Chapter 12
When I’m finally able to tear my gaze away from the black-haired man in front of me, a glance at Jed shows me he’s just as surprised and speechless as I am. He shoots me a look, then glances down like he’s ashamed of something, foot scuffing in the dirt.
“Did Cass tell you everything? Or did you hear I’d kidnapped someone and just floor it all the way up here?” he mutters, shoving his hands in his pockets like a kid who’s been caught doing something wrong. “Surprised you didn’t drive straight through the gate to rescue her, Wren.”
Wren rolls his eyes in exasperation, his attention turning to me.
“I’m Wren,” he greets, stepping towards me carefully.
He moves gingerly and hesitates, as if he’s afraid I’m going to run away.
He stretches one hand out to me, non-threatening and non-lethal, but I just look at it for a few seconds.
“I won’t hurt you. He’s not going to hurt you, either. ”
Just as carefully, I reach out and take his hand, shaking it loosely before dropping it like a hot potato. “Saylor. Can I ask you something?” I ask, eyes wide as I gaze up at all six-foot-something of him.
“Yeah, of course. Saylor? You can ask me anything.” His eyes pin me in place, their earnest honesty and concern not nearly as nice to look at as Jed’s.
“Are you the one who dumped a body here for Jed to chop up into bits?”
The look of shock on Wren’s face is almost comical.
So is the choked, coughing noise that Jed makes as he turns away from the both of us, hand going to cover his face.
Wren glares at him, glancing at the shed before looking back at me.
“Okay. I’ll bite. Clearly there’s something I don’t know, if you’re asking me shit like that. Where…did you find her exactly, Jed?”
“Well, I didn’t swipe her off the street,” the blond mutters.
“You want to come in or something? Feels weird to make her stand in front of the butchering shed when she…” He glances down at my still-drying vomit on the ground, and I wince in embarrassment.
“Well, it stinks anyway and I’m tired. Saylor needs something to drink.
” He turns his eyes on me once more, a small, hopeful smile curling his lips.
But I can’t return it this time. I can’t get the smell of dead, rotting flesh out of my nose. I can’t get the feel of the chainsaw on the pads of my fingers out of my mind enough to do anything but stare.
“Great. Awesome. Got any food?” Wren walks between us, throwing an arm over Jed’s shoulders and towing him along without a look back at me.
I see him lean over and hiss something sharp in Jed’s ear.
Something that makes the killer wince, but his tone is too quiet for me to do more than speculate about his words.
But from Jed’s face, he doesn’t like whatever it was Wren said.
I follow them at a short distance, picking at my nails as Wren all but drags Jed along merrily. It’s…something to see him being manhandled by someone much bigger than him, and part of me almost feels bad for my kidnapper.
Jed finally pulls away when we’re inside, going to the kitchen and opening the fridge before he turns and looks at me.
“What would you like?” he asks, gesturing to the well-stocked fridge.
“Just water to wash your mouth out for now? I can make you something to eat soon, if you feel like it after that?”
Wren makes a noise I can’t identify and sits down hard at the counter in one of the high, stool-like chairs.
“Oh man, Jed,” he sighs, leaning forward and running his hands through his mass of black hair.
“You have it bad. What did he make you for dinner last night?” He peers up at me from under his hands, grinning, and I freeze in place, confused.
“Umm. Chicken and broccoli Alfredo?” I reply, confused.
Wren whistled. “He made you pasta from scratch already? We’re not holding back, are we, brother?” His grin is wolfish when he looks at Jed, who hunches his shoulders and gives a quick shake of his head before swiping three bottles of water from the fridge and closing it.
“Don’t do that,” he requests, because there’s no way it’s a dare when he says it so…hopefully. Even a request is being generous. “Don’t make her uncomfortable, Wren. This is weird enough for her.”
“Weird isn’t the word I’d use,” I admit, leaning against the back of the sofa, darting a glance at the water bottles in Jed’s hands. He pauses, stopping mid-way when he’d been going to sit, and instead strides across the distance to hold one out to me, smiling slightly as he does.
It makes my heart twist in ways that definitely don’t fit the situation, and I want to bang my head against the nearest wood pillar in the room in response.
