Donovan Creed 11 - Because We Can! Read Free Page B

her dresser! He dives for them at the precise moment Jake enters the bedroom where Milo waited for Faith while she got dressed. There’s no way Milo can get back in Faith’s coat closet in time to avoid Jake. He’s lying facedown on the floor in the center of Faith’s closet, wearing her bra and panties and platform sandals and nothing else.
    What to do?
    Nothing. There’s no solution.
    Milo grabs his clothes, covers his head, and…
    …By some miracle Jake walks right past him and enters the master bathroom.
    Milo scoops up his clothes, makes his way back to the coat closet, closes the door. He quietly removes Faith’s sandals, but leaves the bra and panties on.
    Then waits to hear the shower running.
    Except that what he hears is the TV.
    Who watches TV while taking a shower?
    No one.
    And Jake isn’t watching it either. He’s listening to it while taking a piss, Milo figures, when he hears the toilet flush. Jake turns the TV volume higher. Milo can’t make out the words, but it sounds like a female newscaster. Suddenly Jake shouts, “Twenty-two! Twenty-two! Twenty-two!”
    What the hell?
    And a moment later, “ Oh my God ! Seventeen! Say it! Say seventeen!”
    Jake is shouting. Milo wonders what the fuck’s going on. Suddenly Jake shrieks like an impaled banshee. “ No fuckin’ way !” he screams. “No fuckin’ WAY !”
    He runs down the hall, then back to the bathroom, shouting, “Omigod! Phone! Phone! Where’s my fuckin’ phone?”
    Does Faith want Jake dead because he’s crazy? Milo hears the TV go quiet.
    Jake shouts, “Answer it!”
    Apparently he’s found the phone and placed a call. The phone’s not on speaker, but Milo hears every word Jake says, because he’s pacing up and down the hall between the master bath and bedroom. Every few seconds he spots Jake through the louvered door facing a different direction.
    What he realizes, eventually, is Jake, or Faith—or both of them—have just won the lottery.

6.
    “IT DEPENDS ON how many winners there are,” Jake says on the phone. “If it’s just us, it’s $165 million! No, I’m not shitting you!”
    He pauses a moment, then says, “I swear on my life!”
    Pause. “Cash option? I think they said $107 million and change. No, how many times must I say it? I’m not shitting you! You gotta come celebrate!”
    Pause. “ Forget the fuckin’ party!”
    Pause. “No, I’m sorry. Of course you need to be there. But what I’m saying, come see me before the party. We need to celebrate.”
    “Yes, of course I expect sex! This is the best night of our lives!”
    Pause. “I know you’re heading there right now. But look. A quickie. Ten minutes. Make it five. How about five? Five minutes. I mean, seriously, I know we’ve had some issues lately, but this changes everything, don’t you see? It changes everything ! We’ve got to celebrate. We need to celebrate!”
    Pause. “Yes, I already told you I’m coming to the party. How can I not? Can you imagine their faces when they hear the news?”
    He laughs, then says, “I’ll take a shower right now. See you in a few, okay?” Pause. “Thank you! You’re the best!”
    He dances past the doorway into the master bath, and turns on the shower, leaving Milo thoroughly confused about what to do.
    The sonovabitch won the fucking lottery ? Surely not. And yet, how could anyone be that excited unless they knew for certain?
    Jake’s in the shower. This is the perfect time to kill him.
    Except that Jake was obviously talking to Faith just now, which means she’s on her way back home, which means he can’t kill Jake without ruining Faith’s alibi.
    Not to mention if Jake and Faith have truly just won the lottery, killing Jake would give Faith a huge motive for the killing.
    It’s a crazy situation.
    Faith’s on her way home, where she knows Milo’s waiting to kill her husband. She can’t call to tell him not to kill Jake, because Milo’s phone’s at his mom’s house.
    It’s also an