Read Online The Death Match by Christa Faust - Free Book Online Page B

the first time since we found her, I saw the real Tanya in her eyes. Like the evil inside her lost its grip, just for a second. She knows what a hot temper I have, and it’s like…like she said those things because she
wanted
me to kill her.”
    “Jesus,” Matt said.
    “What do you think was really going on there?” Stacy asked.
    “Man, I don’t know,” he said. “But whatever it was, it’s over now.”
    He didn’t say the next thing that came to mind, because there wasn’t any point. But he couldn’t help but think it.
    It’s over for Stacy. It will never be over for me.

CHAPTER NINE
    “You sure you won’t stay?” Stacy asked.
    Matt looked at her. She seemed to have aged ten years in the past week, not so much in the face as in the eyes. She was still clearly wrestling with what had happened, with what she had been forced to do, but for her the fight was over. For Matt, the horrible, inexplicable events that took place in Long’s compound were just jumbled pieces of the bigger puzzle. Questions within questions, like nesting dolls, and Matt knew he had no choice but to move on. To keep searching for answers. To understand the true significance of these repeating patterns and find out what Mr. Dark was really up to. Because he knew that until these questions were answered once and for all, settling down and trying to live a normal life was laughably impossible. He’d tried with Rachel when he’d first been resurrected, and look how well that turned out. Normal lives were for the living, not for undead
r
ōnin
like Matt.
    But trying to articulate all this seemed pointless. He had developed a powerful kind of foxhole bond with Stacy, and he knew that she really understood him in a way that few living people ever could. He also knew that it was time to move on for both of them. She needed to get on with living, and he needed to get on with something else.
    “Thanks,” he said, “but I can’t.”
    Stacy nodded.
    “Thank
you
,” she said, shrugging and not making eye contact.
    It was his turn to nod and look away. He was about to go when she spoke again.
    “Does it ever go away?” Stacy asked. “The hole. Missing her.”
    Matt shook his head.
    “No.”
    She looked up at him like she was waiting for him to qualify his answer somehow, or make it seem not so bad. But he didn’t. He didn’t have the energy to lie to her, and he didn’t think it would help even if he could.
    To his surprise, she came forward and hugged him, hard. He just stood there and let her for a moment, awkward and unsure, then wrapped an arm around her muscular back and squeezed, giving her three solid pats on the shoulder the way he might if he were hugging a close male friend.
    “Come back anytime,” she said. “My offer is always open.”
    “Thanks,” Matt replied.
    He walked away without looking back. He could feel Stacy watching him as he went. He hoped that she would be all right.
    * * *
    Flame was thrilled to see him and kissed his face so many times that she rubbed off all her lipstick and left him looking like he’d been attacked by a giant squid.
    “I had this awful feeling that something bad was gonna happen to you that night,” she said. “And I ain’t never been wrong when I get that feeling. I was sure I’d never see you again. Look at you.” She went on the attack with more kisses, and Matt laughingly fought her off.
    “I’m fine, honest.” He wiped his face on a bar napkin. “I just came by to pick up the rest of my things and say good-bye.”
    “Love ’em and leave ’em, huh?” Flame pulled a compact from her giant purse and started slathering on more lipstick. “Fine. Break my heart—see if I care. You men are all the same.”
    Matt laughed and shook his head as he gathered up the rest of his meager belongings, a spare shirt and some clean socks and a novel with a broken spine that he kept meaning to finish. Nothing really valuable, but when you own almost nothing, the few things you do