The Scammer - 35

Vanessa glances around the room at my packed belongings and sighs.

“So this is it, huh? Heading back to your parents?”

His girlfriend . . .

It’s hard to think after a brain implosion. The scattered pieces jiggle around in my skull.

“Uh, yeah,” I say, forcing myself to seem as normal as possible. I have to stick to the plan. “I wanted to stay but after . . .

everything that’s happened, it just makes sense for me to withdraw.”

Vanessa’s lips wiggle as she gazes at my suitcases.

“Damn, I feel like this is all my fault.” She takes a deep breath. “Look, I’m sorry for . . . everything. I don’t know how

I let it go so far. And Devonte, well, maybe prison just messed him up real bad.”

I stare at her, speechless.

“So can we . . . well. You’re my sister! With Kammy gone and Loren sick . . . you’re all I have left. Maybe we can just . . . start over?”

His girlfriend . . . His girlfriend . . . His girlfriend . . .

“O-kay,” I sputter.

She smiles, rubbing her shoulder. “I’m gonna make us some tea. It’s so cold. You like mint, right?”

I lick my lips. “Yeah. Mint.”

I turn around, trying to control my breathing as the earth spins off its axis.

His girlfriend . . .

All this time . . . I thought they were brother and sister. How did I not know this. How did I miss it? I go over everything

I saw, everything I know, and nothing makes sense.

His girlfriend . . .

In the kitchen, Vanessa hums as she pours boiling water into our school mugs, then steeps the tea bags.

“You gotta wait at least two to three minutes,” she sings. “That’s the proper way to make tea. Or so I’ve been told.”

The shape of her body, her smile, the way she can seduce a spoon to bend to her will . . . you only learn those types of skills

with time and age.

Vanessa holds the mug out. “Here you go.”

I steady my shaky hand to take the cup from her.

“Thank you,” I mutter.

“Oop! One more thing.”

She runs into her room and returns with a small plastic bag full of white powder. My stomach drops.

“What’s that?”

She reads my reaction and laughs. “Girl, relax, it’s just sugar! I had to stash it away. Devonte would KILL me if he caught

me with this shit.”

She pours a little in my cup and stirs it with a straw. “There! That should be perfect. Come on! Sit on the sofa with me.

One last time!”

The white powder evaporates in the swirling water.

“Uh, one second, let me just grab my phone.”

I rush into my room, trying to stay focused on my breathing. Outside, I see the unmarked police car but I have no way of reaching

it.

His girlfriend . . .

The sick, demented things they’ve done. The hearts they stomped over. The lies . . . I grab my phone to shoot Nick a quick

text. Maybe he could—

“Girl, hurry up!”

I jump in my skin, dropping the phone on the table.

Don’t panic. Pull it together.

Except this feels like the perfect time to panic. With a deep breath, I grab the laptop out of my bag.

She laughs as I return, handing me a mug. “Always working, this girl.”

I watch her back as she strolls into the living room, carrying such effortless grace. She’s had years to perfect it.

She sits on the sofa, holding up her steaming cup. “Cheers, bitch!”

I join her and we clink mugs. I stare into the cup, mouth parted open, but can’t bring myself to take a sip.

“OMG, are you serious?” She shakes her head, shooting her mug out at me. “Here, girl, drink mine if you’re so worried. I ain’t

gonna poison you.”

“I know,” I say with a nervous chuckle. “It’s just . . . you know ever since that night during homecoming . . . teas taste

so different to me now.”

She shakes her head, grinning. “Drink, girl.”

Even with the switched cup, my nerves are too fried to trust anything this woman says or does. But I know it’s the only way

out of this.

Play along and act fast.

I take two big gulps. The hot water sizzles down my throat. Vanessa watches me intensely then smiles. For a moment, it feels

like old times, us sitting on the sofa, drinking out of mugs. Even without Loren and Kammy around, Vanessa just puts me at

ease. It’s a superpower. One I fell for easily.

I glance at my phone, realizing I didn’t press Send on the message to Nick. No one knows we’re here.

Alone.

“But for real, I’m really sorry about everything that’s happened. Like, I can’t believe he set those girls up to jump you!”

“Anger always results in sloppiness.”

He’d never do anything crazy on campus. He was too careful, tight roping around the loopholes. Vanessa isn’t as careful. She leads with emotion.

“Have you heard from him?” she asks. “Text or anything?”

“No. Thought he didn’t like cell phones?”

I take another drink. She watches my mouth and licks her lips. Satisfied with something unsaid, she sips more of her tea.