“I’m not trying—” Wren trails off with a sigh, his smile falling incrementally as Jed sits down beside him. “Look. You fucked up by kidnapping her. We don’t do that Jed. Cass said something about it being a bad circumstance, but I want to hear it for myself.”
Jed makes a noise in his throat, stirring as he grips the bottle hard. “Like I told him—”
“Nah, sorry.” Wren doesn’t take his eyes off me as he talks. “I want to hear it from her.”
I jolt, probably jumping a few inches as my ribs squeeze down on my heart.
My hand trembles as I bring the water bottle to my mouth, swishing it around before swallowing.
Thankfully, I’d only heaved up a little bit of bile and nothing worse.
I’d hate for it to have been worse. “Why me?” I ask, glad I don’t have to sit.
I know I don’t really have anywhere to go, but I feel better standing here instead of sitting there.
Especially when my heart thumping in my chest tells me that Wren might be the one to actually kill me.
My face must give something away, because his gaze softens. “I’m not going to hurt you,” he promises, raising his empty hands in surrender. “Jed wouldn’t have let me in here if I was going to hurt you, okay?” He glances between us, and Jed dips a quick, jerky nod at his words.
But I don’t understand what in the world he means by that.
Why would Jed let him in or not, depending on if Wren was going to hurt me?
But I don’t question it. Not out loud, at least. I’m not sure I want the answer.
Instead, I tap my fingers along the plastic of the water bottle; being careful not to smoosh it in my clammy grip.
“You want to hear what happened that night from me?” I clarify, lounging against the sofa’s supportive back. I want to make sure I understand him right and determine if he’s making fun of me.
Wren dips a nod, taking a swig of water. “Please? I want to figure out how I can help you the best…without Jed getting sent to jail,” he admits ruefully, almost as an afterthought. “So, if you could help me understand everything that’s happened, I’d appreciate it.”
When I start, it’s by telling him about the job.
About why I’d been in the preserve in the first place.
My words are unsure, but thankfully grow in confidence as I explain the first time I saw Jed and the other man.
I try to leave out the stupid things, like how afraid I’d been and how I thought Jed was going to do the same to me.
I also try not to paint Jed in the worst light possible, though it’s impossible to miss when he buries his face in his hands and sighs heavily as I explain about him drugging me.
Well, I don’t exactly know how to soften that part of it. But at least I leave out him licking blood off of my skin, which feels too personal for Wren to really get to hear.
By the time I’m done, while leaving out the licking, the kissing, and the way some of his words and actions make me feel, Wren’s water is empty and he’s twisting the bottle in his hands, looking thoughtful.
“Wow,” he says at last, when silence has enveloped the cabin for at least thirty seconds. “Wow. You know, I thought Virgil and Sloane were bad. But this?” He tilts his head in my direction, eyeing up Jed. “This takes the cake. You know that, right?”
Jed doesn’t answer. He’s too busy staring at his water bottle like it might put him out of his misery. But at this point, I find it impossible to keep my mouth shut, so I ask, “Who’s Sloane? And Virgil?”
That gets their attention, though in two different ways. Jed looks guilty, and a little bit nervous. Wren looks…thoughtful.
“Virgil is one of our best friends,” Wren explains.
“He’s actually the one who brought that body out here the other day.
He killed the guy spur of the moment, after what he saw him do.
” His eyes are locked on mine as he speaks, and his water bottle crunches between his fingers softly.
“You know that much, right? That we’re killers?
Some of us aren’t as discerning as others, I suppose.
But we don’t just go around killing people for fun.
Your friend at the marsh deserved it. That guy in the shed?
Definitely deserved it after what he did to a little boy, I promise. ”
He sits back in his chair, like he’s trying to choose his words carefully before he goes on.
“Virgil is one of our best friends, like I said. Way less fun than me, but still more talkative than him.” He gestures with the bottle at Jed.
“Not that it’s difficult to talk more than our darling chef here. ”
Chef? It makes sense, and my gaze slides to Jed’s face at the word. Is that his day job, then? The one he said he’d taken a break from?
“Sloane is Virgil’s girlfriend,” Wren goes on, explaining that part as well. “They met, uh, in a special way.”
