Slashing Away: A Dark Psychological Thriller (Gushers Series Book 2) Read online

  Leah giggled and sat up next to Aiden.

  “Good morning, sunshine.” She brushed a few stray hairs away from her face.

  “Sorry I woke you.”

  “I woke up about a half hour ago. I was just enjoying the quiet. Except for your snoring.” Leah grinned at him.

  Aiden was mortified. He had been beaten up and Leah carried him home like a little kid. Then he fell asleep in her room and snored in front of her? He felt the blush rise to his cheeks. He hoped he hadn’t farted in his sleep.

  “I don’t snore.”

  “Whatever.” Leah pushed Aiden’s chest, forcing him to lie back down. She propped her head on her hand and tinkered with Aiden’s chest. “Do you feel better today?”

  Aiden thought about it. He hadn’t been awake long enough to figure out how he felt yet, other than the pain from brushing his eye. “I have a throbbing headache and my eye is still sore.” He touched the cut on his neck. It didn’t hurt to badly. It reminded Aiden of a carpet burn sensation. “I guess my neck isn’t too bad.”

  Leah began to check his wounds again. Aiden tried to fight her off but she insisted she look things over. When he gave in, Aiden watched the concern in her eyes. He noticed the tip of her tongue jet out of her ruby lips, like she was concentrating on a crossword puzzle. Aiden’s heart fluttered in his chest. He knew he could stay here in this moment forever. Consuming all Leah was.

  “So how are you going to explain all this to your folks?”

  Aiden cringed at the thought of his parents seeing his injuries. He had no idea how he could explain it away without his mother making phone calls to his friends’ parents. She would want to know what had happened. Who was there? Why didn’t he come home right away? How come he didn’t go to the hospital? Aiden strained his mind for excuses but came up empty.

  “I’m a dead man.” He groaned and closed his eyes.

  Leah pursed her lips in thought. “What if you tell them you were rough housing with Todd and Ryan? Maybe you caught an elbow in the face. And it didn’t swell up until after you fell asleep.”

  Aiden liked her idea. Ryan and Todd did always clown around and wrestle. It wasn’t out of the realm of possibilities. The one issue would be his mother knew Aiden wasn’t that kind of a playful kid. He didn’t typically get involved in horse play or physical contact of any kind. Then he remembered his neck.

  “Oh, yeah? And what about the gash on my neck?” He realized his question sounded whiny. He made a note to stop sounding so pitiful in front of Leah all the time.

  “When you boys were goofing around, you caught an elbow in the eye. And when you spun away holding your face...you scratched yourself along a fence. Or a piece of furniture.” Leah smiled like she solved a puzzle.

  Aiden furrowed his brow. He might be able to work with Leah’s excuses. But he needed to let the ideas simmer for a bit. He glanced at the time on his phone. It was still fairly early in the morning but he needed to begin to make his way home. Aiden wanted to avoid too many people in the neighborhood seeing him in this state as he walked home. Plus, he wished to avoid Jordyn or anyone else from across the street who might glimpse him.

  “I should get going before your family wakes up.” He stretched his arms and started to get up.

  “Too late. I heard my mother putzing around downstairs already.”

  Aiden panicked. “Oh no. How am I going to get out of here then?” His eyes searched the room for magical escape portals.

  Leah laughed. “I’ll distract her, silly. It’s usually not too hard because she is always busy worrying about taking care of us.”

  Aiden slumped. He tried to get his breath back after the quick fright. As he collected himself, his mind returned to The First Cut. Last night had ended but he still had to face everyone in school on Monday.

  “Oh, man. I don’t even want to face the guys. Or Zoe. They’re going to slaughter me. Or worse. Tell the school evil things about me.” Aiden picked at his fingernails nervously.

  Leah rubbed Aiden’s back. She tilted her head to the side and looked Aiden over as she thought about his dilemma. “Let me see what I can do to pre-empt it over the weekend. I’ll see if I can talk to Jordyn. She seemed upset with how things turned out. She might provide a sympathetic ear. And Todd was on her side. So if I can convince Jordyn then Todd will go along with it too.”

