Killer by Heather C. Leigh
Dedication
To those who supported me to make this journey possible. You know who you are, and those who stood in the way? Have fun watching from the sidelines.
Special shout out to my good friend and fellow author, Melinda Harris, who spent tons of time away from her Big Girl Job to help me in my struggle to make Killer perfect.
Quotes
I'm not sure what I am. I just know there's something dark in me. I hide it. I certainly don't talk about it, but it’s there always, this Dark Passenger. And when he's driving, I feel alive, half sick with the thrill of complete wrongness. I don't fight him, I don't want to. He's all I've got. Nothing else could love me, not even... especially not me.
Or is that just a lie the Dark Passenger tells me? Because lately there are these moments when I feel connected to something else... someone. It's like the mask is slipping and things... people... who never mattered before are suddenly starting to matter. It scares the hell out of me.
—Dexter Morgan (Jeff Lindsay) Darkly Dreaming Dexter
We often allow guilt to consume us but we must realize that we can start over.
—Unknown
We’d stared into the face of Death, and Death blinked first. You’d think that would make us feel brave and invincible. It didn’t.
—Rick Yancey
1
Keller
Have you ever wished for death? Hoped it would strike you down and end your pathetic existence? No? I have. I’ve thought of a hundred different ways I should die. None of them are painful enough for what I deserve, so I continue to live.
“Come on, guys! Quit being a bunch of pussies! I can’t believe I had to twist your damn arms to get you to skip school.” I push my key fob and unlock the doors to my brand new Shelby GT500 convertible. Slinging my arm around Rory Vanderbilt, my current girlfriend—for the weekend at least—I razz my friends.
“We’re here, aren’t we, Keating?”
Craning my neck, I peek over my shoulder at Logan Sanders, one of the guys in the group I run with. Me, Logan, and our other pal Silas rule our exclusive private school. Whatever we do or say is accepted as cool, no questions asked. Now we’ve started our senior year, and pretty much everyone at North Atlanta Prep treats us like we’re gods.
I laugh. “Surprisingly, you are here, Logan. But the question is, are we going to have fun?”
Rory slides her hand around my waist and down over my ass, squeezing. “We’re going to have fun, Keller,” she whispers in my ear right before she sticks her tongue inside.
“Fuck yeah we are.”
Rory climbs into the passenger side of the Shelby, and I shut her door. She winds her hands around my neck and yanks me down for a hot, wet kiss through the open convertible top.
“Go Keating!”
“Woo-hoo!”
Smiling, I walk around the car to the driver’s side and slide in. It’s a gorgeous September day in Atlanta, so I left the top down. North Prep is so elite, the students so wealthy, I never worry about leaving the car open. There’s nothing to steal that everyone here doesn’t already own for themselves.
Logan, Silas, and two girls climb into Logan’s Range Rover, giggling and shouting while I rev the Shelby’s powerful engine. Rory slips her hand up my thigh, letting her fingers trail over my hardening cock.
I flip down my sunglasses and grin. Fuck it’s good to be me.
* * *
“I’m gonna go back out by the pool.” I climb out of the bed in Logan’s guest room and pull on my shorts.
“M’kay, Keller,” Rory murmurs as she falls asleep.
I laugh to myself, glancing back at Rory’s naked body before leaving the room. I fucked her good. The bright red handprints across her perky ass stand out against her tan skin.
“Grab a beer, Keating!” Logan shouts from across the huge patio in his backyard.
I walk over to his outdoor kitchen and swipe a bottle from the fridge. Silas is in the pool with the two girls they brought, getting all handsy and grabbing their tits. The girls squeal, pretending to be offended, but come on, if they’re going to swim topless, guys are gonna grab. Logan is watching our friend fondle his date with a heated intensity in his eyes. Logan and Silas have been known to share girls, so I know Logan’s not pissed or anything. Hell, to them this is probably just foreplay before their girl-swapping orgy.
I flip off the cap and collapse into the chair next to Logan’s. “How long are your parents out of town, Sanders?”
Logan takes a long swig of his beer while I wait. “Let me think.” His blond eyebrows rise as he counts in his head. “Today’s the fourteenth, and they’re coming back on the twentieth, so six more days.”