“Not a damn one.” I look at his phone sitting between us. “Did you get ahold of Lars or Marni yet?”
“No, man. No one is answering. I’m sure they’re at the hotel.”
Ten minutes later, we’re pulling into the hotel that I booked for us over three weeks ago. My blood has settled and my heart rate is back to normal. I glance around the parking lot that is packed with cars and don’t see Tommy’s car anywhere.
The stench of chlorine hits me as soon as we walk into the lobby. I head straight to the front desk to get a room number since Lars already checked us in. Dropping my bag to the floor, I reach in my bag pocket and pull out my wallet.
“Good evening. Do you have a reservation?” the young blonde from behind the counter asks.
I slide my ID to her. “Room’s under my name. We’ve already checked in, but I need the room number, and I’d like to add another suite if you have any vacancies.” When I booked the room, I was planning for us to all share one room. At the time, Marni was merely another body taking up space. Now, I plan to devour that body tonight and I don’t need Tommy and Lars as an audience.
Tommy’s standing next to me typing into his phone. “Reach him yet?” I ask.
He shakes his head no.
“Thank you, Mr. Porter.” She hands me back my ID. “I’ve added a suite to your reservation. That will be on the fourth floor as well.” She begins going over check-out, breakfast, blah blah blah, but I cut her off.
“Lars Tyson has already checked in for the original room. Is he here now?”
“No. No one has checked in under this reservation. You’re the first to arrive.”
I look at Tommy, who lifts his head from his phone. “Alright, thank you.” I take the keys.
“That’s not right. Maybe someone else was working when Lars got here earlier,” I say, as I push the elevator button. “Something feels off. Do you feel it?”
With hooded brows, Tommy side-eyes me. “Yeah. Something is definitely off. Marni isn’t answering your phone and Lars’ is going straight to voicemail.”
We step into the elevator, and I press the button for the fourth floor. When the doors slide back open, hurried steps take me to the original suite. The room that they should be in.
The key clicks the door unlocked and I shove it open. “What the hell? Where are they?” My bag slides off my shoulder and hits the floor with a thud. “Gimme that.” I grab Tommy’s phone from his hand.
I tap Lars’ name and then info to go to the map of his location.
Location Unavailable.
I tap my name and a darkness consumes me as it’s loading. Like my mind is preparing for the same result.
But it’s not. The location pings.
“Dalton? What the actual fuck is my phone doing in Dalton?”
Tommy grabs it back out of my hand. “That’s over an hour away from here and in the direction of Redwood. That can’t be right.”
I grab my bag off the floor. “We’ve gotta go. Wherever she’s headed, I’m ninety-nine percent sure that Lars is with her.”
24
The Welcome to Redwood sign has come and gone. We drove through the town, and we’re headed down the outskirts of a familiar location.
“Why are you doing this?” I ask for the hundredth time. And the response is always the same.
“Just shut up.” Though his response is calloused, his tone is warm.
Lars held me at gunpoint while he made me climb over the seat and switch him spots so that he could drive. The entire ride, I’ve had the pistol pointed at my stomach. I’ve thought of countless ways that I could try and overturn this hostage situation, but in my mind, each one ended with a gunshot to the gut. Needless to say, I’m at his mercy until I’m handed over to the devil himself.
“You don’t have to do this. Tommy and Talon will protect you—I’ll protect you. Zed doesn’t—”
“Shut up.” He repeats again.
“I’m just saying that if you’re scared—”
“God damnit, Marni. Will you just shut the fuck up!” He shouts for the first time during this three-hour drive. Straightening my back, my body tenses up again when we make a turn down the long gravel drive.
“What are we doing at Briarwood?”
Zed’s car is parked out front and he’s leaning against it in a pair of black jeans and a dark gray hoodie that’s pulled over his head. But, what makes my skin crawl is the sinister smirk on his face. It’s unearthly and loaded with intentions that I can’t even fathom.
“Lars, please.” I try one more time. “Just turn around. There’s still time.”
He looks over at me, offering me a brief moment of comfort with his eyes. “Whatever you do, don’t try and fight him. It sends him to a dark place and nothing good ever comes out of it.” He stops the car and hits the unlock button.
When Zed begins strutting over and Lars stays put, my heart jumps, and I struggle to speak. “Aren’t you getting out?” He looks straight ahead. He can’t even look at me now. “You’re a fucking coward!” I shriek when the door opens and Zed grabs hold of me. I wail and my legs kick, trying to hit him, but my eyes are still glued to a mute Lars. “Do you hear me? A coward!”
As soon as I’m out of the vehicle, Zed slams the door shut, without even a word to his friend who drove me here. Lars speeds off, kicking gravel up behind him.
At the top of my lungs I scream, “Come back!” A lump lodges in my throat, and I choke out, “Please come back.” Tears begin falling carelessly down my face as Zed drags me up the driveway to Briarwood.
“Scream as loud as you want. No one can hear you.”
“Why are you doing this? What have I ever done to you?”
“This isn’t about you. This