  “Convince her of what?”

  “That you’re sorry for what happened and you want back in.” Leah noticed Aiden’s expression. “That WE are sorry.”

  He shook his head in disagreement. “I don’t want any part of those sickos. Things went too far. And they tried to kill me!”

  “Aiden, we need to get back at them. And the only way to do it is to become a part of the club again. If we work from the inside, when they think we are in league with them, then it will be easier to do. There is no way to get revenge from where we are now.” She ran a hand through her red hair. “They’ll never see it coming.”

  Aiden thought about Leah’s suggestion. He wanted to throw up just thinking about an evil plot. It wasn’t Aiden’s style. And these were people he had been friends with for years. Turning against them with malicious intent was foreign to Aiden’s nature. But he did want a pound of flesh for their betrayal. These “friends” had cast him aside as if he no longer mattered. Worse, they tried to kill him. It left him wondering why he felt guilt when they were willing to harm him for a stupid game they wanted to play. He knew Leah was right. They had to gain their way back into The First Cut in order to exact revenge.

  Aiden grinned to himself. It felt empowering to finally stand up for himself and become strong willed about something. Anything. All that really mattered to him was protecting Leah. That was the whole reason he had tried to quit in the first place. Now he knew protecting her would become even more important.

  “So, where do we begin?” Aiden sighed as he asked Leah.

  Chapter 4

  Rebecca slid the glass door aside, stepping onto her back deck. She approached her daughter who was sitting outside. Rebecca chuckled to herself that Jordyn hadn’t been up this early on a Saturday morning in quite a while.

  “Good morning, sweetie.” Rebecca’s chipper tone faded as she noticed Jordyn’s tears. Her daughter attempted to hide the fact she was upset.

  Jordyn dabbed at her tears and avoided direct eye contact with Rebecca. She mumbled a greeting through her hand.

  “Everything okay?” Rebecca pulled a chair and sat directly in front of Jordyn. Her daughter rolled her watery eyes and shifted her position to look away. Rebecca wondered if something had finally happened between her and Todd. She knew Jordyn had secretly liked the boy since grade school. Rebecca couldn’t blame her. She thought Todd was a hunk. And she had fantasized about the young man once or twice herself. She rested a hand on Jordyn’s knee.

  “Mom, I don’t want to talk about it. Okay?” Jordyn brushed some fresh tears away.

  Rebecca wanted to respect Jordyn’s wishes but she knew she couldn’t. It wasn’t in her genetic make-up to let things go, especially against her own wishes. And she wanted to find out who was behind the problem so she could secretly wish them ill will for upsetting her daughter.

  “Well, something must have gone wrong with your little friends last night.”

  “They’re not little friends, mother. I’m not five, you know.” Jordyn mumbled to the empty yard.

  “Was it something with Todd?”

  Jordyn shot Rebecca a dirty look. Her eyes narrowed with spite. “Todd didn’t do anything.”

  Rebecca nodded. By process of elimination, she could deduce who the culprit had been. The only two real threats to Jordyn’s happiness were Todd and Zoe. One because of her feelings. And one because of the competitive nature of their relationship.

  “So Zoe it is.” Rebecca rocked back in her chair.

  Jordyn spun to face her mother. She started to say something and then held her tongue. Rebecca thought her daughter looked torn between bottling it
up inside or baring her soul. Rebecca figured she would coax it along a bit.

  “It’s fine. You don’t have to tell me about it. I know how she bests you all the time.”

  Jordyn leaned forward. “Zoe doesn’t best me all the time. And I’m not afraid to stand up to her, you know.”

  Rebecca sensed Jordyn’s struggle with her own lie. Jordyn could think all she wanted she was in control in the presence of Zoe. But that had never been the case and probably wouldn’t change in the future.

  “Okay. Okay. I guess Zoe is crying at home this morning too since you gave her what she had coming to her.” Rebecca knew how to push buttons. She used all her tools to get what she needed.