“Fiancee as of a week ago,” Jed corrects quietly. “And don’t sit there pretending you didn’t meet Hazel in a special way.” His glare is baleful when he turns it on Wren. “I’m not the only one who goes about things poorly.”
“I keep forgetting he proposed. Can’t believe she said yes.” Wren sighs, dipping his head in agreement.
“Can’t believe you haven’t,” Jed quips under his breath. “Or do you just wear a collar with a bell for Hazel to clip a leash onto when you get home?”
“Don’t be shitty.” Wren bares his teeth in a sudden predator’s snarl. “I’m not the one who kidnapped a girl who doesn’t trust him and went about this all wrong.”
“I don’t know what else to do!” Jed jumps to his feet, upset for the first time since I’ve met him.
It’s enough to freeze me in place, though I can’t take my eyes off of him as he chucks the bottle into the sink and rakes his fingers through his hair, forcing it to stand on end.
“If I hadn’t, we’d all be in jail. I’m good at cleanup, but not that good.
” His voice is a low, agitated growl. Not a yell like I’d been expecting.
And he doesn’t seem…mad exactly. Just exasperated and at the end of his rope.
“I know I went about this all wrong. I know she’s never going to like me, okay?
But I had to figure out what to do in that moment and she was going to call the police.
I’m sorry.” He looks at me, and for the first time I see the tumultuous whirl of emotion on his face.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know I’d meet you there.
Saylor, I didn’t know what to do, but I had to kill him before he left and hurt someone else.
I know you’ll never want to see me again.
I’m just hoping I can—Wren can—convince you not to go to the police. ”
“Whatever you want,” Wren agrees. “Money or an excuse. A job if you want. I can get you—”
“I don’t need that.” I don’t know why, but the words make my throat burn like I’m about to vomit up more bile.
Still, I shake my head and cross my arms over my chest. “Okay, yeah, I don’t have a lot of money, but…
” I look away from Wren, back to Jed. “I thought you were going to convince me not to tell.”
It shouldn’t have come out like a challenge. Then again, it shouldn’t have come out at all.
But now that the words are out, like so many others I can’t keep bottled up, I can’t take them back. My fingers curl, crinkling the bottle loudly. “I just mean…” God, there’s no way to fix what I’ve said. Especially when I see the wicked grin cross Wren’s face.
“No, I get what you mean,” he assures me, his chair scraping on the laminate floor as he gets to his feet.
“Trust me.” He flicks a look to Jed, who, in my opinion, looks like he’s been hit with a thousand volts and just hasn’t fallen over yet.
“Maybe I was wrong to, uh, floor it all the way up here, huh?” There’s something in his face I can’t read as he looks me over, like what I’ve said is some divine announcement.
“Just…” He looks between us with a frown.
“Let her go soon, okay? Don’t keep her here for too long, Jed.
And when things are better?” He sounds a little iffy on that one. “Bring her to dinner.”
Before my brain can process any of that, Wren saunters out the door, leaving both of us in the open area of the cabin only a few feet apart.
Finally Jed takes a breath. Then another one. He comes toward me and reaches out a hand for the bottle I hadn’t realized was empty, before tossing it into the sink without walking away from me. “Did you mean it?” he asks, his voice soft enough that I barely hear him. “What you said?”
“Which part?” I ask in response, my own voice a hoarse croak.
“He really would give you anything you want,” Jed goes on like he hadn’t heard me and I’d given him some kind of an answer. “He has money and connections. He’s friends with the CEO at GreenCo—”
“I don’t need it,” I cut him off, feeling my wide eyes and the way my heart stutters in my chest. “I don’t…want that.”
“Okay.” Jed looks down, then back up at me. “So you meant what you said, then? That you want me to convince you, instead of taking something he’d give you?”
Shit. Of course this is where we are, and my words have trapped me in this predicament better than any handcuffs ever could. Why hadn’t I been able to keep my mouth shut when Wren had been talking before?
Why had I said that? I could’ve said…literally anything but that, honestly.
“Can you?” my treacherous mouth asks, eyes flicking up to his blue ones.
“Can I what?” Jed tilts his head to the side, his hands at his side.
“Convince me?”