Hold Me Down (Peterick) ➳ Book 3

Eighteen

"Why don't you take a seat, Patrick?"

Patrick still couldn't see who was talking, but he didn't want to do anything rash until he knew the full extent of the situation. So instead of listening to the part of his mind that was begging him to run, he stepped into the room and sat in the nearest chair.

His eyes skimmed the nearly empty room. He'd never been in Frank and Gerard's apartment, but he couldn't imagine it being this empty.

A hand wound its way into his hair and jerked his head back painfully. Tears pooled in Patrick's eyes as he struggled to comply.

"Tell me, Patrick, where are they?"

"I don't know," he replied immediately. "I don't know."

The person shoved his head forward and walked around.

"Pity."

Patrick's eyes went wide, tears slipping down his cheeks. "You?"

"Me," they replied.

"But I though. . . . You were. . . ."

They made a tsk noise and shook their head.

"You're right. I was. But now I'm taking my revenge."

"Why?"

"That's none of your concern," they said coolly and walked around him again.

The last thing Patrick remembered as he was unwillingly forced into unconsciousness was a sinister smile and a bit of short blue hair.

*

"What's happening?" Tyler asked as he hurried after Josh.

Before his death, Ryan had ensured that there would be at least one system that could not be hacked. Pete had known this, and left Josh in charge of monitoring The Hurricane without her knowledge, the Killjoys, and Patrick. And for a few days everything had been fine; however, two worlds had just collided, and Josh wasn't sure of the outcome.

"Patrick's in danger," Josh replied as he slammed open the door to the large computer room.

Everyone inside had hear him, Pete included.

"What?"

Josh only nodded. "She has him."

"Fuck."

Pete began pacing, his mind reeling. Fun Ghoul—Frank—had warned about this. He'd gotten plenty of transmissions from Frank saying just as much, and things had once again gone from bad to worse.

"Tyler."

The small boy looked up, meeting Pete's eye. "Yes?"

"I need you to do what we discussed."

"Of course."

"And take Josh with you."

Tyler nodded.

Pulling Josh out of the room, Tyler began mentally making a list in his mind.

"What was Pete talking about?" Josh asked.

"Not now."

Josh flinched back at the coldness in Tyler's voice. How had some simple instructions changed Tyler from the shy, timid boy to someone who held the heartless gaze of a murderer.

"Tyler?"

"Not now, Josh! Go put some shoes on and wait for me."

So Josh did. For a quarter of an hour he sat on the sofa near the front door waiting and hoping that when Tyler came back he would be back to his normal self. Because that was the Tyler he fell in love with. An odd notion to say the least, Josh was beginning to accept the feelings of happiness and contentment when he was around Tyler. He had felt it with someone before, but it faded away. This, however, seemed content to burn like a wildfire.

When Tyler pulled Josh along, still appearing to be off, Josh was content to stay silent. He was sure the mood would pass. Tyler had other plans.

Once the duo were in an inconspicuous looking car, Tyler driving, he looked over at Josh and sighed.

"Is there anything you want to tell me?"

"What?" Josh asked surprised.

"It would be easier for you just to come out and say it rather than me force it out of you."

"I. . . What are you talking about, Ty?"

The hand gripping Josh's thigh squeezed tightly, nearly bringing tears to his eyes.

"How about you lying to me?"

And while Josh hadn't planned on saying it, the words were spilling out of his mouth before he could stop himself. "I love you. Why would I lie to you?"

That made Tyler frown. "You love me?"

Josh nodded.

"That complicates things."

"How? I thought you—"

"I don't love you. I'm incapable of it."

"Please stop," Josh begged as he pressed his hands to his ears. "Stop lying."

Tyler kept going with no intentions on stopping, and the words coming from his mouth only broke Josh's heart more.

"You remember the first time you told me you remembered something? The girl with the blue hair, The Hurricane? Her name was Ashley; you two used to date. You were betrayed by Dallon, you know. He was quite easy to persuade. Unlike you I gave him what he wanted. He took her on my orders, and I killed her. Those foolish Killjoys managed to reanimate her, but I'm happy they did."

"Tyler, please."

"Shut up and listen. I was supposed to hand you over. You were supposed to be killed, but I liked you, so made a deal with Pete. I'd find Patrick if I could keep you. All you were to me was something to waste time with. But then you started remembering. And I knew it kept happening, but soon you knew what I was doing and kept it to yourself.

"But soon that won't matter, you see. I've been very useful to the other side of this war, and unlike Pete, they give me something worth my wild."

Josh's blood drained from his face.

Tyler was one of them.

His hands were tugging on the locked door handle, but it never budged. Why was this happening to him?

"And you know that girl that broke into Pete's office? I sent her to bring Patrick back, just so she could kill him and that freak Brendon right under Pete's nose. But she couldn't do it. Instead she took them both and left me in a very tight situation. But not all was lost. The two could've been turned; however, after unsuccessfully trying to eliminate the others would would persuade them, I knew I needed another plan.

"That's where The Hurricane came in. She's got quite a temper, I don't know how you ever managed to deal with it, but it's come in handy, I'll admit."

"How?" Josh croaked.

"All in due time, Josh."