“Get him to leave, or I shoot both of you.”
Message received.
“As I was saying, it’s time for you to get out of the picture. I thought that had already happened after you crashed. And I’ve been patient ever since discovering you moved on to Beck this summer. But I’m done being patient. Especially now that I know why Griff has stopped his one-night-stand rotation.”
“He told me why he stopped it,” I interrupt her, giving in to the urge to throw a wrench in her perception of events. “It’s because he’s been getting messages from razzleydazzles – you – and he’s afraid you’ll go after any women he dates.”
Fliss scoffs. “He doesn’t date. He never cared about those women. He’s saving himself for the right one. And the right one is me.”
So one-night stands constitute saving himself? I want to voice my little taunt, but I keep it to myself. Something’s come over me, and I’m no longer vibrating with fear. I know I have to play along, but I also recognize that if I let things go exactly how she’s planned it out in her head, it won’t be good for me. I’ve got to challenge her assumptions, stall.
“He’s hung up on you. You’re still stringing him along, even if you’re public with Beck. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. You need to be removed. Griff needs to be able to move on.”
He needs to be able to move on from you! I want to shout, but instead I ask, “Removed? You want me to move back east?”
“Yes, I’d love for you to do that and break up with Beck, but I don’t trust you to stay quiet about me. I can’t have that hanging over my head. So I need you to start moving.”
“Start moving?”
She gestures with her gun toward the door. “Yes, walk down the stairs.”
“Why?” This is happening too fast. I need to stall.
“Because I’m holding a gun and I’ll shoot you if you don’t. It will make things a little harder that way for me so I’d rather wait to shoot you until we’re in the car.”
“But Beck’s waiting for me. He’ll see us.”
“No, I know this complex and I know which way to go.”
“They’ll know it’s you, Fliss. Don’t do this. Everyone already thinks you’re Razzle, Griff told me just yesterday he thinks it’s you. If something happens to me, they’ll figure it out.”
“They won’t. I’m framing Sydney. Now, move.”
I feel light-headed, and I try to think of some other way to stall her. Maybe I can wrestle the gun out of her hands?
Before I can come up with a plan, Fliss says in that eerily robotic tone, “Walk now or I shoot you.”
I walk. I believe her. She’s not bluffing. The girl has always come off as flighty and high-drama but right now she sounds totally different. Emotionless.
I walk as slowly as possible down the stairs, knowing there’s a gun pointed at my back. I want to spin around and lunge for her, but it’s too risky, so I continue on this death march. I don’t actually believe it’s a death march though. Beck knows something’s not right. He might even be waiting outside the door. I freeze at the door handle with that thought. Would she shoot both of us?
“What if we run into Beck? I don’t want you to shoot him.”
“Then hopefully we won’t run into him,” she replies calmly.
“Let’s go out the back then instead, we have a little deck and he wouldn’t come in that way.”
She doesn’t answer immediately and I turn around. She’s closer than I expect, brow furrowed as she contemplates my suggestion. The gun is still pointed at me, but I briefly wonder if I can move fast enough to disarm her. Is that stupid? Should I wait? Maybe Beck will have called for help or something by the time we get to her car? I don’t know where she’s parked, but it sure doesn’t seem like I’ve got much time left.
“Fine, it’ll be messier if we run into Beck. We’ll go out the back. I know the path out there too and we’re less likely to run into anyone.”
I nod, moving in that direction. This is it. I’m changing direction anyway, and she’s close. As I take a step away from the front door, I swing my arm up, going straight for the gun.
Beck
I’m waiting right outside the door to the condo and I can hear voices on the other side, but it’s too muffled