“He doesn’t. Well, sometimes he uses mine. It’s just . . . weird ’cause the last time I talked to him, he was meeting up with

you.”

I keep my face emotionless, though my heart is racing wildly. “Oh.”

“He said you said something very specific. Something no one would know about him.”

I glance at the front door. It’s just us in here. For the first time ever. I’m not trapped. I can escape. But I still feel

pinned by an invisible force.

“Well, we spent a lot of time together writing.” I look at her. “Does that . . . bother you?”

“Psst! Nah!” she laughs. “He’s my brother! A bit of a ’ho at times but who isn’t. I . . . guess I just really believed he

needed me, you know. The world’s been so unfair to him that I feel I always have to protect him.”

“ He’s my brother.” She said that so many times. I gag, covering my mouth to stop the threatening vomit.

“Hey, you okay?” she asks, lightly touching my arm.

“Yeah,” I say, trying to think of a way to create some space between us. “Can I have more sugar?”

She grins. “Yeah. Hang on.”

Vanessa stands too quickly. She wobbles, falling back onto the sofa.

I place my mug on the coffee table. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” she slurs with a frown. “I . . .” She touches her numb lips as the shock spreads across her face. She grips the sofa

cushion, realization sparking in her eyes. “I . . . I . . . NO!”

Then suddenly she’s on me, hands gripping around my neck with a tight squeeze, my head hitting the sofa arm. She lunged so

fast I didn’t have time to let out a scream. I beat my fist against her arms, desperate for air. We roll off the sofa, tea

mugs crashing onto the floor with us, water scalding our shoulders. I grab the mug and swing but she dodges it, returning

with two punches to my right eye, sending shooting stars around my vision. She pushes against my bruised ribs and I howl in

agony.

Her hands return to my neck. My legs run in place, sneakers squeaking against the tiles, but I can’t move. She screams, pressing

down harder, a rage in her eye I’ve never seen. She’s stronger than she looks.

And she’s about to kill me.

Slowly, as life leaves my body, her arms become tough noodles. I arch my leg up and knee her in the stomach. She cries out,

her hands loosening, and with the last of my energy, I shove her off and she thumps onto the floor, all dead weight.

I cough out a gasp and roll over to my back, my ribs throbbing.

The drug finally slipped into her system, weighing down her veins, leaving her motionless.

Holding my side, I manage to make it onto my feet, wincing through the motions, and drop on the sofa, straightening what little

hair I have left. Vanessa stares at me from the floor, trying to catch her breath, reminding me of a dying trout on shore.

“You know,” I begin, the words scratchy, and nod at the computer. “This isn’t mine. It belonged to my brother. Kevin. You

remember him, right?”

Her eyes grow huge as she wheezes, trying again to move, to stand, to do anything. I watch her squirm and open the laptop

to the photo album, turning it in her direction.

“This you?”

I tap the selfie he took while lying in bed with her, smiling, cheesing, laughing into one another. He looked so damn happy

that it breaks my heart, thinking of his heart shattering as he slowly learned the truth about the one person in the world

he was willing to give up his family—his sister—for.

“You didn’t even bother to learn who his parents were or what they looked like. Hearing my last name didn’t ring any bells?

Or maybe you just fucked over SO many Kevins that you forgot? Just another drop in the bucket.”

Vanessa’s eyes toggle from me to the computer, shaking her head with a whimper.

“I know. We don’t look alike. He was much cuter than me. Everyone said so.”

“Please,” she slurs, gurgling a throat full of saliva. Maybe she’ll choke on it, maybe she’ll die.

“‘Lions are not concerned with the opinions of sheep.’ That’s the line your stupid brother swore he made up when he just stole

it from a TV show. Game of Thrones. Ever heard of it? It was a show my brother knew by heart. That’s how he figured out you two were full of bullshit. Oh, I’m

sorry. Not your brother. Your BOYFRIEND!”

Her mouth gapes wider, lips trembling as she struggles to stay awake.

I lean closer to her, shaking in rage. “You took EVERYTHING from me. He was the one person in the world who understood me,

the one person I had to lean on, and you took him.”

The terror in her face isn’t as satisfying as I thought it would be. She manages to moan a small “help” before slumping to

the floor, passing out cold. I study her for a few moments. The woman my brother was so in love with, the woman who crushed

him. I put two fingers to her neck. There’s still a pulse.

Good.

I close Kevin’s computer and walk into Vanessa’s bedroom, noticing how it smells just like Devonte.