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When we step outside, I turn to her expectantly to see the glimmer of excitement in her eye. “Remington doesn’t tell us what to do.” She says, reiterating her earlier sentiment. “And neither do his lackeys.”
I almost laugh at the way she doesn’t sound entirely convinced on the last part. She turns to get a glance at Dimitri, who’s still watching us with his arms crossed from the other side of the glass door, scowling. He’s pretty good-looking, but all that scowling is going to put wrinkles in his face long before they’re meant to be there. “So, what are we doing?” I don’t necessarily mind the idea of a pool day with her, but it pales in comparison to the idea of adventure she instilled in me earlier.
“Laugh.” She commands in a hushed tone. When my confusion is obvious, she only repeats herself. “Laugh.”
I’m no actress, but I throw my head back and laugh like she just told me something really funny. “Good.” Rhea nods her approval. “We don’t want him to think we’re plotting.”
“Are we plotting?”
“I’m always plotting.” Rhea shrugs. “Here, take the keys.”
I don’t even have a chance to contemplate that before she steps closer to me, just enough to obscure Dimitri’s view, and presses the keychain into my hand. I flatten it against my palm the best I can—why are there so many keys on this damn thing? It must weigh a full pound, and if they have any concerns about us going out on our own, they needn’t stress over them because the keys could surely be used as a weapon—whether I chuck them at someone’s head or use the jagged one to gouge someone’s eye out.
“Now what?” I ask, though I’m pretty sure I know what she’s going to say.
“Now we split up,” she laughs. “You go to the boat; I’ll go for the car. Dimitri will follow me, which will give you a chance to get away.”
“And then what?” I’m not going anywhere alone, let alone to go hang out on Remy’s boat, waiting for… I don’t even know.
“Then you hide the keys.” Her eyes are excited as my brain pieces everything together.
“You want to lock Dimitri out?”
“Just a little while. Long enough to show him who’s in charge.”
It’s such a simple prank it feels almost foolish. And yet, it’s also lighthearted fun, which we’ve been in serious need of around here. “What if Elaine lets him in?”
“I’ll tell her to let him sweat it out a bit.” Rhea shrugs. “Honestly, who cares? It’s just a prank.”
A harmless prank.
Honestly, if we can’t get out of the house to do something, we may as well have a little fun here. “Okay.” I say, looping a finger through the keyring to secure my grip on them. “When?”
Rhea glances toward the house from the corner of her eye, where Dimitri has eased back, looking at something on his phone. “Now.”
The command takes me by surprise, and I’m opening my mouth to ask her if she means now we start counting to three or now we go, but she’s already rushing across the patio to where it drops off on the side of the house. I don’t dare look back to see if Dimitri saw us make our break for it—I sprint in the opposite direction, a thrill rushing through my veins at the simplicity of what we’re doing. Rhea’s always liked to pull pranks on people—we once rearranged our roommate’s entire room when she spent the night at her boyfriend’s. I’m not sure where her penchant for shenanigans came from since she most certainly didn’t pull these little stunts with her stuffy parents.
I hear the door open behind me, hear Dimitri yell after us, but I don’t slow down or turn to see if he followed me or Rhea. It’s a no-brainer that he’d follow her—she had the car keys last he saw. She’s also the ringleader between the two of us, and she’s the one who he’s keen on. Nevertheless, I sprint the entire way down the dock, through the quiet canopy of trees. I’m the only thing making any noise as I tear down the path and launch myself over the side of the boat.
It feels like half a lifetime ago when Remy helped me over the side of it and took me out onto the water. It feels like ages since he pulled that gun on me because he couldn’t trust anyone in his life other than his sister. I know now how true that really is.
I land on my feet on the bottom of the boat and rush to the cabin to find a spot to hide the keys. When we were here the other night, I realized just how big the interior is. Lots of places to hide stuff. And yet, as paranoid as Remy is, his boat is the one thing he doesn’t keep under lock and key.
My hand is slippery on the doorknob as I twist it open, my palms sweaty with the exhilaration of running so far and fast. I shut the door quickly but quietly behind me just in case Dimitri trailed me, and then take a second to catch my breath on the other side, letting my eyes close as I draw in a deep breath… which turns to a scream a moment later.
“You just can’t stay away.”
Chapter forty-four
Claire
“Wes!” I gasp. The shock of seeing him here combined with the shock of not being alone out here and the air I deprived my lungs of during my run makes my chest seize as my heart hammers against my ribcage. All of the bravado I felt yesterday when I faced him is gone as I look at him now, one palm planted on the counter with a shaky arm supporting him.
He manages a wicked grin, but it flashes to a grimace of pain before he snags a whiskey bottle off the counter and stumbles toward me. Except, he doesn’t come for me—he moves past me to the bench and collapses into it, gritting his teeth against the impact as he leans back.
That’s when I see the blood all down the front of his white shirt, soaking through to the skin beneath. He’s shed the suit jacket, and his face is covered in a sheen of sweat, dirt streaking one side and his hair disheveled, but I can tell he’s still wearing last night’s clothes.
“What are you doing here?” I demand, my stomach twisting as my baser instincts tell me to run far away and not look back or think about this monster. “Where’s Remy?”
