we truly are for one another. It makes me happy that all his lies weren’t lies. He does love King and Patterson... An old man whirls past me on a bicycle with a tiny stuffed bear in the basket. He’s singing “Hey, Hey, We’re the Monkeys”, and I’m glad I’m not crazy like that. Crazy in love, but not crazy.
I adjust the grocery bags in my arm and head toward the apartment, the singing from the crazy man drifting hauntingly through the still night air. I can’t help but play out mine and Justin’s life. After some time passes, after he has time to let go of Amy, we’ll write a book together. It will be a bestseller with an amazing ending. We’ll grow old, raising little Gage with summers in the Hamptons. We’ll do interviews onEllenand she’ll laugh and clap at our little love story. Everyone will. And all those girls who know what it feels like to have him inside of them, well, they’ll cry because they don’t know what it’s like to have his child inside of them. They don’t know what it’s like to vacation in the Hamptons with him, or write a book with him, or live their life with him. NO, because that’s what I’m meant for. I am his grand finale. I played the game right. I played the player. And the rumor mill stops here. It stops here...
I punch in the key code. The lock pops and I walk into the lobby and straight to the elevator. This is how it will be from here on out. Me bringing up groceries, cooking dinner. The door slides open and I walk the few steps to his apartment door, unlock it, and step inside. I can smell garlic and basil and a hint of lemon. The lights are off and music is playing, the ambient glow of candles dancing along the walls.
“Hey babe,” I sing as I place the groceries on the counter.
“Hey, hun. I made dinner.”
“Aw, babe.” I unload the cold items and stick them in the fridge, grabbing a beer and popping the top on my way through to his dining room. “You are so getting laid to—” but I lose that word when I round the doorway. Justin’s sat at the head of the table with a wicked smile dancing on his face and one hand covering something on the table.
“Forget your phone?” he asks, eyeing my phone that’s set on the edge of the tabletop.
“Uh, yeah... I uh, I guess I did.”
“Yeah,” he says. “Tried to text you to tell you I was out of beer.” I hold up the opened beer and hand it to him. “God, you are perfect.” He takes a quick sip. “Ah,” he sighs. “Ed texted you.”
My heart stops, pounds, halts, beats. “Yeah... ”
“Yep.” Another sip of his beer and then he smirks. “You know,” he says, “maybe I should have been the one begging you not to make me hate you, huh?”
“Justin... ” An unsettled feeling creeps through my veins like ice-water.
“It’s okay. We all make mistakes,right, Marisa?” He laughs and that laugh seems to boom around the small room. “I’m impressed. Ed the Great... You aim high, I’ll give you that.”
“It wasn’t—”
“It doesn’t matter what it wasn’t, Marisa. It only matters that it isn’t.” He picks up whatever it is he’s been covering with his hand and tosses it to me. I catch the worn leather wallet in my hand and turn it over. And there is poor Ed, smiling in his ID picture. Justin lifts his beer to his lips and I notice a small sprinkling of blood on his shirt. “You can’t leave me,” he says, his eyes narrowing with a flicker of danger. “I won’t let you. I am crazy after all.”
My heart wants to explode. It’s racing and I’m smiling. “What did you do, Justin?” I ask with a little too much enthusiam.
“I fucking killed him.”
My heart skips in an excited little dance of pitter-patter. “You killed Ed?”
He lifts his beer in the air like he’s toasting, then takes a long gulp. “You’re fucking mine, Marisa. For-fucking-ever.”
“You’re crazy,” I whisper, inching closer to him.
“I am and so are you. We’re both crazy.” He pushes the chair back and it crashes against the wall before it topples to the floor. “Say it, Marisa. Tell me you killed her.”
His hand lashes out like a viper striking prey. He grabs my hair, fisting it so hard I can feel each strand pulling from its root. “I... ” I swallow. “I love you.”
“You killed her.” He backs me against the wall. “Fucking stabbed her to death.” My lungs falter and fear rushes over me because those blue eyes of his are twinkling with insanity. He’s reached the edge and fallen. “Tell me, Marisa,” he hisses my name as he slams my head against the wall. He inches his face closer until his lips are centimeters from mine. “Confess to it,” his warm lips brush mine. I stare at him and the slightest hint of a sadistic smile touches the corner of his eyes.
“We both did it,” I manage.
“No.”
“I did it for you.”
And his lips slam over mine, his fingers tangling in my hair. “God, that’s so fucking hot.” His tongue brushes mine, his hands grab at my dress and he breaks the straps, palming my breast. “Tell me you did it again.”
“I killed her.”
His tongue traces up my throat as he works his jeans down his thighs, fisting his cock the second its free. “Why?” he breathes against my flesh.
“Because I love you.”
“Fuck,” he groans before his teeth sink into my skin, his hands roughly sliding under my shirt. “You’re a sick bitch.” He jerks my head back and grabs my bottom lip between his teeth, biting down. “My sick bitch.”
My breath catches in my lungs when he bangs my head against the wall again. He roughly kisses along my jaw, nipping as he goes. His other hand snakes over my chest and he takes my chin, gripping it in his hand. He forces me to look at him. His eyes drift from my mouth to my eyes and his teeth sink into his lower lip on a deep groan. “I mean it, Marisa.” He hikes me dress up and wipes a finger over me before he slams inside of me. “Forever. You are never leaving me.” He laughs. “You’re my little monster.” His teeth skim my earlobe. “Baby.”
