Alive at Sunset (Rituals of the Night Series Book 2) (16 page)

Maybe her bad luck was her fault.

The best question to ask was what had
Chance
done to turn Karma into such a vindictive bitch? Luna’s tears finally broke through the dam and flowed uncontrollably down her blanched white face. Her nightmare had begun again. She finally realized that she couldn’t run from her past anymore.

F
inally, she stood up letting the shirt and needle fall to the ground. She didn’t want to touch them, didn’t want to believe what happened. She kicked them under her bed so they’d be out of Amanda’s sight. She pulled out her phone again and saw there was still no sign of Max.

If she hadn’t been worried before, she definitely was. The shirt looked a lot like Max’s, but she held the hope that Chance was messing with her. That he was trying to separate her from Max again like he had tried unsuccessfully to do years ago. She solved her passcode and dialed Max’s number. She held it to her ear as it rang six times and finally went to voicemail, still no answer.

She hung up and threw the phone across the room. It clanked loudly on the floor, and once again, she wondered if she broke it. It didn’t matter if it did or not. She felt so helpless inside knowing that she didn’t know the state of her friend. There was nothing she could do to even find out if her friend was alright. She simply wouldn’t accept the fact that Chance claimed his life. Max was far too smart for that, far too smart to lose his life to their worst enemy.

Luna reasoned with herself that things were okay. After everything bad that had happened to her lately, she had to believe that the streak was over. Max was busy –that was why he was dodging her calls. People had lives; they couldn’t always be on constant calls to their phone. He was perfectly fine.

No matter what she told herself, she couldn’t get herself to fully believe it. She glanced at the phone on the floor, hoping to see the light flash on with a call from Max. After a few minutes, the face of it remained dark and the little bit of hope she had diminished like a candle.

Luna felt sick as she picked up the items off of the floor. She swallowed heavily, feeling the sickness in the pit of her stomach. She scavenged for a plastic bag and scooped them up, tying it shut. With a heavy sigh, she peeked into the hallway. She could hear the television blasting from the front room. She realized that Amanda and Chance weren’t going anywhere.

She clutched the bag tight as she made it out of the front room. Chance eyed her as she approached the door.

“What’s that, Luna?” Amanda asked, freezing her in place.

“Oh-uh…just some trash,” Luna said quickly.

She paid neither of them more attention as she slipped on her shoes and ran outside. A moment later she realized that Chance was following her.

“Throwing away your present, Luna?” he asked.

She frowned at him. “Shut up –just shut up.” She turned away, heading for the nearest garbage can.

“Slow your roll,” Chance said.

Luna sighed and looked at him. “What now?”

“You aren’t really planning on throwing away murder evidence in your outside trash can, are you?” he asked. “I mean how cliché is that?”

“What else am I supposed to do? I don’t want to keep this!” she said.

“You’re proposing the perfect way to get us both sent to jail,” he said, before he extended his hand to her. “Give it to me, alright?”

Luna clutched it tight to her chest as she looked at him. In that moment, an idea sparked in her. “I can take this to the police,” she said, smiling at him. “I can finally send
you
away, you monster!”

At her words, Chance could feel his heartbeat increase. In a flash, he hid his panic from the small girl before him. “It won’t do you any good, I assure you,” he said.

Luna raised an eyebrow. “How so?”

“You think I’d leave my fingerprints on them?” He chuckled. “Love, the only fingerprints on there are
yours
.”

“I’ll wipe them off,” she said quickly.

Chance folded his arms over his chest. “You’re smarter than that.”

The smile fell from Luna’s face, and her protective stance vanished. “If I wipe them, your fingerprints will be gone too,” she realized in dumbstruck horror.

Chance smiled. “If you take those to the police with both of our fingerprints on them, I’ll be sure to drag you down with me.”

Luna opened her mouth to speak but couldn’t think of the words to do so. He had backed her into a corner she couldn’t escape from.

