Page 62 of Malice and Surrender
“No, her actual friends. You know, the ones from the sorority.” I stared at him, not saying anything as I tried to piece together what code he was speaking. “See,” Wilder said.
He pulled his phone out of somewhere extremely too close to his cock, which was disturbingly long as it traveled down his leg. Shit, man, wrap that around your leg or something.
Reluctantly, I took the phone from his hand and almost dropped it. One of the girls on the many little screens stripped and shook her tits for one of the other girls as they laughed and then started to make out.
“What the fuck?” I whispered, looking over all the small images of people. I found Naomi in her sorority room and held back a laugh, watching her. She was sitting cross-legged on the floor with a bag of potato chips in one hand, a jar of pickles in the other, and a massive container of peanut butter between her legs. The food was odd enough, but the bawling, like she was horrified by what she was eating, was classic.
Her friend Ava chatted enthusiastically and laughed like she was oblivious to Naomi’s troubles, which made my night just a little bit better.
“Why do you have surveillance on the girls at the sorority,” I asked, spotting the blonde, Lane, that Roach was obsessing over. She was brushing out her long hair as she sat on her bed with nothing more than a sports bra, flowy shorts, and bunny slippers on.
Oh fuck. Roach would be stealing Wilder’s phone and jerking off to her every five seconds if he knew about this. My lip curled up. I so wasn’t telling him. Fucking with the guy was going to be so much sweeter.
“I’m not really supposed to say, but I like you, Snake. You’re my only friend,” he said.
I was oddly torn between yelling what the fuck, driving away, and never returning or wanting to say aw. Yup, I’d definitely been hanging around the insanity too long, and here I thought prison was bad.
“Chase asked me to keep an eye on them and make sure that they were safe from Jax,” he whispered, and looked around at the empty parking lot. Of course, I had to look as well, just to be sure.
“But Jax is dead. He has been for months,” I said.
“I have not been told to cease my surveillance, so I will continue until told otherwise. It is my duty as a soldier.”
So he really was a soldier. I mean, I figured, but that was the first time he’d said it out loud. I shook my head in wonder and tried to imagine what it was like inside Wilder’s mind. Was it all just him? Was it PTSD? Was it both?
“Do you have anyone else you’re watching?” I asked, wishing I could see his eyes instead of staring at the large goggles on his face that made him look like an alien.
“No.”
I nodded.
“Well…no, unless you consider tracking people watching.”
Reaching over, he touched the screen, and the next thing to appear was a bunch of little dots in an array of colors. Some were labeled as important buildings and landmarks, but it was the little floating bubbles with names in them that made me want to laugh. It was terrifying that I’d already wondered if he was keeping an eye on us.
All the Lost Souls members were red. There was a pin for Roach, Beast, Mannix, Tanner, and Chase. There was a pin for almost all the Lost Souls members, but there were others. A half dozen people that I didn’t know were labeled in different colors.
Chase was definitely still in Canada, so we weren’t going to see the fucker for a while. At least he hadn’t lied to Beast. I had my doubts and couldn’t bring myself to trust him.
“I don’t see a pin for me,” I commented, and he smiled.
“I removed your tracker. We’re friends, and I don’t track friends.”
I decided to get the conversation back on the rails. “So other than her friends, what else did you show your love interest to watch?” Wilder screwed up his face. “Love?” he scoffed. “I do not love. She is merely interesting, and I enjoy observing her. Much how one enjoys watching animals at the zoo.”
I bit my lip. Such a way with words he had. No wonder this poor girl was screaming. “I have a number of mission videos, but she didn’t seem to like those, and the only other thing I have is a snuff video. That also didn’t make her smile.”
I needed a fucking Academy Award for being able to keep my face straight. I really wanted to know why he had a snuff film. The question was on the tip of my tongue, but I swallowed it down. That seemed like a very dangerous question.
I cleared my throat. “Well, it has been my experience that it’s best to ask her what she would enjoy watching. She may like romantic comedies or action films, or straight-up horror. I also suggest offering her favorite snack and drink while you watch the movie.” He opened his mouth, and I just knew what he was going to ask and cut him off. “Just ask her. She will tell you what she likes, and if she doesn’t, you can grab snacks for her, like popcorn or chocolate-covered peanuts,” I clarified. I could suddenly picture him offering her army rations or something.
Wilder rubbed his chin. “Once again, you have offered me good advice. I enjoy these chats.” Wilder reached out and grabbed my shoulder, and I stared at his hand, trying to decide whether this newfound friendship was a good thing or not. “I’m learning so many new things from you.”
Wilder turned toward the fence, and before he could do whatever acrobatics he planned to scale back over, I called out to him.
“Hey, Wilder?”
He looked over his shoulder. “What happened to all your other friends?”
