Chapter 12
Ella
“Ella, what the hell are you doing out here?” Briggs asks, squinting from the bright lights. He looks back at the SUV, which I now recognize as Finn’s Range Rover. “Pull up!” he yells at whoever’s driving, which I’m guessing is Finn.
The SUV pulls forward, the headlights now shining in front of us instead of in our eyes.
“What’s going on?” I hear Parker yell as he rolls his window down.
“It’s Ella,” Briggs yells back.
“No shit?” Parker gets out of the SUV and comes up next to Briggs. “What the fuck you doing out here?”
“My truck broke down,” I tell him. “Can one of you call me a ride? My phone doesn’t work out here.”
“Ours don’t either,” Briggs says. “You have to go another eight or ten miles before you get service.”
“Great,” I mutter.
“We can give you a ride,” Briggs says.
I roll my eyes. “Thanks, but I’d rather not be murdered tonight.”
He glances at Parker. “She doesn’t want to be murdered. There goes our plan.”
“I say we do it anyway.”
For a moment, I think they’re serious. I’m about to make a run for it, but then hear them laughing.
“She fucking believed you,” Parker says, pointing at me. “Look at her face. You scared the shit out of her.”
“What’s going on?” Finn yells out the window.
Parker and Briggs ignore him.
“Can one of you call my dad when your phone’s working again?” I ask. “I’ll give you his number.”
“You really want to be left out here alone?” Briggs asks. “In the dark?”
“I’ll wait in the truck. I’ll be fine. Besides, why do you care if I’m out here alone? You’d love it if some psycho came along and killed me.”
“If she wants to stay,” Parker says to Briggs, “I say we leave her.”
Briggs looks torn, like he wants to leave me here but isn’t sure he should. He almost looks concerned, but there’s no way that’s true. He’d have to possess compassion for that to happen, and that’s not Briggs. He only cares about himself.
“What the hell’s going on?” Finn jumps out of the SUV and comes over to us. “What the fuck’s she doing here?”
“Her truck broke down,” Parker says. “But she doesn’t want a ride so we’re gonna head out.”
A wicked grin appears on Finn’s face. “We could have some fun with her before we leave.” He looks me up and down, his eyes pausing on my breasts. I’m wearing cutoff shorts and a t-shirt that’s tighter than one I’d wear to school. “She doesn’t look that bad in the dark.”
“Get back in the car!” Briggs orders. “Now!”
Finn’s eyes dart to Briggs. “Why the fuck you yelling at me?”
“Just go! Wait in the car.”
Finn blows out a breath as he walks back, muttering something to himself.
“You too,” Briggs says to Parker. “Get out of here.”
“Why? What are you going to do?”
“None of your damn business! Go wait with Finn.”
Parker glances at me before turning and walking back to the SUV.
Briggs gets in front of me, folding his arms over his chest. “You really want to stay here?”
I chew on my lip, not answering him. I don’t want to be alone out here, but I don’t trust I’ll be safe going with my three biggest enemies.
“There’s coyotes out here,” Briggs says. “Mountain lions. Might even be bears.”
If he’s trying to scare me, he’s doing a good job.
I wasn’t even thinking about all the animals out here, and I’m sure they all come out at night.
A bear could try to get in the truck. He might even try to flip it over.
I don’t know why he’d do that, but I’ve seen stories of stuff like that happening on the news.
“Even if we call your dad,” Briggs says, “it’ll be at least an hour before he gets here. You think he’ll be okay with that? Knowing you’re out here all alone?”
He’s right. My dad’s going to panic, thinking I’ll be killed before he gets to me.
I can’t do that to him. I’m all he has left, and he’s always worried something will happen to me.
Losing my mom nearly destroyed him. He could barely get out of bed.
He’d get up long enough to feed me or take me to school, but then he’d go back in his room and sleep.
My grandparents had to come and stay with us until my dad could function again.
I’m sure my dad’s already a nervous wreck, knowing I should’ve been home by now.
If he gets a call saying I’m out here all alone, he’s going to freak out and probably drive like a crazy person to get here, which is dangerous on these dark, winding roads.
He could get in an accident, and it’d be all my fault.
“How far did you say it was before I can get a signal?” I ask Briggs.
“Eight or ten miles.”
That’s a long way to walk, and I don’t want to walk in the dark.
What do I do? Can I trust Briggs and his friends to drive me back?
Finn made that comment, hinting they might do something to me, but the other guys didn’t seem to want to go along with it.
Or maybe they would, but they didn’t want to say it in front of me.
Parker and Briggs are smarter than Finn.
