Page 7 of Gorgeous Misery

“I’m dangerous. You’re dangerous.”

“Why are we even talking about this now? I thought we were having morning goodbye sex?”

“Yeah, well, you took too long. Got all sentimental and shit. You should’ve just got on with it and then we wouldn’t be having this argument right now. We’d be moaning with ecstasy.”

I reach for her, but she pushes my hand off. And it’s a serious push. Not playing. “Come on.”

“No. I’ve put this conversation off for too long. Why am I different? And if you don’t have an answer for me, then that’s a problem, Nick.”

“Wendy—”

“Don’t.” She puts up a hand. “Do you have plans to kill Sasha?”

“What? What the fuck? What kind of question is that?”

“Yeah. That’s what I thought.”

“Thought? Thought what?”

“She’s a Zero too.” Wendy throws the cool white sheet off our bodies and gets out of bed.

“Where the fuck are you going? We’re having sex here.”

“No,” she says, pulling on her jeans. “We’re not.”

I get out of bed too, pull a pair of sweats up my legs. Because she’s about to escape and even though I knew she was going to leave me today, I’m not ready for it. Especially if we’re fighting. “What did I do? What’s your fucking problem?”

She’s already got her t-shirt on. Her feet slip into her boots as she scans the bedroom for her purse.

“Wendy,” I say, walking towards her. “What—” I grab her arm, but she shoots me a look. It’s a dangerous look, so I let go. “What did I do? You want me to stop hunting those girls? Fine. Let’s talk about it.”

She finds her purse, hikes it up on her shoulder, and turns to me. “You won’t stop. You’ve been doing this my whole life. That’s not a throwaway expression, either. You have literally been hunting down girls like me for twenty-one years.”

“That’s not true.”

“No? When did you kill the first one? Hm? When, Nick?”

“I dunno.”

“Think. I need an answer.”

“Why? Do I go around asking you when you made your first kill?”

“When?” Her face is dead serious. She is going to walk out of here no matter what I say. But if she walks out angry, she will stay angry. Wendy Gale knows how to hold a grudge like nobody’s business. And I didn’t call her here to make her angry. I have a job for us. A long one with the sweetest prize at the end. And if she walks out now, she won’t even get to hear my plan.

So I tell her. “I was ten.” She takes a step back, like she was not expecting that answer. “But it’s not what you think. It was me or her. It was a hunt, Wendy. Trust me, I didn’t choose to be on that island that night. My father made sure I was. And in the end, it was either me or her.”

Wendy just stares at me. And this new silence quickly fills the room and creates a chasm of distance between us. Finally, she says, “What was her name?”

“Her name?” My words come out incredulous. “I don’t fucking know her name. It was twenty-seven years ago.”

“Twenty-seven years ago. Do you hear yourself? I’m twenty-one, Nick. You’ve been hunting these girls for so long, you wouldn’t even know how to stop.”

I take a moment. Breathe. Calm myself. “Question for you.”

“Shoot.” She tips her chin up, letting me know her word choice is deliberate.

“What do you think we should do with them? Just let them… breed? Let this whole Company shit perpetuate for a few more generations? Let it get all out of control again?”