10 - Peyton
PEYTON
“Go,” the leader barked down at me. “Get of out here, now.”
The knife was big, and serrated, and absolutely terrifying. My pounding heart skipped a few beats, as he used the razor sharp blade to finish cutting me loose.
“We’ll give you the biggest head start we can,” he went on. “Take that piece of shit you rented, and—”
“No,” a second voice cut him off. “Not yet.”
The guy I knew as Theo returned, still rubbing his shoulder from his impromptu trip to the opposite wall. Reaching down, he helped me to my feet.
“First, take that off.”
He was pointing, somewhere down near my breasts. For a quick second, I frowned.
“Not the shirt, the locket.”
I blinked, then stared down at the silver, oval-shaped pendant. It had been hanging around my neck for so long, I’d almost forgotten about it.
“Why?”
My hand closed around the tiny medal, defensively. Nothing Donovan had even given me truly mattered, at least not in my heart. Nothing except this.
“Because you can’t go anywhere with that dangling around your neck,” the tattooed brute replied. “Not for very long, anyway.”
My eyebrows crossed in confusion. I looked back at Theo, and his face softened.
“What did Donovan tell you, when he gave you that?”
“He told me it belonged to his sister, Grace,” I said, numbly. “She died young — some terrible illness, I think. One so bad he never wanted to talk about it.”
All three of them looked at each other. My heart sank.
“Yeah, well that’s bullshit,” the leader, Colson, said. “Donovan Prescott never had a sister.”
My mouth dropped open. Astonishment crashed over me like a wave.
“Motherfucker!” I swore.
The others looked back at me sympathetically. It only twisted the knife of my own embarrassment.
“God, I’m such an idiot!” I seethed.
Theo shook his head. “You’re not an idiot.”
“He told me Grace was fragile. He talked about how much she would’ve loved me.” The cherished memories made me sick now. Donovan presenting it to me, shortly before we got engaged. How touched and honored I felt as he’d told me the story, and clasped it reverently around my neck.
“He shed tears,” I growled angrily. “Actual tears!”
“He’s manipulative,” Colson confirmed. “He weaponizes trust.”
My hand closed over the locket again. The familiar weight that had brought me comfort now felt like a scorpion’s sting.
“This is how you tracked me, isn’t it?”
Their collective silence rang louder than words. With a quick yank, I snapped the silver chain, and pulled it from my neck.
“It makes perfect sense now,” I laughed, mockingly. “The way he frowned; whenever I wasn’t wearing it. All the times he brought it back to me, after I’d taken it off in the shower.”
“Peyton…”
“All those places he suddenly appeared, without explanation. No matter where I was.”
“It’s not your fault.”
I thought about how proud I was to be wearing it; the one thing he still had from his poor, dead sister. I’d worn it everywhere, at all times. Even down the aisle.
Anger flared, hot and violent. In a flurry of motion I crossed the room, and dropped the locket onto the stone hearth.
Then I grabbed the fireplace poker, and reared back with it.
“WAIT WAIT WAIT!”
My arm came down. I wanted to see the thing smashed, twisted, ruined. I wanted to feel the satisfaction of knowing Donovan’s screens would go dark, and his last hold over me would be—
At the last moment, an impossibly strong hand clapped over my wrist.
“You can’t destroy it. Not yet.”
My head whipped left. Theo was holding my arm, staring at me like I was a madwoman. Which I was.
“Why!?” I demanded angrily.
“Because the second that thing goes dark, Donovan will send more men,” Colson explained.
“So?”
“So right now he thinks we’re bringing the locket back,” said Ripley. He stepped forward, and plucked the poker from my still-shaking hand. “With or without you.”
My head tilted curiously to one side. “And why would you do that?”
A beat of uncomfortable silence settled over the cabin. Only the low hum of the fridge remained.
“Because your locket is not just a tracker,” sighed Theo. “It’s much, much more.”
Fuck. There was a bitter taste in my mouth, as my thoughts flipped to Donovan. Is there nothing this asshole could do, that wouldn’t surprise me?
“It’s a data drive, isn’t it?” I sighed.
The men looked at each other again. Colson shrugged.
“Yes,” Theo confirmed. “An encrypted, micro-storage device.”
“So what’s on it?”
“Doesn’t matter now,” Ripley cut in. He put the poker back, and wiped his palms on his legs. “You’re out, remember? You don’t need to worry about—”
“I carried that thing for almost a year!” I snapped, pointing. “At least tell me what’s on it.”
The silver filigree oval I’d enjoyed running my fingers over hadn’t changed; not physically, anyway. But in my mind’s eye, it didn’t even look like a locket anymore. It seemed more like a poison pill.
“Peyton, listen…” Theo’s voice was soft, but also placating. And I hated placating.
“We’re not trying to be dicks about this, especially since you carried this thing around for so long. But the less you know, the better.”
Hmmm… now there was some logic I couldn’t argue. Besides, no matter what was on it, I was certain it wouldn’t be good.
All of a sudden, I felt very tired.
“Fuck it. I don’t even care anymore.”
My head swam, dizzily. Holding it upright felt like a task, in and of itself.
I had the undeniable urge to sit down.
“Peyton?”
I half-walked, half-stumbled back to the couch. When I fell, it was Colson who caught me. His strong arms snatched me from the air, and laid me back to the cushions with surprising gentleness.
“Are you—”
“I’m fine,” I told them. “My head still hurts, that’s all. Just… just give me a few minutes.”
The room was hot. Or I was hot. Or maybe both. It was all so confusing.
I let the lids of my eyes close, and it felt dangerously magnificent — almost better than sex, even. It went against every impulse I had; to take them up on their offer to let me go before any of them changed their mind.
But at the moment, a few minutes was all I needed.