TABOO: THE COMPLETE SERIES(45)

I didn’t know what Weldon was going on about but I was certain he was doing this to drive us apart. One look at Jake told me he was doing a good job of it. “What video, Trey?” Jake asked me. “What’s he talking about? Who’s Ryan?”

“Ryan is… was… my boyfriend,” Weldon said. “He’s dead now because of the poison Trey devised especially for him. Does that sound heroic to you?”

“Jake,” I said. “I was just following orders. His orders. Because my sister was sick and needed my help and that’s the only reason he’s made me do all of it… but she’s dead now! And he can’t hold it over me anymore!”

“Right,” Weldon mocked. “A sister who conveniently pops up when Trey does bad things and conveniently dies when he wants to take the fucking moral high ground!”

Jake was looking at me suspiciously and that wasn’t all. I could see there were things going on in his brain that he couldn’t control. I knew I could have told them both Ryan was alive and it was only because of me but in case this didn’t go down as I planned, I didn’t want Ryan to suffer because of my decisions. That’s the only reason I left him out of everything. He had helped me enough. I couldn’t possibly ask him for anything more. If Weldon ever got a whiff that he was still alive and holed up some place all hell might break loose.

“What video?” Jake wanted to know.

“I knew you were smart Jake,” Weldon said, clearly using the tiny leeway he had found.

“Shut up!” Jake raised the butt of his rifle and hit him with it. “Where’s my brother?”

“I’ll tell you,” Weldon said. “If you bring me that video, I’ll tell you where Colton is, you have my word.”

“Why?” Jake cried. “Why is this so important to you?”

“You need to know the truth, Jake. That’s all.”

“He’s just doing this to stall us!” I screamed. “Jake, you need to be rational!”

“Let’s just get him the video,” Jake said and stepped out the door. I had to look at Weldon’s smug face for the rest of the hour that I had to sit in that room with him.

“Ryan’s still alive, isn’t he?” Weldon said, out of nowhere.

Fuck, had I said too much? But I couldn’t give in, I had to keep up the act. “What’re you talking about?” I scoffed. “Ryan died all those years ago!”

“Don’t worry, Trey. Your secret is safe with me,” Weldon said. “But I’m curious. Where have you been keeping him all this time?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said flatly.

“Ryan doesn’t have any friends,” Weldon said. “I made sure of that ages ago. So, it had to be one of your friends who helped. There’s no other way he could have possibly fooled me!”

“Once again, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Weldon smiled a little. “It’s good,” he said slowly. “It’s all good. Because when I’m slicing your throat and Jake’s and little Colton’s… I will need something to top it all off! You know? Make the victory all that more exciting! And Ryan will be that something! I will tear him apart… limb from limb… I will just hear him scream… until he can’t. Now that, Trey, is poetic.”

My hands seemed to work of their own accord as they slammed heavily into Weldon’s bruised face and broke bones in his cheek on impact. The sound was incredibly satisfying and so was the resulting scream from Weldon. “Maybe you’ll win this,” I said. “Maybe in the end I will find that I was never good enough to fight you but I will always have this… how you screamed like a fucking girl at the mercy of my hands!”

This shut him up.





TREY


Jake lunged at me and I wasn’t expecting the almost freakish strength he suddenly had, adrenaline most likely. I couldn’t believe Weldon’s luck. He found a way to drive us apart. I knew this wasn’t something that we could come back from if Jake truly believed what he was seeing. “Jake, you don’t actually think this is me, do you?!” I said. “I only did it because I knew they were taping Colton and I wanted them to think I was just like them. That I wasn’t going to be a friend to him. You think he would have let me see you or him, if I hadn’t pretended to be one of them?”

“Why should I believe anything you say?” Jake laughed.

“We can’t play into his hands, Jake. You have to remember I’m your only way out, and if what you just saw, is true then you have even more reason to get Colton out of this place!”

Jake was not stupid. I just hoped he would choose to be smart in this case, but I could see in his eyes how much he hated me. It stung but it was the cost of doing business. If he wasn’t ever going to talk to me again, I was content with that if we didn’t lose sight of what was really important.

“You’re right,” Jake said, and I could almost hear the loud snap in Weldon’s head. “Getting out of this mess should be our priority. Let’s not lose focus,” he stared at me and then walked up closer. “Just know that the minute my brother and I are out of this mess, it’s over between us. You and I will go our separate ways.”