Chapter 56
Chapter Fifty-Six
When I blow into the kitchen like a hurricane all eyes snap my way.
“Where is he?”
A whole room full of muscle heads look at me with coffee cups half-way to their mouths.
My volume goes up. “Scout, where is he?”
A fury builds inside of me so sharp, it's a wonder I don’t tear the room apart like a tornado.
“He left and you idiots didn’t go with him?”
Finally a reply. “Justice is tailing him.”
Fist clenched, I stalk forward. “Tailing him? You didn’t stop him? He was unhinged!”
Scout’s sharp gaze remains on me. “The conversation needs to be had.”
“Conversation…” My voice is shrill. “He’s going to commit murder. M.U.R.D.E.R. Don’t you care?!?”
“That’s why Justice is following him.”
“So what? He can ask Evan nicely to not kill the man who betrayed me? Justice is too nice. Scout, you should have gone. What about you, Vik?!?”
I turn my fury on the mountain-sized man. “You! You should have stopped him.”
They all just look at me.
“What? Why is everyone looking at me like that?”
“Marianna, none of us likes what happened to you. We’re all angry you have to walk away from this place.”
The first sob contracts my stomach, but I try to hold it inside. The second hits hard and makes my chin quake.
I whirl and grab my keys off the table in the entry, but Scout's on my heels, reaching over my head and shoving the door open before I can.
“No, leave me alone. I’m going after him.”
He picks me up and throws me over his shoulder. A peel of thunder shakes the ground as the skies open up, drenching us. As he jogs, the rain pounds the earth around us.
I kick and scream and beat his back. Until I realize he’s tossing me into the Jeep.
With a snarl, he shoves me in the passenger seat and buckles my belt. “Now, for the love of god, do not wreck us.”
“Just get me to him.”
Every muscle, every nerve in my body vibrates as he drives. I don’t even see anything outside the windows. I barely hear the rain pounding like a thousand maniacal drummers.
I’m so messed up, I can barely blink. It feels like my eyes are peeled open and glued that way.
Scout does not say a single word. Not one. But he drives fast, crashing me into the door over and over again. The broken oh-shit handle bounces around on the floorboard, hitting my feet.
When he rolls into Peter’s driveway, my heart stops. The wipers slosh back and forth, but the rain is coming so hard it’s almost impossible to see. The black truck is there. Peter’s car is there.
“Justice isn’t here.”
“You won’t see him.”
Scout reaches in the back seat and grabs a pack. He shoves a raincoat into my hands. “The storm is setting in and there’s no sign of it letting up for days to come. Put this on.”
“No.”
He grabs my wrist as I reach for the door. “Put it on, Marianna. See the yellow markings on the shoulders? That will help me see you if we get separated. I’m not letting you out of this fucking car until you do.”
I shove my arms into the too big raincoat. He puts on a camo one. “No yellow for you?”
He doesn’t answer, he heaves himself out of the Jeep and slams the door loud enough to shock my ears. A second later he’s yanking open my door and taking my arm.
We stride to the front porch of Peter and Elsa’s house.
There are no clear emotions inside of me. I’m a raging river. Swirling with deadly debris.
Elsa answers the door with a concerned and shocked expression on her face.
“Marianna. You shouldn’t be out in this weather.”
She reaches out to hug me and I flinch. Does she know?
Scout pushes me into her arms. I stiffly hug her. “I need to speak to Peter and Evan.”
“You’ll have to come in and wait. They haven’t come back.”
Scout grabs my arm—probably to keep me from falling over. “Where did they go?”
“Well, Peter walked down to the caves. He said he had to check on something. The other young man knocked on the door and I told him where Peter went.”
She looks at the blackened sky with a worried expression. “I didn’t know this was going to start so soon.”
I turn and push Scout toward the stairs. “We need to hurry. The rain is going to make the trail impossible to use.”
“Be safe!” Elsa’s shrill voice is covered by a peel of thunder that shakes the ground.
As I pull the hood of the coat Scout gave me tighter, I grab his wrist. “The caves are deadly when the rain comes.”