Chapter 2: Pete’s Ghost

Hearing Pete’s name hit me like a sucker punch. That trip—Director Neal’s group—was the one I tried hardest to forget. Four men, four women, three targets. Pete was the biggest guy there, the kind of man who filled a room just by breathing. On the night at Big Rock, he got with Dana, the smart, pretty woman who ran a tutoring business—gold-rimmed glasses, pale, delicate.

The tent walls glowed with lantern light, shadows stretching long and thin. I could still hear the crack of a branch outside, Dana’s voice ragged and pleading. “...I’m willing to be your pretend wife...” “...I’m willing to be your dog, is that enough? Are you happy now? Just kill me...”

Dana’s desperate pleas still echo in my head, a nightmare I can’t shake. Even now, the cracked lens of her glasses flashes in my memory, Pete’s shadow looming on the canvas, muffled sobs bleeding into the dark. I stood outside, clutching a warm beer, pretending I couldn’t hear a thing. The guilt is swamp mud, stuck to every step I take.

“Pete and I were about to get married,” Skylar said quietly, “when I found out he wasn’t just cheating—he was playing these adventure games with you guys.”

She spoke like someone reading a eulogy, hands clenched, but her eyes were dry. She’d run out of tears long ago. There was a finality in her voice that made me shiver—Pete was already dead to her.

I thought she wanted payback. But I realized I was wrong.

“Don’t worry, I’m not here to cause trouble. From that moment, I stopped loving him. I’m done letting him steal years from me. If he gets to screw around, why shouldn’t I get a little payback? I want to know what kind of pleasure could possibly be better than love.”

Her words landed like cold rain, soaking straight through. People always say you move on, but hearing it spelled out like that—it twisted something inside me. For the first time, I thought about all the women I’d used, the excuses I’d made, and shame flickered in my chest.

My cousin snapped, “Why should I believe you?”

Skylar stood, walked right up to him, and grabbed his hand, planting it on her chest. My cousin’s face went red, but Skylar didn’t flinch. She stared him down, daring him to call her bluff.

“Tell me, what would make you believe me?”

My cousin dropped his voice. “Not out here. Let’s go inside.”

I knew what he meant. No woman would agree to a deal that brazen. But again, I was wrong. Skylar took the lead, pulling him into the house and slamming the door, leaving me alone with the wind and the rattling cans. The old screen door banged shut behind them, and I stood there, listening to my own heartbeat, wondering if I’d finally crossed a line I couldn’t come back from. Sometimes you think you know the rules, but then someone like Skylar comes along and throws the whole game sideways.