Chapter 13
CADY
“WELL, I’ll be damned,” Erick mutters as we drive down the alley behind Dustin’s house.
Dustin’s car is actually there for the first time in over a week.
We know he’s helping Phil. No other reason for him to be gone for so long.
They disappeared around the exact same time.
According to Bobby, he hasn’t been by to see his grandmother either.
If the cops ever find Phil, they will end up taking Dustin down with him.
He should have gotten away from him sooner.
Erick pulls onto the side street and parks. Removing his seat belt, he grabs the door handle.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m gonna wait and see who comes out of his house,” he responds, then opens the door and gets out. “You wait here.”
He closes the door and walks down the alley toward Dustin’s. This man must have been born yesterday if he thinks I’m going to sit in this hot ass car and wait for him. No way in hell! When the car door shuts behind me, Erick turns my way.
“Get in the car, Cady.”
“Not gonna happen.” I stretch up on my tiptoes and give him a kiss, hoping to change his mind. “I want answers. I’m gonna get them.”
I pass him on my way to Dustin’s, and he starts grumbling.
His feet crunch the gravel beneath him as he walks.
Good thing that whoever is in Dustin’s house doesn’t have sonar hearing.
I shush him as I creep up behind the remnants of the dilapidated wooden fence that is barely standing.
The ivy climbing along the wood partially covers the gaps where pieces of the slats have crumbled, giving us the perfect hiding spot to watch Dustin’s back door without being seen.
“Wonder how long we’ll have to stand here?” I whisper to Erick, after half an hour passes and no one comes or goes.
My body and clothes are sticky from the sweat trickling down my back. I fan myself with the neck of my t-shirt to get some kind of relief from the heat, but it’s no use.
“I don’t know. You can go wait in the car,” he whispers back. “Actually, I’d prefer you to wait in the car. We don’t know what could happen if we’re caught here. If Phil is here, it could be dangerous.”
“Damn straight it could be dangerous. Because I’ll kill the bastard,” I snap at him. “But I don’t think he’s stupid enough to step foot back in Swanson or Trinity. Too many people know him, and he would get caught instantly.”
“Just a reminder that we are here to watch, not reenact COPS.” Annoyed, he gives me the side eye.
“I know. That’s what I’m doing. Watching.” I cross my arms and turn back to the house.
Erick leans back and checks the alley. His gasps then grabs my arm and yanks me behind some trashcans, tugging on me to pull me down. I squat and peek around the large plastic containers, watching as my old beater car pulls in beside Dustin’s.
I turn to Erick and mouth “Bobby.” He closes his eyes for just a second, and when he opens them, they are hard and icy.
Erick nudges me with his hand, and I quietly walk behind the fence as Bobby closes the car door. He stretches his arms over his head before rubbing his tired face. When he approaches the house, Dustin opens the door and steps out.
“Hey, brother.” Dustin grins, and I’m not quite sure I like the meaning behind it. “You ready to do this shit now?”
Erick and I glance at one another, wondering what exactly “this shit” is. If Bobby is helping Dustin, I don’t think Erick will ever forgive him. Looking back through the hole, we watch as Bobby gets a shit-eating grin on his face and claps hands with Dustin’s in a low five.
“Does a bear shit in the woods?” Bobby jokes. “I’m ready whenever he is. Let’s do this.”
They climb in Dustin’s car as we hide behind the trashcans again. When Dustin drives up the alley, we make our move to the car. Erick takes off as fast as he can to catch up with Dustin’s car. We finally spot them a little way up the street, so we stay back to keep some space between us to hide in.
“I can’t believe this,” Erick spouts, gripping the steering wheel so tight his knuckles turn white.
“All we know right now is that Dustin and Bobby are hanging out. That’s it. We don’t know what they are doing together.”
Erick looks at me like I’ve grown a third head. “You were the one telling me he was hiding secrets. He is. Now you’re saying they are innocently hanging out.”
“All I’m saying is that Bobby knows something. And goddammit, I want to know what it is. If he is fucking us over, we will learn soon enough. If he isn’t, we’ll know that too.”
We drive across town heading the opposite way of Trinity. Wherever they are going, they are getting closer and closer to exiting Swanson. Traffic is thinning out, and soon it will be blatantly obvious we are following them. We need to make a choice soon.
