Shhnng! Psssh!

Shhnng! Psssh!

The sound of the shovel and mud filled the silence as I continued to dig up the dirt from the ground. This was his entire fault!

I'd given Vicky two days.

Exactly forty-eight hours to cut whatever bullshit she had planned with Noah, but instead, I'd seen her parading around in town making "wedding" arrangements, trying on various wedding gowns. I bet Noah couldn't even afford a custom made gown for their fake wedding.

Now I'd started to wonder if Vicky knew I was tailing her every move and if she was doing all this on purpose just to rile me up.

I bet she was.

She liked to believe that she was a good-two-shoe, but she was a hypocrite. She liked to pretend that she hated any attention from me when in reality, she craved for every second of it and that was probably why she was pulling these little stints.

When I'd last visited her, I'd seen the look of pure hunger in her eyes. I could bet the billions of dollars on my name that she was soaked by the time I walked out of her house and I wouldn't be surprised if she'd locked her door afterward and had taken care of herself screaming my name. Even as a teen, Vicky always wanted attention from me. She'd act hot one second, and then cold the next. If I was busy touring for an upcoming hockey game, I would video-call her the same night and would see her wearing only a lacy bra and panties to tease the fuck outta me while I was hours away in another state.

She'd been a tease, right from the beginning.

And now, she wanted to play games again, the more dangerous ones.

I'd given her enough time. And if she wanted to play dirty, fine...

Well, she was getting her wish granted.

As I dug up a large pit, my mind started to wander towards the set of rules my mom had forced me to follow throughout the years. If it hadn't been for her, I could have been serving a life sentence, or better yet, sitting on death row for multiple murders.

Then again, maybe not. Seeing as how my entire family could buy silence with money.

I imagined Dad saying, 'son, you committed a murder? That's all right; let's just brush it under the rug cuz we got plenty.'

When I was done with my job, I hid the shovel and took my hiding place.

I'd texted Noah that I wanted to talk to him. Man to man; no pretending, no lies and for the first time, I was ready to throw my weapons, explain him the situation and talk some sense into him but he'd ignored my texts and calls which had led to this.

He'd brought this onto himself.

I watched him park the car, get out of it and started making his way towards the house. Before he could cover the distance, his foot stepped on the fake grass used to cover the pit and he slipped right into the open coffin six feet underground.

"What the fuck?!" I heard his voice echo from down below.

"Help me somebody" he yelled.

The thing about our town was that it wasn't populated. The house nearest to the McCloy's was at least a ten-minute walk by foot, and those folks had been watching Netflix (I'd peeked from the window, just to make sure) so no one was going to come to help Good-Boy-Noah.

I stepped out of the shadows and into his line of sight which is when his eyes widened and his jaw clenched. Fury blazing in his apple green eyes that promised murder, and there was something else mixed with the anger.

Unadulterated fear.

"Let me out of here, Lockhart." He seethed a calm voice; one would think he was discussing business.

I began shoveling the dirt back into the coffin, "Just wanted to talk. I tried calling you but you didn't answer. I'm gonna shut this coffin and shovel the dirt over it. No one would find out where you are."

"The police will find out!" he bellowed.

I grinned, "Got that covered as well. I have some men in the police department who owe the Lockharts. They would do as I say."

"What the fuck do you want?!"

"Now, we're talking." I stopped shoveling the mud inside the coffin. I hunched below, keeping my distance from where he stood below. "You know what I want, Noah. I need you to get out of Vicky's life. The wedding won't happen because I won't let it so there's no reason for you to drag this on."

"Pull me out of here and we'll talk."

"You screwed up so now you're staying there."

"You fucking psycho!"

"Watch that mouth, man, unless you want to be buried alive."

"It was Vicky's idea to get married, and you know that I have feelings for her. Why would I say no to her when I know we're compatible?"

"Listen, you little piece of shit. You don't love her. I know that you have a personal gain towards marrying her, some kind of sick way to get back to me and I will not let that happen!" I didn't even realize that I was gritting my teeth.

"You're vain." He laughed, "Everything is not always about you, Tyler. Have you ever thought for one minute that maybe I agreed to the marriage because I genuinely care about her? There's a difference between caring and obsession. You were not the only friend she had and you hurt her, hurt her so deeply that she needed me to kiss her wounds better."

"I told you to watch your goddamn mouth, Noah." I had the pointed side of the shovel aimed at him. "One shove and your pretty face is history."

"Do it. I dare you, Tyler. Hit me! That's what you're good at anyway. Threatening people to get what you want. I bet Vicky told you to fuck off so now you're resorting to violence. A lonely little rich boy without his toys. What a cliché." He drawled in blithe arrogance.

It took every nerve in my body to stop myself from smashing his face to a pulp. As much as I would have loved to punch and break his bones, I didn't because doing that would have easily given him the ticket to marry Vicky.

Just then I saw the glint of the phone he was hiding behind his back. He was calling someone, and I needed to get out of here.

