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Olive stands with her back to us, a paring knife in her hand slicing away at the neck of a man like she’s trying to behead his corpse.
I blink as I look around at all the blood. Some is splattered like one would expect with a sliced artery, but some is smeared like she’s been painting in here. Two other bodies besides the corpse she’s working on are lying on the ground, one of them Creeper. He’s missing both his hands as well as his testicles, and his mouth is covered with blood. A bloodied blender is tipped over next to him like she made him drink something from it.
My friends, Arthur, and I stand in shocked silence, watching her. She snaps the last piece of connective tissue from the man’s neck then holds the head in her hands before shaking it over the table like a saltshaker.
I find the other limbs in the room, two of Creeper’s hands and all extremities of the last corpse. That’s how there’s so much blood. She’s emptying them out.
Vomit flies from Arthur’s mouth as he doubles over, and finally, Olive—or more likely, Olive 2.0—spins to face us, her eyes wide. Her head lulls as she passes out, and I dive forward to catch her head just before it hits the tile.
Finn goes to the counter to turn off the pop music.
“Umm, Alik,” Fox says, his voice almost frightened. “What the fuck?”
Olive stirs in my arms, her stunning, bluish-gray eyes fluttering at me. She clutches my arms as she tenses. “Alik,” she gasps.
When she goes to look around, I cover her eyes and bring her face to my chest, collecting her tears as well as her victims’ remains clinging to her cheek.
“You came,” she cries, like I’m her savior.
I hold her tight while roaming my gaze over the unhinged violence that took place here. “Of course I came.”
“I love you,” she says, pulling back to look me in the eyes. “I love you so much. I’m so sorry I left. I didn’t—” She shakes her head. “I don’t care about any of that stuff anymore.”
“Me either, baby,” I say, my lips curving into an uncertain smile. “I love you too. That’s all that matters.”
She relaxes against my chest, letting out a long sigh. It’s everything I’ve wanted for the past month. And once we’re out of here and the gore is cleaned off, I think we’ll enjoy it.
Her lips move, and she pulls back as she runs her tongue across her teeth. “What happened?”
When her head goes to turn, I bring her face back to my chest so she doesn’t have to see.
There are so many times when I’ve wished I had been honest with her. When I hated myself for my lies.
But I see her in my mind the night at the lake house. I see the pain in her eyes over the things she’s done, the things she’s woken up to.
Arthur’s presence is no longer at my back. I have a feeling he won’t be in her life after today, as long as she’s safe. She’ll wonder why. She’ll blame herself.
I’d rather she blamed me.
“Close your eyes, Olive,” I whisper, running my hand over her head. “I did some bad things.”
EPILOGUE
OLIVE
Agasp soars through my throat as my head jerks upright, my eyes widening. I grip the edge of the bench I’m sitting on and look around the dressing room of the church, no one in sight.
The last thing I remember is the drive here, like it happened only a second ago. My nerves were wound taut, my hands slightly shaking. I remember wondering how I’d ever apply lipstick with my fingers trembling.
I’m not nervous to marry Alik. The day I woke up in Alik’s arms with Creeper’s blood covering me was the first day of the rest of our lives together.
We moved in together promptly, as in that night. My father wouldn’t make eye contact with me on the drive to the hospital to treat my hand, and he didn’t speak a word to me as he took me to get my things. A month went by before he called, asking to have lunch. We exchanged pleasantries and tried to make small talk, but it wasn’t until he walked me to my car, tears in his eyes as he hugged me close and told me he loves me and always would that I felt I could breathe again.
He told me Alik had asked for my hand in marriage and that he would support anything that made me happy. That he’d be honored to walk me down the aisle.
I couldn’t be mad at him for spoiling the surprise. That night, Alik took me onto the roof of the parking garage overlooking the Strip and offered me the most stunning sapphire ring that had belonged to his mother. There was no hesitation when I said, “yes.”
So I’m not nervous to marry Alik. I would’ve married him that night on the rooftop of the parking garage. I would’ve married him standing in a pool of Creeper’s blood.
