Fuck. I can’t move.
My legs fail me, no matter how much my brain screams for them to comply. I’ve failed everyone in the top ten because I insisted on continuing the Impulse Cup. My selfishness continues to cost me. Still, when given a chance to stop all this, I choke. Me. A racer who straddles the line between life and death every time I get into my GT is rendered paralyzed, unable to do the right thing. The simple thing. All I have to do is pull out one of my knives from my side holsters and charge. No one will know what is happening until someone’s throat is slit from ear to ear. I can do it. Not that hard. I’ve done it before. Yet when I need it the most, my courage abandons me.
“There, all done,” the killer says.
“S… s….” Hating the stammer in my voice, I swallow, then try again. “Star.”
Her head whips toward me. Shock coats her expression. The beauty mark at the corner of her left eye twitches. Then a nasty grin spreads across her face. She bares all her teeth when she throws her head back and laughs. Her eyes are wild. The balls of her cheeks turn a deep shade of red, like she’s blushing. But in this case, I don’t think she is. Then the laughter stops and she licks her bottom lip. The act wouldn’t have been disturbing if only the tip of her tongue darted across her mouth. Instead she sticks out most of the length of her tongue. So when I say she licked her bottom lip, I really mean she’s licking her chin as well. Afterward she runs the back of her hand over her mouth, smearing her red lipstick over one cheek. There’s nothing beautiful about her anymore. Gone is the mask of the sexed-up underboss’s daughter, replaced by something… maniacal. Unhinged at its very core.
“Oh good,” she says. The cheer in her tone sends an icy ripple over my skin. The two on the ground finally notice me. Both their eyes widen—one in panic and the other in reprimand. I ignore them as Star chucks the empty gasoline can over her shoulder. “And here I thought I would have to walk all the way to your tent. Thanks for saving me the trip.” She fires a finger pistol my way with a wink.
“Star, what the hell are you doing?” I manage to ask between deep breaths. But no matter how much air I take in, it doesn’t seem like enough. My lungs burn.
“Don’t you see?” She closes her hands behind the heads of her two prisoners and yanks their heads back by their hair. One screams while the other growls. She merely laughs at their reactions. “We’re having a party. Isn’t that right, Bedlam?” She gives his unbandaged cheek a kiss. He attempts to jerk away, but her hold on his head remains firm. Then she turns to her other captive and deposits a kiss there too. “Zamara?”
“Let them go!” I snarl.
Star clucks her freakishly long tongue at me and wags a finger. “Ah, ah, ah.” She shakes her head in time with her admonition. Then she takes out a silver lighter from between her breasts and flicks the lid off with her thumb. My breath catches. “Let’s not end this too soon by waking the neighbors, shall we?”
I raise both my hands in surrender. “Put the lighter away, Star.”
Satisfied by the fear in my words, she recaps the lighter with a click. Unfortunately for my racing heart, she doesn’t return the lighter between her breasts. Instead she closes her hand around it and places her fists on her hips. Bedlam growls something at me, most likely a command to run. Quick as a bullet out of a gun, Star’s heel connects with the side of his face. His head whips violently to the side. The sharp stiletto leaves behind a gash that opens up his cheek, causing blood to flow freely, coating his jaw and the side of his neck.
“Shut up, you bastard!” she barks at him. “I’m honestly hoping she doesn’t pick you so I have the pleasure of roasting your arrogant ass. No one rejects Star and lives to tell about it.”
Her admission forces some sense into me. My brain works faster than I ever thought possible. “Is this what this is all about? Me rejecting you?” I honestly can’t believe I just asked this particular question. Of all the reasons to start going on a serial killing spree, my refusal to sleep with Star again hadn’t ever crossed my mind. “It doesn’t make any sense!”
Star turns her head toward me slowly. This time when she bares her teeth, she resembles a rabid animal poised to take a bite. “It makes perfect sense!” she shouts at me. Her gaze is shifty, like she’s having a hard time focusing. She begins clawing at the side of her neck with the hand not holding the lighter. “At first I thought you’d just be another notch on my belt. Then we slept together and I fell in love with you. I fell in love with that black hair of yours that’s straighter than any needle. I could never keep my own hair straight like that.”
I return my hands to my sides, refusing to touch my hair. There was a time when Star came to the Gatherings with ironed-flat locks. I never gave it a second thought.
“And your skin….” Her clawing stops, but it’s too late. She’s left marks down the column of her neck. “Like the most delicious caramel.” She laps at the blood clinging to her fingernails. “And your pussy.” She moans, bringing her hand down between her legs. “I love it most of all. I’ve never felt this way