I started marching away from there while he bellowed, "Vicky never loved you Tyler. She just pitied you for what you are. Same with Archer. No one would look at you twice if it wasn't for your money."

A roaring of red blurred my vision and instead of killing him, I continued to walk forward because I refused to believe that Vicky or Archer could have been friends with me only for the Lockhart's name.

Noah was as sick as I was, possibly more and obsessed with beating me. I couldn't give that to him.

I sat down in my car and drove around blindly until I had to park my car against a curb and scream at the steering wheel in frustration.

I was going to ruin him.

"Vicky, I think you shouldn't marry Noah." Hazel blurted out during dinner that evening.

"Is that what you think too, Archer?" I turned towards him.

"Does it matter what I or anyone else thinks?" Archer said in a terse response. "You've always done whatever you wanted. Why ask the family's opinion now?"

"It won't be a real marriage," I said softly. "I talked to Noah and he agreed that it would be marriage in name only. A temporary arrangement that serves my purpose."

"You have our fake blessings for your fake marriage, Vicky, if that's what you need. What else is fake? The cake would be cardboard, I bet."

I picked up my empty plate, scraped off the remains in the bin and loaded it in a dishwasher. Hazel followed me, "I just forgot what an asshole Archie can be sometimes."

I shrugged. "It's not his fault. It's mine."

He followed us into the kitchen and looked at Hazel. "Can you excuse us for a moment, Haze? I wanna talk to Vicky alone."

She rolled her eyes in obvious distaste, "Fine." She stomped her way out of the kitchen.

"Vicky, be honest with me. Is this just about hurting Tyler?"

"Yes."

"I want you to think carefully about the damage you're about to do to yourself." He chided me. "I've told you this before, I'll say it again. You can't hurt Tyler unless he allows you to. And when he is angry, he's out for blood."

"He's just going to have his way with me if I don't do something about it!"

"And doing something means pretending to marry a guy he clearly hates?"

I looked my brother dead in the eye. "Tyler's made it very clear that he just wants sex from me."

"And you told me last time that it's what you wanted too. Remember? So what is this about now?"

"I can't be his run-of-the-mill. I can't be that woman he thinks he can get just because I used to be his once. I cannot be his habit. He thinks that just because he's back, I would do whatever he asked me to. Well, I'm not his doormat! Do you understand what I'm saying, Archer?"

"You want more." He said finally, and there was a spark in his eye that he finally indicated he got my point.

"I want him to tell me he loves me in whichever fucked up way that he does. I've loved him for the better half of my life, the good parts of him, the bad, the evil, I gave him everything in the process and I would do it again in a heartbeat. Tyler destroyed everything beautiful between us, so I deserve to hear those words if he means them! If he can't do that much, then he can't have me."

Archer nodded in understanding. "I can never understand women even after living with three under the roof, but I get it. I won't meddle unless you ask me to."

"Thanks for understanding."

"You go, girl!" Hazel yelled from outside the kitchen.

She'd been eavesdropping, no doubt.

I finished cleaning up after dinner and climbed the stairs to go to bed, the entire flight upstairs I kept wondering if what I was doing was right and if I was taking a step too far. Noah had assured me that he would be careful with Tyler, that he could protect himself and there was nothing to worry about.

I picked up a book from the little room we'd converted into a library and made my way towards my room. I entered the darkened bedroom and I instantly saw the open bay window, the curtains whooshed due to the wind. I remembered that I'd closed the windows when I went downstairs to dinner.

Something was wrong, and it was too late for me to realize when a strong hand pressed over my mouth. The exquisite scent of the familiar cologne entered my nostrils, "Not a single word." His voice chilled my soul. It was quite clear he'd climbed to my window like all those years. I'd always imagined how it would be now that we'd grown up, but I never thought it would be this way.

He'd broken in, like a thief.

I reached for the door but he planted his hand on it and shut it, bringing his huge body closer to mine to block my escape. My eyes rested over a bag.

He handed over my phone, his blue eyes shone in the silver moonlight. "Send Archer a text and tell him you need some time away to clear your mind and ask him not to worry."

My mouth turned dry, "Where are you taking me?"

"Do as I say." He silently beseeched.

From the little light that illuminated my room, I saw the black handle of a gun in the waistband of his jeans and my blood ran cold.

He followed my gaze and concealed the weapon with his t-shirt, "I won't hurt you, Vicky. I just need you to do as I tell you."

"What if I said no?"

The corners of his mouth turned up, and the psychotic side of him began to resurface. "I have two bullets in the gun. And as far as what I've known, I don't miss any targets. Now, the decision is yours. We can leave together nice and easy or the hard way. Which one is it going to be?" He finished with the click of the gun.

He was threatening me with my family, and I couldn't tell if he was bluffing. I couldn't risk it.

"You monster!" I raged.

He watched me with a predatory glint in his eyes, "Never claimed that I wasn't."