Chance snatched the bag from her hand before she had a chance to react, and she could feel the only lead she had against him slip away. “Don’t worry about it, I’ll get rid of the evidence.”

Luna sniffled and swallowed back her emotion. “Like you always do.”

Chance smiled at her as he made his way to his truck. “Now you’re learning!” he called over his shoulder.

Luna closed her eyes, wishing her situation away as she ran back to the depths of her room. Her door swung behind her, clanging loudly, but it didn’t shut as she sat down on her bed, resting her hand on her forehead. She felt as if she had made the biggest mistake of her life.

No matter what, Chance was always one step ahead of her.

Luna wiped at her eyes and looked into the hallway as she tried to regain herself. In that moment, she locked eyes with Amanda. The look she returned was cold as she slammed the bathroom door shut.

It’s one problem after another,
Luna thought.

She had to leave the room and clear her head from the suffocating thoughts of Max. Leaving her room would surely prove stressful as well. Amanda was upset with her, and she knew she had an idea of how she could possibly smooth things out between them. Inside, she knew she had to try.

Amanda talked to Max a few times in the past. Luna needed to know if she had spoken to him recently or not. In order to do that, she had to pacify her friend first. Luna took a deep breath as she prepared herself to move into action. She waited for her friend to walk back down the hallway before she went out to the living room and stopped dead in her tracks. Thoughts of her mission disappeared like smoke.

Chance was sitting next to Amanda on the loveseat. She had been positive he was going to leave. His arm was draped over Amanda’s shoulders as he flicked aimlessly through the channels. Amanda was curled up into a ball beside him. She looked so comfortable, like she had known him her entire life. She had no idea she was cuddling with a murderer.

Amanda heard the light scuffling of Luna’s feet on the hardwood floor as she entered the room. She glanced up at her, her eyes still held traces of bitter anger. “Hey, Luna,” she said, and her voice was clipped.

Luna nodded, deciphering her tone the best she could. She knew she couldn’t ask Amanda what she needed to know with Chance sitting there. He’d see how much his words alone could bother her if he heard her asking Amanda. After the incident in the room, she wasn’t willing to present him with something like that. It was too late to go back.

She had already been noticed and couldn’t back out, especially without upsetting Amanda some more. If she left the room, Amanda wouldn’t even look at her for at least a month. Luna couldn’t afford that when time was already precious. She padded across the room to sit on the sofa across the room from the two of them. She looked at them through wide-eyes as she tried her best to have a seemingly friendly posture, but her movements were quick and tensed. She hoped that Amanda wouldn’t pick up on it.

Amanda scowled at her as she remained silent. Chance looked at her, his eyes sparked with interest as he waited to hear what she had to say. Nobody spoke as an awkward silence hung in the room, pressing down on them like an invisible weight. Luna wished in that moment that she would’ve planned out her words carefully before making the trip from safety and out into the battlefield.

She hadn’t considered the possibility of Chance sticking around, and she was disappointed in herself for it. She knew from experience that Chance would torture her in every possible way that he could think of. Amanda seemed to be the one that was bothered the most by the silence.

“What do you want, Luna?” she asked finally. To Luna, her voice sounded almost like a snarl.

Luna swallowed nervously as she wondered what she could say. She couldn’t ask her about Max yet, but that was the only reason she decided to leave her room.

“I-I-“ Luna stuttered as she failed to find an excuse. No matter how much she racked her brain, she couldn’t think of a thing to say.

Chance was watching her like a hawk, a smirk plastered on his face. He was enjoying every minute of it. The television was nonexistent to him as he watched the squirmy, indecisive look on Luna’s face.

Amanda stared at her through cold eyes that even seemed to glitter like ice. Luna didn’t know that Amanda was capable of feeling so resentful. Every minute that Luna struggled to find the words to talk was another minute that Amanda’s anger ballooned by another factor of two.

