In The Dark

Chapter 24

Dominick

"Wait...so you're saying that you want me to--" I made the hand motion and covered my mouth. This was insane. I'd do it. Of course I would. There was nothing I wouldn't do if Zach wanted me to. I'd even jump off a cliff if he said to do so. Kidding. I'd push him off before I even think about killing myself. Sorry, but I'm not trying to send myself to Hell faster than I planned to.

"Yeah..." Zach grinned and gave me the look.

This was great! I was finally going to be the psycho I wanted to be for a long time. Well, I might as well make the best of it.

"Are you sure?" I asked. "Because, the moment I start, I'm never going to stop. Ask Dean. He knows I'd go all the way through. Are you totally sure? Like one hundred percent?"

"One hundred percent, bro. I want you to take him down like that guy before Ren's accident."

This day couldn't get any better. If he said that I could really kill him, then I would be more than happy. It's been hard for me to express my emotions lately and this wasn't helping, but it would calm me down for a bit. There's no way I was going to mess this up. Ryder was going down and I would be there to see his demise. Just you wait, Ryder, just you wait.

"Anyway," Zach started again, the smile on his face disappearing. "I don't like what he's doing. I trust him again for one second and he goes behind my back to do something so vulgar and daring. I want him to disappear. Like really go away without anyone questioning his whereabouts."

"Ren is still friends with him. She thinks he's only being the guy he was before her accident," I said. "Not much I can do to make her believe he doesn't want her in his life anymore."

"Can't we ask her father?"

"About what? It's not like he could help us. His wife is...psycho."

"Look who's talking."

"Don't do that," I warned.

"What? It's not like you don't know that. Ren's mother isn't that scary. You scare me more than I hate being around Ren's mother," Zach said.

"Yet, you're still admitting she's crazy."

Zach only shook his head and let out a breath. I sort of knew what he was thinking. Not that I really cared. There was something about him that made me want to smack him. I didn't have a valid reason to do so, but I wondered how it felt for Nathan to hit us last year.

"Anyway, I'll tell Dean when you leave. He's at the warehouse with the other men," Zach muttered. "...And we have to plan our trip to Nevada. There's something I need to do there."

"We taking Ren?" I asked.

"Yeah. I'm never leaving her alone here again."

That's how I found myself at the warehouse checking the security cameras at Ren's car shop. It was boring for the longest. The girls were hot, but it was tiring after seeing the same ones over and over. I can say that Ren was definitely the hottest among them. Even Dean agreed and he only ever saw her as a sister. Or so he says. I don't believe him.

We had worked out how we were going to catch Ryder. It wasn't much of a plan, but it was something to start with. Firstly, I needed to know where he went for most of the day. I did realize that he and Devon must have gotten into some argument or something. He hadn't been going by Devon's warehouse in the longest while. If we were going to do this, he would have to be at work. Otherwise it made it harder for Dean and I to track him down.

We were messing around with the camera settings when we noticed something different about Ren's office. I clearly remember her computer being off when she left the office. Now it was on and it looked as if someone had just gotten up from the seat. I immediately rewound the recording, wanting to catch whoever was playing games with us. Boy, were we in for a surprise.

"I told you he stalked her 24/7," Dean snapped. "We don't even know what he was up to. The screen's all grainy."

"Lucky for us, I'm great with computers." I began typing away. "In a couple of seconds, we'd be able to see what he was looking at. If I'm correct...he must have been looking for her--Yep, I'm always right."

"What?"

"He came in to look at her accounts. Which means..."

"He's planning to rob her?"

I looked at Dean and shook my head. He looked so smart and cool on the outside, but I knew how dorky and stupid he was on the inside. Why wasn't it the opposite? I could really use some common sense right now. Why would he rob the very girl he's trying to get with? No one does that to get attention anymore. It's just not sexy anymore.

"Why would he rob her when he could just ask her parents for money?" I asked. "...Anyway, he's wondering how she's doing so well. A woman like her has never asked for money from her parents and suddenly her company is better than when she started it last year."

"Typical of all dominant men." Dean sighed.

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The whole day we watched Ryder slipping around town. He went to see Ren's parents as expected. We saw him hanging around Devon's warehouse, but never going in. Most likely he probably got fired or quit. Maybe the latter. Knowing him, Devon probably found out how he kept helping us with the Ian case. Or he doesn't want him to know something he's doing.

After a while we started getting bored. Dean kept leaving the room and coming back. I would only stare at the screen, muttering nonsense. It was fun while it lasted. Now I just wanted to go home and plan how I was going to murder Ryder. At this point, I was willing to do anything to keep him out of our lives. Who knew we had been harboring and fueling a psycho all these years?

"I'm bored," Dean moaned. "When can I leave you by yourself and go home?"

"...You're that bored?" I asked.

"Duh. Especially when I have to watch a screen that isn't as entertaining anymore."

"Point taken."

We sort of ditched the camera watching at that point and got more into how we were going to murder Ryder. An area we both were experts in. It was quite entertaining. At one point we had the most brutal death laid out. I had to hurry and change my mind about going through with it. If not, then I most likely would have ended up with the death penalty. Sounded pretty promising to me.

Eventually, we just ended up planning to bug his house and car. We'd track his whereabouts over the week and see where he goes. If I am correct, he might not be working with Devon anymore. If so, then I would be able to figure out what he knows before killing him. Dean would be Ren's bodyguard until further notice. Not letting her leave anywhere without him. Not unless she threatened to kill him. Not something we want.

"Alright...I'll meet you at the club tonight. Make sure he comes," I ordered.

"Of course he'll come," Dean muttered. "There's no way he passed up a special offer from Cerise Noire. She'd be happy to have an extra customer."

"Good. I'll be expecting to see some actual pre-entertainment."

I left the warehouse feeling good about the plan. There was no way any of it would go wrong. If it did, no one would ever hear about it. Not even Zach. As clueless as he was sometimes, I doubted he'd ever realize I finally made a mistake. Tonight was going to turn out perfect. No mistakes. No regrets. Except for Ryder. He'd regret ever knowing what gang was.

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✖DAVI