  Jordyn broke down and told Rebecca about the gathering of friends. She revealed how their club idea had gotten out of control, with Zoe pulling the strings as usual. Jordyn related the physical altercation and the separate factions which squared off at the end of the evening. Rebecca was surprised she hadn’t heard any of the trouble through the windows. She tried to recall what she had been doing last night when it all erupted. Her cheeks blushed when she remembered she had taken a long shower last night. She had been horny thinking about Holden and she had wanted to take care of herself. Rebecca loved the detachable shower nozzle.

  “I’m sure you’ll all figure it out. You have been friends since grammar school and there have been some ups and downs. Everything will smooth over.”

  “Not this time, mom. This time it is serious.” Jordyn barked at Rebecca.

  Jordyn sighed and explained further the nature of their new club idea. Rebecca was shocked when Jordyn revealed the sexual nature of the club. She knew Jordyn had been sexually active since freshman year. There was no way she could deny Jordyn’s sexuality when she herself had been active from an early age. But to hear about orgy-related sex and all the people involved were little children she used to drive to school. It unsettled her to think of them in these terms. Her mind started to imagine Todd and what he must look like as he penetrated...

  “Mom! Are you listening to me?”

  Rebecca jumped. She brought herself back to the conversation. “Yes, of course. I just thought about the hot tub.”

  “What about it?”

  “You’re going to need to clean it for me. I have guests coming over to soak with your father and I tonight.”

  “Who?”

  “The Fishers.” Rebecca felt her heart race at the thought of having Holden in the tub. In front of Turner. It made her so hot.

  Jordyn rolled her eyes. She continued her story about the club and how they started messing around with occult practices from centuries ago. Rebecca didn’t like the idea of the kids playing games with witchcraft or whatever it was they were dabbling in. However, the idea of the club and the practices intrigued Rebecca. She wondered how she could find a way to do something similar with her husband and the Fishers. Maybe they could get more people involved. She feigned interest in Jordyn’s tale as her mind tried to work out the details for her own needs.

  “Look, I don’t think you guys should play with Ouija boards and stuff.”

  “We aren’t using Ouija boards. We’re just using chants and weird make-up.”

  “It still sounds too strange. Anyway, you need to be careful. It’s one thing to fool around with a boy. It’s another thing to get pregnant and not know who the father is. Or catching herpes.”

  Jordyn groaned. “I’m on the pill, remember? Besides, they’re my friends. They aren’t dirty or anything.”

  “You never know where they’ve been, sweetie.”

  “Well, I know where they’ve been. We all talk about everything with each other. This isn’t the 90’s, you know.”

  Rebecca stifled a laugh. She never thought she would see the day somebody would refer back to a recent decade like it was eons ago. It made her feel older than she was. Rebecca realized her daughter was growing up and, likewise, Rebecca was getting old. In her mind, Rebecca thought and felt like she was still twenty-five.

  “Be careful. And do me a favor?”

  Jordyn slumped back in the chair. She knew her mother’s request would require something she didn’t feel like doing. “What?”

  “Make sure the hot tub is clean. I can’t have guests sitting in filthy water from you kids.”

  Jordyn moaned out loud. Rebecca rose and returned to the house. In the kitchen, she stood at the sink and watched Jordyn go to the shed for the cleaning chemicals. Rebecca felt excited about the possibilities of creating a similar club with the adults. It would be so much fun and kinky, she surmised. Images of Samantha and Turner scoffing at the notion took a little edge off her happiness. Adults weren’t as free about fun things as younger people were.

  Perhaps I can join in with the kids if the adults don’t want to play.

  Rebecca chuckled at the idea.

  Then she began to think seriously about it.

  Chapter 5

  Zoe felt groggy. And horny.

  She got home very late after the fun they had with the homeless man the night before. Zoe chuckled. She thought how she had enjoyed killing the old man. Ryan didn’t seem too thrilled. Zoe worried about Ryan’s level of commitment. Spencer had gone along willingly. He had even laughed about the murder along with her.

  Ryan had looked shocked.

  Zoe wondered how Ryan could be so surprised when he had helped her with the slutty girl, Gina. He had cried while cutting up her body and cleaning the blood from his car. But he quickly got over it once he understood what he gained by playing along. Or so she thought. Maybe he needed some reminding today.

