Toska taunts me. She does so for the next few days as I stay locked in my house with my father. He doesn’t leave, not once. If we need something, he asks Betty to go to the shop for us. We speak more which is very unlike us. He cares, even if it took him years to show it. I can feel it now with his concern for me. Especially when he sleeps at my door every night.

Today, though, I’m feeling better. Everything she must have put in my system is gone, and I need to get out of this house. I need to come up with a plan, a plan of attack. She won’t go too long without fulfilling her needs. No. Toska needs to live in the crazy lifestyle because she’s insane. She belongs in an institution far away from everyone else.

And Syler, I don’t even know what to do about him. He has my heart and I love him. This I’m sure of, but he can no longer have it. I don’t want him to have it anymore. I want it back, and everything along with it.

“Jaya.”

Pulling a sweater over my head, I walk out to the kitchen to see my father tapping away on his cell. He looks up when I enter. “I have to go in to work today.”

I nod my head.

“You should come.”

Now I shake my head.

“Can you just drop me at the shopping center?”

He stares at me like he’s trying to work out if I’m serious.

“Please... I have some things I need to do.”

“Is it safe?” he asks me.

“I’ll be around hundreds of people. They wouldn’t try anything with that many people around as witnesses.” He nods, picking up his keys from the counter and walking to the door. I follow behind him, and notice Betty out in her garden. I hurry to the car so as to not hear what she has to say today, but like always she has something.

“Jaya, Jaya. He’ll see you.”

Ducking into the car, I wave to her. My father shakes his head at her words, never commenting on her craziness. He doesn’t speak much as he heads to the mall, just asks me if I have enough money. I do, because I don’t pay rent at my father’s house, so most of my money I’ve saved. Syler paid for everything else.

My father touches my hand as he comes to a stop and turns to look at me. “Are you sure you’re okay to do this by yourself?”

He doesn’t know what happened. I’ll never tell him any of the details, but my father isn’t a dumb man. No. He’s very fucking smart, and he knows something happened, just not what exactly.

“I’ll be fine.” Turning, I open the car door and get out. He watches me and waits until I start walking into the shopping mall. Turning back as the shop’s sliding doors close, I watch him drive away. Breathing a loud sigh, I turn around. My eyes scan the crowd, making sure I don’t see anyone I know. My heartrate picks up when I notice a man dressed in all black with dark hair, but when he turns around my heart rate slows down. It isn’t him.

Would he follow me here, though?

Syler doesn’t like to go anywhere. His idea of a perfect night was us in his bed. Which I happen to agree with, if he wasn’t on his sidekick’s crazy train right now and wanting to kill me.

Running my sweaty hands down the front of my jeans, I start walking, stopping at a local hunting store. I step inside, searching for all the things I need. That’s when the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, as my hand touches a hunting knife. Turning quickly, I look behind me, but I don’t notice anyone, so I leave the knife and continue searching. Camo gear, water bottles, ammo, ropes, knives—it’s all in here. So much to choose from.

Then a buzz takes over the room, and I turn fast.

Toska’s eyes are on me, watching me.

Standing not far back from her is Syler, his eyes downcast to the floor.

Telling myself or wishing he’s here to protect me, is the stupidest thing I can do. He’s not here for me at all, he never was. It’s always been for her.

Stepping out of sight of Toska, I hit a large body. My breath quickens, and my heart beats hard. I’ve seen this man before, but where?

“Jaya.” His voice is hard to forget, even if it was a year ago. He stands tall and dominance radiates from him.

“Taj,” I say in a quick breath.

He smiles but behind that smile is anything but niceties. He scares me more than Toska. But for some strange reason, I don’t move away. He turns his head slightly, looking in the direction I was, then his eyes fall back to me.

Haunted, that’s what his eyes tell me. Not in the same way Syler or even Toska is. No. His are black and tormented. It’s as if you can feel it seep from his pores and straight into you. Taj is not someone I’d ever want to go to war with.

“You remember.”

I nod my head at his words. Checking back, I don’t see Toska, but Syler remains there.

Wiping my hands again on my jeans, I look back to Taj, and he’s watching me like he can see my thoughts.

“You stopped playing with them?”

Them? I don’t question how he knows who they are, he had to of known from his house that night.

“Yes.”

He checks me over, his eyes stripping me bare. Taj’s hand touches his chin where there’s a bit of scruff. His hand falls away, and he leans down to me, while my breathing deepens. “Do you need me to get you out of here, Jaya? Or do you want to see what she’ll do to you?”

