CHAPTER 5
The Princess
This asshole.
I’m a heady mix of infuriated, confused…and intrigued. I won’t lie and say he didn’t spook me. Maybe that’s why I’m not too keen on killing the bastard. It’s part of the appeal, because I’m not scared of anything…and this maddening stranger checks a box that no one else has managed to.
And I’ve been through a lot…of checked boxes.
I glanced down to see Simon’s name on my screen and thought about answering it…
but he’s here. And he’s listening to every word I fucking say.
I can’t risk it. Not unless I actually do kill this son of a bitch.
He’s dancing to my ringtone with the expertise of a seasoned male stripper…
and I’m ashamed to say…it’s turning me the fuck on.
“What is your fucking problem?!”
He just made it worse. I watched his hips rock back and forth and pressed my thighs together when he grabbed his dick.
I sure hope for his sake that he’s packing something massive in those jeans, for the show he’s trying to put on out here.
It would be a damn shame. He flicked his other hand towards my phone and I raised my chin, silencing it until we were back in the dark—then the little fucker took off.
I don’t think his intention is to kill me out here.
It might be worse than that, but it told me one thing I know without a shadow of a doubt… that…is his problem.
He has no idea who he’s fucking with.
I started trudging back the way I came, huffing in frustration and already blatant disregard for my fitness…and my phone went off again.
“He’s out here. I can’t talk,” I wheezed, swatting away a low-hanging branch.
“Woods?”
“Yeah. The fucker left me a shovel and some rope. I’m starting to think he’s our kinda psycho.” I looked around, seeing and hearing him nowhere.
“Trust nothing. Dig own grave.”
Fuck, I didn’t even think about that. Wouldn’t that be some shit?
“I’ll be careful. I’m gonna hide her out here and then I need to go back and grab that bag with the safety deposit stuff—”
“Not here.”
“What?” I stopped in my tracks, and I could see the car through a brush of trees.
“Not bring box. Risk. Man want you. Come for both. Find other place.”
“Where the hell am I gonna stash it? In the fucking woods?”
“Decisions. Consequences. Learn.”
If I could get my hands around that short little fucker’s neck…
but he’s right. If I keep using Simon as a safehouse, I’m gonna get us both pegged.
I’m pissed off, but I guess I don’t call him Mr. Miyagi for nothing.
I hung up on him and pocketed my phone while I bent down and grabbed the rope and stepped over to the car.
Why did he give me this?
On second thought…I guess it would be easier to drag her with.
He watched me struggle last time for God only knows how long.
I crept around the other side and opened the passenger side door, Lydia slunking halfway out and knocking her head on the dirt.
I won’t be leaving my knife this time. I pulled it out of her chest and flicked it shut, sticking it back in my pocket.
Before I could think about how to rig her up, I was shoved against the side of the car, and my arms were forced behind me while a rock-solid body pressed into my back.
I almost squealed. One of his hands reached into my hair pulling it backwards while his masked chin dug into my shoulder.
“Where is it?”
It’s like getting manhandled by fucking Batman—in a good way.
His voice is a deep, gravelly whisper, and my cunt immediately went to aching.
God, I’m deranged. I struggled, for absolutely no other reason than to make him grip my wrists harder, and his muscular thigh pressed my hips into the side of the car.
“You kill me, and they’ll find out who you are.
I promise,” I smiled, barely able to catch my breath as I stared up at the canopy of trees.
“I might be clueless…but my brother isn’t.
Neither are my friends.” His hand slid down through the back of my hair and around my throat.
I felt the warmth of his breath through his mask, and it danced over my neck until I locked up.
“I’m not scared of you, or your friends, Little Doe. I asked you a fucking question.”
My chest heaved up and down and I swallowed around the pressure of his palm as his body bore down harder…
to the point I could barely breathe. “I dunno what the fuck you’re looking for, Bruce Wayne.
I’m busy. So, if you’re not gonna help, then get the hell off of me, so I can dump this bitch and go home.
” He stilled, and I saw it pretty clearly.
I’ve stumped him. I guess he thought I’d be like sweet Natalie, or nosy Lydia.
Maybe he thought I’d beg for my life. That shit’s not happening.
I curled my back and pressed my ass into his cock… and it twitched.