They know they need to gain my trust in order to get me to go with them.
After that, they’ll do what they want with me.
Then again, if they wanted to rape me, they could just do it right here. It’s three against one. I can’t fight off three huge guys.
I’m feeling sick just thinking about that. It makes me want to run away, but there’s nowhere to go. And if I ran, they’d catch me. Briggs is an athlete with long, powerful legs that could easily outrun me.
“Come on.” Briggs grabs hold of my arm.
“Don’t!” I yank away from him.
“You seriously want to stay out here?”
“No, but...” I swallow and look back at the SUV. “I don’t trust you.”
“What do you think I’m gonna do?”
I pause. “What Finn said.”
“What did he say?”
“You know what he said,” I snap, angry he’s pretending he doesn’t.
“That we’ll mess with you? That could mean anything.”
“He was implying you’d rape me, or all three of you would.”
“We don’t do that shit. I know you think we’re evil, and maybe it’s true, but we’re not rapists. We get plenty of sex. We don’t need to force someone into it.”
“It isn’t about sex. It’s about power. Having control over someone.” I glare at him. “And that’s all that matters to you guys. Having power over people. Being in control.”
He pauses, his eyes on mine. “I’ll give you my word we won’t hurt you if you go with us, but if you want to stay here, it’s your choice.”
“Your word?” I let out a harsh laugh. “Your word means nothing. You’ll say whatever you have to to get your way. You’re a selfish, lying bastard.”
He turns and walks off.
Shit! He’s leaving. They’re going to drive off, and I’ll be stuck here alone. I doubt someone else will drive by, and if they do, they’ll be a total stranger. At least I know these guys, but I can’t trust them. They hate me. And I hate them.
What do I do?
“Wait!” I yell, running up to Briggs.
He turns around. “What?”
My heart’s pounding, and my head’s screaming at me not to do this, but I don’t have a choice. I have to get out of here.
“I’ll go with you but just take me to the nearest gas station. You don’t have to take me home.”
The sooner I’m away from them, the better. I’d rather wait for my dad at a gas station than be stuck with the three of them.
“You sure?” he asks, making me question myself. Why is he doing that? Is he just trying to scare me, or is he planning to do something to me and is giving me one last chance to back out?
I take a moment to think, but I really don’t have any options. I need to get out of here, and going with them is the only way that’s going to happen. I just have to trust they’re not going to hurt me.
“Let’s go.” I hurry past Briggs, glancing at Parker on my way to the back seat. He’s in the front, his window down.
“She’s coming with us?” Parker says to Briggs, sounding surprised.
“We’ll drop her off at a gas station on the way to the party.”
They’re going to a party? I guess it makes sense. It’s Saturday night, but then what were they doing out here?
Briggs gets in beside me, not looking at me. He leans forward to Finn. “Drop her off at the first gas station when we get into town.”
“How much is she paying us for this?” Finn asks.
“Just shut up and drive.”
Finn takes off so fast I lurch forward, almost slamming into the seat in front of me. I grab my seatbelt and put it on.
Briggs moves over to the middle of the seat. His huge legs spread to the side, bumping into mine.
“What are you doing?” I ask.
“I get sick if I can’t see out the front.”
“Then why don’t you sit in the front seat?”
“Because it’s even worse for me,” Parker says. “I hurl if I sit in the back.”
“Then why don’t you and Briggs both sit in front?”
“Because nobody drives this thing but me,” Finn says. He looks up at me in the rearview mirror. “What the fuck were you doing out here?”
“I had to pick up a lawnmower part for my dad.”
“They don’t sell parts in town?” Briggs asks.
“They do, but not this one. It’s a custom part. I don’t know what it’s for, but my dad insists on going to this guy to get his parts.”
“They’re probably off market,” Parker says.
“What do you mean?”
“Stolen. He gets them for cheap. That’s why he drives all the way out here.”
“He doesn’t use stolen parts,” I say, getting angry.
Parker chuckles, pleased with himself for making me angry.
I should’ve just ignored him. I need to ignore all three of them.
They’re going to use this little trip for their own amusement.
They’ve got me trapped in their car, and they’ll use the opportunity to annoy me, anger me, and try to scare me.
I get out my phone and check for a signal.
“Another five miles, at least,” Briggs says, noticing me looking at my phone.
“For what?” Parker says.
“Phone signal.”
“More like ten or twelve,” Finn says. “Last time I came out here I didn’t get a signal until I was almost back in town.”
“Why were you guys out here?” I ask.
“Because the weed in the city isn’t good enough,” Parker says, sounding annoyed.