37. Chapter 37
Chapter 37
Dylan
T oday was the most awful day in the history of bad days. It was even worse than the one and only time I played truth or dare with Claire and she made me run through the neighborhood wearing Mom’s swimsuit while singing “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.”
So Mr. Pretends to be the Nicest Guy Ever was actually a BFF murdering Turdface with a side of Sleazeball…and we were his next targets… and there probably wasn’t anyone on the face of this planet beyond Grannie and my tyrant dad that would even believe he was a murderer. Actually, since he’d basically killed two people and was now gunning for us, wouldn’t that make him a serial killer? At what number of psychotic killings did someone earn their place among the most twisted murderers of all time? Either way, Pete should get an automatic spot there considering he’d bumped off his best friend and left his daughter an orphan.
Elise and I led the team through warmups. We were stretching, but I was watching. Like a hawk searching for mice, like a cougar hunting in the forest, like a tiger prowling the jungle. Yeah, that’s it. I had the eye of the tiger, and there was no way I was going to let Pete sneak up on us.
I hummed the song by Survivor to myself as we switched legs.
That’s right, Pete better look out ‘cause I had my eye on him. Sure, he’d disappeared twenty minutes ago when Elise and I had come to help our kids, but he’d be back, and I was going to make sure I saw him coming.
Now for the quad stretch. I grabbed the toe of my shoe and kept right on humming. Rocking to the tune, I hopped to the side and almost lost my balance. Hey, I knew what would make Elise and these kids laugh. These guys’ faces looked so serious, you’d think they were going to their own funerals. Time to lighten the mood. With a wink in Elise’s direction, I took my hopping into the crowd.
Time to get pumped, guys.
I jumped into Knox, aiming for a chest bump. The guy wasn’t ready, and instead, we made a crash- landing on the grass. Dude, that bro’s knees were as sharp as razors.
Rolling to the side, I grabbed my poor stomach. When I opened my eyes after practically hacking up a lung, Elise was standing over me, glaring like I’d just kneecapped the kid. Hey, the guy was fine. I was the one who needed a stretcher.
“What are you doing?” she hissed. “You’re drawing attention to us, which isn’t helping. Besides, you’re going to get someone injured.” Shaking her head, she offered first Knox, then me a hand up.
Cheese it all, how had I already forgotten about the eye of the tiger? I jumped up, ignoring the stab of pain from my damaged and probably bleeding organs. Any sign of Pete? Where was that silver-haired weasel now, anyway?
After doing a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree scan of the area, I hurried back to Elise.
“I’m just trying to lighten the mood, you know, work out some of those pre-race, and a psycho is coming after us, jitters,” I murmured. She shook her head in response.
Soon, it was time to stretch our arms, which was pretty inconvenient since I needed to do some serious nail munching to work out our latest complication.
The real problem was going to be figuring out how to keep the both of us safe while still giving the runners their times and cheering for them at the right spots. We needed to be at mile-mark one, the bottom of the switchbacks, and at the finish. A physically impossible feat for the two of us without splitting up. Anyone who had ever seen a horror film knew that the moment people split up, things started to go south.
I could just hear the chainsaws revving in the distance.
“Hey guys, you ready to blow every other team out of the water?” said a voice directly behind us.
I jumped a full foot backwards, my fists of fury ready to wail on whatever sucker had been dumb enough to sneak up on us—I really needed to work on this constant vigilance thing.
Avery sneered at my raised fists.
“Dylan, I would drop you so fast you’d think you were in a time warp,” she said before turning to Elise.
“I am so, so glad to see you,” I breathed, catching her in a relieved hug that lifted her off the ground before she could speak.
“Dylan,” she said in an eerily calm voice. “I don’t do physical contact, remember?”
“Right.” I let her drop to the ground, then hurried to brush all the grass my hug had left off her camo patterned jacket.
Her hand caught mine. “I got it, thanks.” Her tone didn’t sound even a little bit grateful. Good old grumpy Avery.
“Sorry, I’m pretty keyed up right now.”
“Why, it’s not like you’re going to be the one racing today?” she said. “Besides, when we did this invite last year, you crushed this course. I’m sure with you and Elise’s coaching, these guys are going to kick everyone’s butts.”
Elise had just finished taking the team through their stretches, and the junior-varsity girls were being called to the starting line by a silver-haired weasel with a megaphone. That’s right, Pete was in charge of kicking off each of the four races. At least he had some reason to stick around and not haul us into the woods yet. Still, that didn’t mean there wasn’t enough time in between each start to knock us off if he really wanted.
“Avery,” I grabbed her by the shoulders.
“Again, with the touching?” she whined.
“Look, I need you to stay by Elise until these races are over and she’s back with me.”
“I was only going to stay for Rose’s race; I have some errands to run and a test to study for,” she argued, giving my hand the stink-eye.
Fine, time to beg. I threw myself down on both knees in front of her. “Please, Avery, if you’ve ever considered me a friend…”
“We are most definitely not friends,” she interrupted, pointing a finger in my face.
“Okay then, for Elise’s friendship, please, stay with her. I don’t have time to go into a lot of details, but things are super dangerous right now. She’ll be much safer if she’s not alone.”
Avery’s lip curled as she stared at me. She could hate me all she wanted as long as she stuck by Elise.
“Alright,” she groaned. “But in return, you can promise to steer clear of me for the next month because I am completely touched out.”
“Deal.” I jumped up, reaching to give her another hug before I caught myself.
“Uh-uh.” She took a few steps back. “You can keep those hands to yourself.”
“Now what's all this about danger?” she asked.
Most of our JV girls had already trotted over to where Pete was now standing giving instructions.
“No time. I’m sure Elise can fill you in.” I shoved both girls in the direction of the starting line.
“Boy, if you touch me one more time, you’re going to lose every single one of your fingers.” Avery called as she and Elise jogged toward our girls.
Now it was time to see if my lock-picking skills were quick enough for me to get into Elise’s car and grab her bear spray and flashlight-taser before I had to be at my post. We needed every weapon we could get our hands on today.