He growled into my ear and pushed off of me, backing away as I turned and swung my arm, hoping to catch him in the jaw…I wasn’t fast enough. He raised his hand and dangled a set of keys—Lydia’s keys.
“What the hell are you doing?!”
He backed up another step. “Drag her west, until you see a big fallen oak. The root hole is deep. You’re welcome.” The keys raised and I dared a step forward, wide-eyed.
“Don’t!”
Too late.
They flew from his hand and landed somewhere far behind me in the woods. My head darted from that direction, back to him as he turned and started running off.
“Have fun getting home.”
It wasn’t until that point that I realized…I would have had a hard time getting home regardless. The idea was to get rid of the car here. In the woods. But…I don’t have another car to get me the hell out of Witherle.
“Gaaaaggghhh!” I screeched, pulling at my hair and kicking Lydia’s head, because—well…because it felt like the right thing to do. Now I really hate her.
Okay. I’m begging Sev for a spa day. Fuck that, I’ll force her.
I need a blowout, paraffin wax on my feet…
hot towels on my calves and a clay mask on my face.
She won’t say no. I know she won’t. I’ll even bait her into thinking I’ll open up about any of this absolute chaos that I call my current life.
Truthfully…it would feel so good to trust her with it.
It would take so much off of me, but…now that they’ve tied the knot…
I feel like she’d be obligated to tell Malek.
I also don’t want her sick with worry. I don’t want her feeling guilty for what happened when I went upstairs with Jonas to keep him from blowing her head off.
I don’t want any of that. I just want my sister, dude.
And as odd as it is to say…I want my brother, too.
Breathe a word about that…and I’ll give you the Lydia treatment.
It took me twenty minutes to figure out how to string the bitch up. I looked down at the awkward angle of her legs and shifted on my feet, thanking Christ that it’s her and not me. Looks painful.
“Oh, Lydia…” I bent down, snatching one of her shoes off and turned it over.
“My darling…you have such good taste. Everton must have paid you real well to be a nosy twat.” I grabbed her other heel and stacked the pretty Louboutins up on the roof of her car.
“Can’t let these go to waste. Thanks, peaches. ”
Then came the agony of dragging her prissy pantsuit ass through the woods.
The rope did make it easier, but not by much.
Seven Grey has to be in impeccable shape to have done this as a one-woman circus.
I found the hole Batman mentioned about half an hour after I talked myself outta the idea that he was playing me like a deck of cards.
Lydia’s body thumped about four feet down.
I raised the shovel I dragged with me and started beating the huge muddy root with the edge until clumps of dirt started breaking off from it and landing on top of the body.
Might be the only win I get tonight aside from my pretty new shoes.
The woods are so quiet…
I don’t hear bugs, animals…the telltale sound of a twig snapping with my fucking hero coming to see if I did this right.
Just…nothing. Nothing except me and my spiraling head.
I dropped the shovel and plopped down, raising my knees and rubbing circles into my temples while a headache started blooming between them. I need help.
In more ways than, one…yes, I know. Get fucked.
The only reason that this worked out so well for Sev is because she had the means and the resources to actually do all of this.
I don’t have help. I don’t have a morgue.
No secret hideaway to push a car off a cliff.
No strategy, just…rage and inexperience.
I need someone. I want…I want Dec. I hate that I want him here.
It scrapes my nerves and makes me feel weird.
But it also feels right and I can’t explain the way he makes me feel safe.
I pulled my phone out of my pocket and opened his contact, my thumb hovering over the call button.
“Don’t do it, Bridget…” I whispered, gnawing a hole through my bottom lip.
“How in the fuck am I gonna get back?” I guess I really don’t have any other choice.
I rang Simon instead. Two rings and voicemail.
I tried again…straight to voicemail. My jaw dropped open as I stared down at the screen.
“Oh my—fuck you, Mr. Frodo!” I waited for the beep, and tried to reel in my irritation, lest I find out the hard way what the truth is about that lampshade.
“Okay, is this your way of teaching me a lesson about cleaning up my own mess? Geez!” My phone slapped to my thigh, and I went back to massaging my temples.
Ping.
Mr. Miyagi: Yes.
“Aaaaggghhhh!”