Chapter 35
“Is he following us?” I asked, staring straight ahead at the road as I drove off. Hero sat in the passenger seat, Ayden in the backseat. Hero looked in the side-view mirror, while Ayden turned his body to look in the rear windshield.
“No,” they said in unison.
I sighed in relief.
“But he’ll come after us eventually—maybe at school, maybe at my house,” Ayden said. “We can’t let our guard down.”
Sirens began to wail in the distance. Dammit. Were those sirens were us? For Blake? I gripped the steering wheel tighter. The sirens kept getting louder. I turned to Hero with a panicked expression.
“Don’t freak out,” he said. “It probably isn’t for us. Just keep driving.”
I nodded, trying to calm myself down. The police lights were visible in the rear-view mirror. I tried not to panic, focusing on the road in front of me.
“Turn here,” Ayden instructed, sitting at the edge of the seat. “If it keeps going straight, we’ll know it isn’t for us.”
I took a sharp right turn into a small neighborhood and pulled over at the curb. The sirens ringed in my head as I watched the side-view mirror, hoping for the police car to pass us.
My heart raced.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
The police car zoomed past, and the sirens faded away into the distance. We all exhaled a breath loudly.
“What are we going to do about Blake?” I asked, my voice shaky.
Ayden swallowed. “I’m sorry, Peps, but we can’t do anything.”
I gazed at Hero, hoping for a different response, but he shook his head. “Ayden’s right. In a few days, he’ll die from not having food or water. That’s the easiest way for him to go out.”
“Unless we end his misery now,” I whispered.
“Are you sure, Pepper?” Hero asked.
I nodded. “Let’s do it.”
I didn’t want to kill Blake, but I didn’t want him to suffer.
Hero placed a hand on my lap. “Tomorrow.”
“Why not now?”
“Benji might still be there, and you need rest.”
* * *
After dropping off Ayden at his house, I drove back to Hero’s house. Slowly. I was afraid. Afraid that Marina would kick me out. I would have nowhere to go. Blake was gone. I shouldn’t feel sad, but I do. He’s my blood. That has to mean something, doesn’t it?
“I won’t let that happen,” Hero reassured me as I turned off the ignition. The front door swung open, and Marina walked out. Another person walked out after her.
Violet.
What was she doing here?
Hero and I stepped out of the car, shamefully walking towards them. Marina held out her hand, and I placed the keys down.
“I’m sorry,” I said, looking down. “It won’t happen again.”
“Please don’t be mad at her, mom,” Hero said. “Our friend needed—”
“Violet explained the situation,” she said. “I’m not mad, but it was extremely dangerous of you two to go alone like that at nighttime. Especially without a driver’s license.”
“I’m sorry,” I repeated.
“You’re not mad?” Hero asked. “But the book is gone.”
“I never saw the appeal with that book,” she admitted. “I only went along with it because you were so intrigued with it, and it was something that your father loved too.”
“How do you know what hap—” I began to ask Violet.
“Ayden called me, and I’m just in the neighborhood.” She walked up to me and gave me a big hug. “I’m glad you’re safe.”
I hugged her back. “You— you’re on talking terms with Ayden?”
“Did you really think he spent all of his time on the cruise with those nut for brains?”
I chuckled. She stepped back and gazed warily at Hero. She didn’t say anything. Her eyes were willing Hero to say something. Anything.
“What?” he asked.
“You don’t mind that I’m talking to Pepper?”
Oh, that’s right. The threat.
He rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t want to be that version of myself anymore. It wasn’t my place to say that you guys couldn’t be friends.”
“Damn straight.” She rolled her eyes playfully, chuckling. “Well, I better get back home now. See you guys at school.”