Luna felt like even if Chance wasn’t there, Amanda wouldn’t be willing to talk to her when she was so upset. That thought somehow made Luna feel a little bit worse inside. She didn’t know that her simple action would enrage the beast as badly as it had. When she thought about it, she knew that there was only one thing she could do to pacify her roommate. The thought made her stomach flip, but she needed to know if Amanda had anything to say about Max. That was important enough motivation to her.

“I just wanted to apologize to you both,” Luna managed to say as she locked her eyes onto Amanda’s (purposefully avoiding Chance’s gaze), “for my behavior earlier when you introduced me to your date. I really was rude, it was wrong of me.”

That caught Amanda off guard. The icy look softened instantly, and it seemed as if
she
was the one struggling to find something to say. “Oh, well, apology accepted, Luna,” Amanda said finally.

Chance looked at Amanda before looking back at Luna. It was obvious he was confused. Luna smiled to herself, maybe she could get back at him and fix things with Amanda in the same swing; two birds, one stone. If he wanted a game, she’d give him one. Luna stood and approached Chance. Her heart fluttered, but her nerves were actually calm, and they managed to subdue her panicked heart. Chance watched her through narrowed eyes as he tried to guess what she was planning.

Luna stuck her hand out to him as she prepared for a handshake. “Hello, I’m Luna,” she said politely.

He shook her hand back but didn’t say anything. His beautiful face was carved in his surprise and confusion. For once, Luna managed to successfully disarm him of his wits. Amanda gave her an approving nod before Luna headed into the kitchen. She had been able to keep a fake smile plastered to her face, but her insides felt like they were gonna knot themselves into an irreparable mess.

Luna collapsed into the nearest chair, feeling absolutely sick. Being that close to Chance…pretending he was a stranger when she knew better, made her physically ill. What else could she do? The sounds of channel surfing stopped suddenly. Luna sat up as she listened, cautious to what Chance would be looking for, especially in front of Amanda. He had a habit of watching the news to see when they showed his crimes. Would he have the urge to do that in front of his new date?

Luna knew that Amanda didn’t matter to him. If he turned on the news, it would be for Luna’s benefit alone. She listened, desperate to figure out what he turned on. She quickly realized it
was
the news. Her heart twinged uncontrollably as she waited for the next story. She listened harder, straining to pick up words from the quiet television, while she wondered if it would sound familiar to her.

“In recent news, local twenty-one year old Max Cazmea was found dead in his home last night. Police found many clues of foul play but are unwilling to release details at this time.”

Luna got up from her spot in the kitchen and padded into the living room. Amanda didn’t notice her as she settled down into her nook in the loveseat. But Chance did. He stared at her, watching her expression carefully. On the television was a picture Max.

Chance hadn’t been lying.

Luna felt her insides finally give up. They collapsed all on cue, and like it or not, her face creased in sorrow. Tears dripped from the corners of her eyes no matter how hard she tried to hold it in. Chance smiled widely as he saw that she was on the verge of breaking. Amanda still didn’t talk as she watched the news story. She didn’t notice the silent interactions between her date and her roommate.

Finally, she turned to Luna; her mouth was hanging open as she prepared to speak. The shock was apparent on her face. “Luna, was that
your
Max? The one I spoke to on the phone a few times?”

Luna nodded once and found she wasn’t able to speak; she didn’t have any desire to try. Chance was still smiling, he enjoyed every second of her misery. There was nothing she wanted to do more than wipe that off of his face.

Amanda got up from her comfortable spot and hugged Luna suddenly. It was so tight, she worried about trying to breathe. She hugged Amanda back, though her gaze was still focused on Chance. He looked so smug, so content with himself like he was absolutely perfect. She thought back to when she had stabbed him, and for a second, she wished she could do it again with the biggest, rustiest knife she could manage to find.

But then she’d become exactly what she hated.

Look what I did,
Chance mouthed to her so that Amanda wouldn’t hear. 
I’m unstoppable, I killed poor old Max, just like the pig that he was.