My phone rings, and I dig it out of my bag in the floorboard.
“Hello?” I ask, hoping I didn’t miss the call.
“Go home. Now.”
Cash.
The call ends, and I drop my hand in my lap, feeling more confused than ever.
“Go home, Erick.” I throw the phone in the floorboard and run my fingers through my tangled red hair, tugging at it in frustration. “We’ll get answers soon enough, or so help me God I’ll go to jail for murder.”
HAZEL
I try to swallow, but my mouth and throat are so dry that my tongue feels like sandpaper.
An attempt to stretch my arms leads me nowhere.
They feel weighted down, and like I don’t have control of them.
A shiver wracks my body, and I open my eyes to see if the window is open.
Nothing looks familiar. I close my lids tightly and open them once more, hoping they are playing tricks on me in the dim light.
White washed walls surround me on three sides and dark curtains on the other.
They move slightly inward as if something is blowing on them from the other side.
Phil. Memories of what happened flood my mind, overwhelming me.
I need to wake up and get control of my body.
I need to find out how the hell this happened and get the fuck out of here.
I fumble around as I sit up and notice another cot at the foot of mine. A body lies still atop it. The sound of their gentle, easy breaths now reaching my ears. It’s not Phil. This person has dark hair and is built bigger than he is.
Is he guarding me? How long have I been here? What the fuck is going on?
My concave stomach growls in hunger as I listen for any other sounds around me and watch this man sleeping.
It feels as though I haven’t eaten in days, and I really have to go to the bathroom.
I glance at the man and wonder if I should wake him, or just go find the bathroom and food on my own.
Maybe I can get the fuck out of here completely, and they won’t notice.
As I climb from the bed, I test my legs, hoping I have the strength to walk on my own.
They wobble slightly beneath me before I finally pull to my full height.
It hurts and feels so good at the same time to stretch and use them.
Grabbing the curtain, I find where it splits and work my way to the opening.
I open it a sliver and peek out into the room.
Tables are set up with beakers, test tubes, Bunsen burners, and jars filled with different liquids.
A board on one wall displays what I would call gibberish.
The same gibberish that Dale and Joseph accused me of blackmailing Phil with.
It would take an idiot not to realize that this is where Phil is creating Snap.
“You’re awake.”
I drop the curtain abruptly and turn toward the quiet voice on the cot, losing my balance in the process. He jumps from the bed and grabs my arms, steadying me before I crash to the floor, but the fear of being drugged again causes me to fight back.
“Hazel, calm down. It’s me,” he whispers as he grabs my wrists to keep me from punching him.
I stop fighting and see Joseph’s worried face. Relief eases my tension, and I wrap my arms around him to keep from falling. He stiffens in my hold and pats my back lightly in an attempt to comfort me.
“Where are we?” My words muffle against his shoulder as I squeeze tighter to him.
“I don’t know,” he whispers again.
His low tone alerts me that someone could be listening to us on the other side of the room. I didn’t hear anyone else, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t here. I let go of Joseph and step back so I can read his expressions as we speak.
“Why are we here?”
Joseph reads my lips, my words almost silent they are so quiet. He runs a hand through his hair and sighs. Grabbing my hand, Joseph pulls me toward the bed and sits us down. It squeaks under our weight, and he watches the curtain for a moment before leaning into me so he can be heard.
“He wanted the formula,” he says, turning toward me. “He found me instead.”
I nod my head in understanding. “He found me too.”
“I tried to keep that from happening. He threatened to kill me. I was scared and believed he would do it.” The unspoken “like he almost killed you” lingers on his lips.
Joseph stares at the bruise around my neck before looking away.
“I should have called his bluff. If it came down to you or Snap, he would’ve chosen Snap. I’m so sorry.”
I squeeze his hand and place my other hand on the top of his.
He shouldn’t feel bad about what happened.
It wasn’t his fault. He was forced into this as much as I was.
As close as Joseph and Cash are, they are completely different.
Cash would’ve fought Phil to the death. But would he have done that if we hadn’t grown close?
He didn’t for the other woman Phil had raped and beaten.
I can’t hold Joseph responsible. He was trying to survive, just like the rest of us.
A lot of people won’t put their own welfare above someone else’s, especially if they don’t know them.
Very rarely will one find a true hero walking the streets.