Chapter 51
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
BELLATRIX
“There a reason we couldn’t just pull up the driveway?” I huffed, kicking a rock and watching it tumble down the hill and land next to another pile of similar-shaped rocks, before turning back to the fucker in front of me.
“Yup,” Casper hummed. I was pretty sure he was smirking again. He sounded like he was smirking again. Asshole.
“You gonna tell me what it is?”
“Nope.”
“Does it have anything to do with that bag you haven’t let out of your sight all night?”
“Yup.”
“Are you always so fucking annoying?” I grumbled, already looking for another rock to kick. It helped with my growing irritation.
This time, Casper peered over in my direction and I was right. He was smirking. “Yup.”
I knew where we were headed. I’d been here before, mostly against my will. I just didn’t know why. I also didn’t know what was in that duffle bag he had slung up on his shoulder. Whatever it was, it was light. The bag didn’t dip much in the middle. So probably not jewelry or weapons. Maybe cash.
“Afraid Daddy’s gonna catch you sneaking in after curfew?” I quirked a curious brow.
“He ain’t here.” Casper shrugged, but he didn’t argue the Daddy part. I didn’t know if it was because it was dead-on or just because he wasn’t paying attention to me anymore.
He was too busy eyeing the open window on the second floor of the building. Big enough for a person to squeeze through. A skinny person, who wasn’t afraid of getting stuck. Or heights. Or whatever creepy-ass shit was inside this creepy-ass looney bin.
We were standing at the back of Briarwood, vines climbing up all sides and making it blend in with the rest of the woods.
They made it look smaller than it actually was, especially when you remembered all the tunnels that were buried underneath.
People used to say the place was haunted.
Then again, they used to say that about the house I grew up in.
It was far worse than that, though. Humans were always worse than the monsters they made up.
Casper looked over at me, jerking his head towards the window before dropping onto his knees. “Come on. I’ll give you a boost.”
I crossed my arms and dug my heels into the mud. “You first.”
He cocked his head to the side. “If I go first, who’s gonna give you a boost?”
He was looking at me like I was stupid. I hated when people looked at me like that. It wasn’t stupid to be cautious. It was stupid to blindly follow this fucker into the middle of the woods, though. And probably stupider to do what I was about to do.
“Fine.” I sighed, pressing each of my palms against the building’s exterior and stepping on Casper’s clamped hands. He pushed up, and I grabbed on to the windowsill, making it a point to twist my boot against his shoulder blade before kicking off.
I slid through on my stomach, tucked and rolled so that my back took the brunt of my fall onto the floor instead of my pump. It wasn’t the first time I had to squeeze through a window. Didn’t mean I appreciated doing it when it was obvious the fucker had a key to the front door.
Worst part? I couldn’t be sure he wasn’t doing all this just for shits and giggles.
I glanced around the room, making sure no one was gonna pop out and grab me—a few pieces of old furniture covered in white cloths, old medical equipment, and a rusty bedframe.
Nowhere for anyone to hide who wasn’t the size of a toddler.
So I jumped to my feet, dusting off my knees, and stepped towards the window again, peering down at where Casper was currently walking back towards the woods.
At first, I thought the fucker was planning on leaving me here.
And I was about to throw a leg over the ledge when he spun around, grinned, and ran full speed at the wall.
I stepped aside just in time for him to kick off the exterior, grab on to the windowsill, and flip himself inside the room.
He landed much more gracefully than I had.
On the bottoms of his feet instead of his knees, with the duffle bag still slung across a shoulder.
I didn’t know how he’d gotten it through that opening without getting it caught up on the frame.
Though I had no doubt he had a shit-ton of practice while I didn’t make a habit of sneaking in to places unless I had to do it.
He crossed the room, slowly pulled the door open, and glanced down each side of the hallway before waving me forward.
I didn’t know why he bothered. I spotted two red blinking lights without even having to look.
Motion-activated cameras that tracked our every move as Casper snatched up my wrist and dragged me from one shadow to the next.
Like he had mapped out every blind spot and was confident we wouldn’t be seen.
I was pretty certain he was wrong. But I didn’t care enough to point it out.
Two flights of stairs and several more doors and hallways later, we were standing in what I could only assume was his bedroom. He pushed me inside and clicked the door closed behind us.
He jutted his chin towards the single bed, dropping the duffle bag on the floor before crouching down in front of it. He tugged the zipper open, glancing at the contents, then over at me with a stupid grin on his face. “Want one?”
I took a tentative step forward while peering down at the bag. I was expecting weapons or drugs or cash. Or something else worth sneaking in. Not a pile of individually-wrapped snack packets.
I shook my head and rolled my eyes. “What did you do? Rob a vending machine or something?”
Casper shrugged. “Or something.”