  Not until she took care of herself first.

  Zoe squeezed her breasts and pinched the soft flesh around her nipples. It sent waves of electricity across her body. Her skin prickled as the current worked its way from her tits to her pussy. She slid one hand down along her taut belly, slipping beneath the band of her underwear. Two fingers found her ready and excited.

  As Zoe probed her wetness, she imagined pools of blood filling Jordyn’s hot tub. She saw herself entwined with Ryan and Spencer. Both boys filled her up with their size and excitement. She wished there were more hands to caress her skin. Zoe lost a moment of pleasure as she thought of Todd and Aiden. It would have helped her fantasy to know they were still part of the organization, so she could add their throbbing cocks to her imagery.

  Zoe tightened her groin muscles around her fingers, squeezing several times while the pressure built up deep inside. Her mind produced Jordyn’s curves and mouth. Zoe felt Jordyn’s tongue delicately lick the inside of her upper teeth before plunging deep into her mouth. She longed to taste Jordyn’s...

  The sound of knocking on her bedroom door shattered the mood.

  “Zoe? Are you going to come down and have breakfast?”

  “Jesus, mom. I’m trying to sleep.” She groaned aloud at the intrusion.

  “We’re going to that wonderful place in Harrington Park tonight. Will you be joining us for dinner? The Wilson’s...”

  “I don’t give a shit about the Wilsons or dinner. Let me sleep, goddammit!”

  Zoe’s fingers remained inside her as she waited to hear her mother’s footsteps fade down the hall. She gave it several moments to be sure her mother was gone. Then she re-started her fantasy.

  The interruption had irritated Zoe to the point she found herself close to the brink of orgasm. She preferred rough and dirty sex so it was no wonder her anger brought her closer to the cliff. She focused her vision on the pelvic muscles of the guys as they contracted with spurts. Zoe moaned and bit her lower lip as the crescendo cascaded from her vagina to her toes and back up.

  Zoe rolled over and crushed her face into her pillow. She held her breath for a moment longer as she ground her pelvis into her mattress.

  The moment passed and she exhaled loudly. As much as she liked The First Cut, nobody could please her the way she knew how to. Zoe thought how strange it was that people were drawn to the touch of other human beings w
hen they were best suited to handling their own orgasms. Must be a procreation urge to propagate the species, she snickered.

  Zoe stared at the wall across her bedroom. She replayed the events of the previous night. Not the sex in the car. Not the old man in front of the Salvation Army bins. Aiden.

  Aiden had shown the balls to stand up to her. And not just her. The group. She never thought he had it in him. Part of her felt proud of Aiden for finally becoming a man. The other part of her wanted to grind him up into a powder and scatter his pieces into a filthy dumpster.

  Leah sided with Aiden.

  Zoe was bothered by this fact the more she thought about it. Leah standing by Aiden’s side had aggravated Zoe last night. But it became a fraction of the overall disaster. It hadn’t seemed such a big deal. Now it did. Zoe realized if Leah stood with Aiden, then her problems had doubled. She knew she had Ryan and Spencer in her back pocket. As stupid as Ryan was about the killing, she could count on him to fall in line every time she whipped out her tits or ass. Todd and Jordyn were an issue too. Zoe felt confident she could win Todd and Jordyn back to her side. Some well-placed lies and suggestions of Aiden’s betrayal would lead to that.

  Leah.

  Zoe had prided herself with lording over Jordyn and Leah. Jordyn flared every so often because of her lack of self-esteem and her need for attention. Leah had always been a sheep. She went along with whatever was placed before her because she was a loser and nobody else would accept her among their crowd. Of course, they had since they had all played together as children. Once they grew older and social class factored in, Leah had been included out of habit. Nothing more.

  Zoe grinned. If Leah wanted to oppose her will then she could count on some tough love coming her way. Zoe intended to make Leah suffer as much as Aiden. Maybe more. Maybe she should focus her ire on Leah rather than Aiden.