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My heart suddenly stops squeezing in my chest. I thought it was going to burst, waiting for him to drop out. I kiss his cheek quickly, but sadness replaces the pain. Is this the only way I can make him stay? I’m in trouble, and there’s no other reason.
Eventually, we talk about a plan, and my tone insists. “I have to be the bait. He’s not going to magically appear walking down the street unless we give him a reason.”
Jaxon stares at his empty pizza box, avoiding our gazes. “I hate it, but she’s right. We have to lure him out into the open so we can grab him.”
“I don’t like it,” replies Hudson. “The fucker is violent. He stabbed you and jumped me. So far, he’s been hands off with Charlotte, but that might change.”
I jump back into the conversation. “You’ll be there. And he can’t run off with me if I’m kicking and screaming.”
“He can’t fight the three of us at the same time.” Asher looks at Hudson and then Jaxon. “He won’t try anything if he sees us. She has to appear alone, or he won’t come out.”
Hudson answers Asher. “What if Charlotte walks to the Oak alone? We space ourselves out evenly along the way. One of us always has her in sight.”
I don’t like being discussed in the third person, but I swallow my pride. It’s for my own good. “Yes, that’s the plan I want.”
They stare at me as if I’ve magically appeared in the room. I know they all care, and Asher and Hudson have even said that they love me. Shit, they’re about to risk their lives...again, but I have doubts about everything. What else do I expect from them? What else do they have to prove?
“Do you know how to use a knife?” asks Asher.
My cheeks heat up, and I curse myself for not learning basic defense when I’ve had so many chances. I shake my head.
He doesn’t reproach me or make me feel stupid. “I’ll get you a 1000 lumen flashlight. It will blind the guy. And I’ll make you a knife you can conceal.” Asher picks up an empty soda can and studies it. “Fall to the ground and cut below the rib cage. Women aren’t strong on top compared to a guy, so use your legs to kick. Just make sure he doesn’t pin you. We’ll practice.”
It grips my bones to listen to Asher talking about stabbing a person in a matter-of-fact way. He could’ve been ordering another pizza or asking about the weather outside. I shake it off quickly. It has to be done. Tomorrow, at dusk, we will catch that sick creep.
CHAPTER 7
Charlotte
In my dorm room, I watch Asher expertly cut a soda can into a shank, folding the thin aluminum lengthwise into a lethal weapon. He then slips it into an empty can for me to carry concealed. He notices my raised eyebrows and must hear what I’m thinking in my head.
“If that shithead ever touches you, I’ll make a hundred of these and shove them up his ass, and I mean it.”
I swallow hard, and my anxiety is ill-concealed behind alert eyes. Asher watches me a moment longer and then puts his head down to make a second shank. He turns the thin metal in his hand, checking it from all angles and admiring his handiwork.
“Come here,” he says, “I’ve got to show you how to use it.” He’s flipped the bed frame against the wall, allowing enough space for us to move. He’s transformed my dorm room into a low-budget fight club. I’m no longer sure I want to do this.
I’m shaking as Asher shows me how to hold the shank without cutting my hand. This man could have done me some actual harm in high school as he explains in vivid detail where it hurts the most to get stabbed. A fleeting thought enters my mind. Maybe I’d be safer if he went back to Weymouth.
“Remember,” he says. “Aim with an undercut to the ribs. If you’re lucky, you’ll hit an organ.” He frowns at me, annoyed by my lack of enthusiasm. “If you’re really fucked, go for the eyes.”
“Can we take a break?” I sit down before I faint.
My lesson ends, and it’s time to set a trap. My knees knock as I walk alone to the Oak. In my tiny purse, my phone is on speaker as I pass under streetlights that jerkily light up as the sun sets. The Oak is six long blocks away from the main gate of the school, but it feels like I’m walking sixty miles.
“You’re doing good, girl,” Hudson’s voice whispers in my earbud. “We’re nearby.”
Nothing happens. No one tries to grab me, and the relief outweighs the frustration. I enter the Oak with my heart pounding against my ribs and hurry down the aisle to our usual booth. Marshall eyes me, and I ask him for a seltzer in a breathless pant.
Millie is working tonight, and she places the glass in front of me with a worried scowl. “Sip it slowly, sugar,” she says.
Sugar? I almost spit my drink out when she says that. I place the Coke can on the table, and without thinking, I don’t stop her when she clears it away. Asher will have to make me another shank. He can make them in his sleep.
I wait for the guys, but first I have to pee. The excitement and the cold are too much for my bladder. I dump my coat and my purse on the bench and head off to the bathroom. Rushing down the hall to the ladies’ room, I dance into the first stall as I pull down my jeans. Sighing gratefully, I sit there alone and unharmed. I don’t want to do this again.
“Charlotte?” Hudson’s voice startles me until I realize it’s in my ear. “Where are you?”
“In the bathroom,” I reply. “I’ll be right out.”