I step back. How did he know it was Toska I was most afraid of?

“I see, you plan to kill her,” he says ‘kill’ as if it’s an everyday word, and that killing someone is an ordinary thing. Maybe it is for him, who knows.

“What do you know?” I ask him. She’s back now, but Syler is gone. Her hands play with a hunting knife as she steps closer, but not too close that she can hear what we are saying.

“A killer is never born, Jaya, they’re made. Do you want to be made into one?”

Looking up at him, I’m unsure of how to answer that question.

His name is called by the lady behind the counter. She’s cute, and I study her as her eyes roam him without so much of an apology for doing so. He pulls me by the arm to the counter as the girl places a very sharp knife down.

“From ear to ear, Jaya... ear to ear.” He taps his throat then picks up the knife. He glances at it, then looks to me. Handing it to me, I shake my head. I don’t want to take it from him, but he pushes it my way anyway. “Take it, you’ll need it.”

Toska says my name now, and she’s right behind me. He pushes the knife into my hands then turns to face her. Her eyes go wide as she stares at him, then her eyes do the weirdest thing. They skim to the floor.

Toska never looks down, for anyone, she’s always superior.

“Taj, I didn’t recognize you,” she states, her eyes moving back up.

“I noticed, and I also haven’t forgotten, Toska.”

She nods her head then she turns and walks away, but doesn’t go far as I can still see her.

“How do you know—”

“I know everyone, Jaya. It’s my job,” he interrupts with a smirk.

Taj pays the shop assistant for the knife that I currently have grasped firmly in my hand.

“I can’t take it.”

He nods his head. “You can, and you will.” His hand clasps mine in his. His fingers mold to mine, then he starts walking straight out of the store, pulling me along with him. My eyes fall to Toska, her green ones lit up like the green of a tree as she watches. Then we pass Syler. He’s holding a cigarette in his hand out in front of the mall. He does two takes as he looks, then goes to take a step forward. I don’t have time to say anything because Taj keeps on moving with me, his hand pulling me with each step.

They don’t come near us. They don’t even say a word.

Taj’s hand drops as he opens the passenger door of a BMW for me to get in. I gaze back to Syler, his eyes are hooded while he watches me slide in. Taj laughs and shuts the door then comes around to the driver’s side, starting the car and driving away.

While not saying a word, I sit with the knife in my hand as he drives. He takes all the right turns to go to mine, somehow finding my house easily.

How does he know where I live?

Shaking my head, I manage to chalk up enough courage to ask him. “You know where I live?”

He nods his head. “I told you, I know just about everyone here, it is a small town after all, Jaya.”

“Should I be worried?” I ask.

Taj laughs, and it’s more of an amused laugh. “Unless you fly on my radar, then no. Stay off my radar, Jaya. Do what you have to do, then leave, and never come back to this town.”

I nod my head in understanding about what he means. He comes to a stop in front of my house, and Betty’s sitting on her front porch chair watching. “Go to your neighbor, don’t go back in there without your dad.”

“Why?”

Taj turns. “You know why, Jaya. You pissed him off. It’s not just her you have to look out for, he’s just as bad.” His words send chills through my body.

Stepping out, he places the hunting knife into a carry bag and passes it back to me.

Reaching down, I thank him, and he smiles.

“I hope to never see you again, Jaya.” I could take that as an insult, but it wasn’t meant that way. “Remember what I said... leave here, Jaya.”

I nod as I close the car door, and he drives off, leaving me on my footpath watching his car kick up dirt and stones as he speeds off down the road.

“Jaya, Jaya,” Betty calls out.

Turning, I bypass my driveway and head straight for hers. She waves and taps at the swing seat next to her for me to sit in.

“Taj is a bad man, Jaya.”

Nodding my head, I swing on her chair with the bag in my lap that contains the hunting knife.

“Do you know him?”

She shakes her head. “He’s my nephew.”

Her words shock me. As far as I knew, Betty didn’t have any family. I never saw anyone visiting her. Ever.

“He owns half this town, it’s just that no one knows it.”

Glancing back out to the road, I grab my cell from my pocket to message my dad to let him know I’m home, but I have a message waiting from an unknown number.

Then it clicks as to how they know where I am. Standing, I walk out to Betty’s front garden where she has a large fish pond in the middle of her lawn. I grin widely as I drop my cell into the water. I’ve worked it out, he’s been tracking me, and now he can no longer do that. Now it’s time to play my own game with my own set of rules.