I stayed with him all night. Deciding his house was not an option, we went back to mine, and I managed to get him into my room without my father noticing. He passed out the moment he hit the bed, and I passed out on the floor staying close to make sure he kept on breathing. He groaned a bit during the night, but other than that he stayed in the same position unmoving.

“Jaya.” Rolling over, my back is sore from sleeping on the floor. He’s sitting up on my bed staring down at me with a confused look on his face.

“You’re awake,” I say smiling. He rubs the back of his hair, still appearing confused.

“And you’re on the floor...” his eyes search the room, “... of a girl’s room. I have no fucking idea where I am.” His eyes land back on me. “How did I get here, Jaya?”

I sit up, and he waits for me to answer him. “You don’t remember?”

“Remember what?”

“The party?”

He nods his head. “Toska!” He says her name as if it’s evil. Let’s face it, it is.

“You remember, then?”

He shakes his head. “No! They wanted security, and I took my men there. Had a drink. Then...” he pauses so I finish the sentence for him.

“She drugged you.”

“That’s why I have a fucking raging headache.” He rubs his temples, groaning. “I’m going to fucking kill her.” He then looks up at me. “Why am I here?”

“I may have followed her. I may have seen you with her.”

“And, Jaya?”

“She killed your men, in that room... both of them.” He stands, and his fist goes to punch the wall, but then he glances back to me.

“Your father home?”

I shake my head, he took a case last night. I wonder if it was that one.

“Thank fuck.” He steps over to the door, pulling it open and walking out. Wondering what he’s doing, I wait for him to come back. He brings in two bottles of water and sits back on the bed.

“I’m going to kill her, Jaya. So you can leave and have a guilt-free conscience.”

“He’ll come after you then,” I say, referring to Syler.

Taj shakes his head at my words, “Wrong. He’s starting to see...” He pauses. “Why do you think he wasn’t there last night?”

I shrug my shoulders. “He could have been busy.”

“Syler is only busy when he has you, and now he doesn’t.”

“You don’t know. He doesn’t want me, all he cares about is her.”

He shakes his head, standing, and moving over to pick up his cell from the nightstand which I placed there last night.

“I get it, you’re as blind as he is.”

I go to tell him differently, but the words don’t leave my mouth.

“Don’t worry, Jaya. Soon she won’t even be a problem.” He walks back to my door. “I’m going to kill her, Jaya. This I promise you. She thought you were a game that she would eventually win, and maybe she would have. But she decided to play with me, instead. You don’t bring other chess players into the game late, Jaya. Especially when they’re the king, and you’re only a pawn.”

Getting up, I walk him to the front door. He touches my face and strokes it with his fingers.

“If our hearts hadn’t already been stolen, I could have wanted more, but selfless people stole them from us.”

I nod my head in understanding. Even if I didn’t know he loved someone before, I do now, and I can see that I never stood a chance with him anyway. He let me use him for what I thought I needed, and he never complained as I took what I wanted.

“They don’t deserve us,” I say more to myself than to him.

He nods his head. “Maybe you’re right, or maybe we just shielded ourselves too well. We didn’t fully let them in. Either way, you need to work out when to walk away. I think your time is now, Jaya.”

“Will you tell me when you have her? I want to see.”

His hand drops and scrubs at his jaw. His eyes are hooded when he says it. “Is it something you really need to see?”

“Tell me when you have her, Taj.”

He nods then walks off, leaving me standing there on the porch watching him walk away.

“Jaya, Jaya, Jaya... you’re making bad decisions with your life.”

My head turns to the left to see Betty standing at the edge of her garden watching me.

How long has she been standing there? I didn’t even see her when I walked out.

“Good morning, Miss Betty.” I offer her a small wave, and she shakes her head at me.

“Don’t Miss Betty me, Jaya. If you don’t leave within two days, it’s all going to come tumbling down around you. Things will happen, Jaya.”

Waving to her, I shut the front door as Taj slides into a car with a driver that came to collect him.

“I told you, Jaya,” is all I hear and it’s the sound of Betty’s voice.

Then everything goes black.

***

MY HEAD HURTS WHEN I wake. My hands are tied in front of me and Toska’s sitting cross-legged on my bed while I’m on the floor.

“You’re heavy.”

My legs and shoulders sting, there’s carpet burn all over them. It must be from her dragging me into my room. I don’t notice anyone around helping her. I smirk as my fingers try to loosen the rope around my wrists.

“You made him extremely mad at you.”

She shakes her head with her trusty knife in hand that she takes everywhere with her. “He won’t find me after this.”

“Where’s Syler, Toska?”

Her eyes go hard as she watches me. I manage to get the rope binding my hands loose enough that I could pull both hands free but they are still behind my back.

“Oh, you want to talk about Syler, do you? My brother that you stole from me. The one that left me for you.”

My eyes bulge at her words.

What’s she talking about?

He was with her when I accidentally shot him, he wasn’t with me.

“Your brother loves you, Toska.”

Her head drops back as the laugh leaves her lips. “He doesn’t love anyone. I was just someone he had to look out for. Now he doesn’t have to. He has you.”

I hear the front door open, and before she can reach me my hands are knocking her to the floor. She tries to wrestle me off her, but I’m heavier than her small frame, and she can’t do it.

“Fucking hell,” Taj’s voice comes from behind me. I feel him pick me up, separating us, as another pulls both of Toska’s arms down, pinning them to the ground above her head.

“You just have to be in it all, don’t you? What the fuck, Jaya.”

He’s angry at me?

I scrunch my nose up at him. This is not my fault!

I never asked her to come into my house and bash my fucking head. Touching my head, I feel the bump that’s already formed, then I realize why he’s here. Turning to Toska, I watch as she’s trying to fight off the guard that has her pinned to the ground, but is failing.

“Like I fucking asked the crazy bitch to break into my house and whack my head. Did Miss Betty call you?” I can feel a massive headache coming on.

“You’re like a magnet, did you know that? For the fucking crazy. Have you ever been a magnet for the normal?” He doesn’t answer my question.

I think about his words for a second and shake my head. “Nope. The crazy does seem to be my thing.”

Toska’s picked up and carried out of the room. Her mouth is covered so she can’t talk, but that doesn’t stop her from trying to move. Taj pulls out a needle and inserts it into her neck and she instantly goes limp, her eyes roll back, and she falls asleep.

“Is that...” My hands are reaching for the needle. “Did she give me that...” I trail off as Taj pulls it back, puts the cap on, then looks at me.

“This is what she gave you. Do you remember?”

I shake my head. I’ve tried to remember. Every night before I go to sleep I try to picture myself at that very moment of my last memory. But it doesn’t help, none of it seems to help. There must be a trigger, I just have to find that trigger for my memory to come back to me.

“How do you know she gave me that?”

The guards call out his name. He turns to them then back to me.

“He’ll come here looking for you. You can tell him I have her.” Taj doesn’t answer my question, he just starts walking, leaving me in the room like a whirlwind, like my life lately hasn’t been ridiculous enough.