I intentionally stopped near the old, deserted gym.
When I make it back to his car, I’m inside and cranking the engine before he wakes up. The tires crunch on the gravel as I swerve onto the path and close in the distance, passing by where I hid my truck.
Making the right-hand turn into the parking lot, the trunk lid pops open and a thud sounds from behind me.
“Goddamnit.” Mumbling as I slam the car into park, jumping out the door, and walking towards the back where he’s trying to move to his feet.
“Stay down.” I grunt out, connecting my foot to the middle of his back and shoving him back into the ground.
His face ricochets off the gravel with a huff.
“Fuck you.” He snaps back at me, pushing himself back up with his tied hands.
Reaching down, I grab hold of the collar of his shirt, pulling him toward the gym. He lifts his arms over his head to break out ofmy grip, his shirt slipping up yet coming to stop at his wrists.
“That was incredibly stupid.” I tell him as I lean over, speaking into his ear where his face just planted back into the gravel, again.
He mumbles something in response, but I don’t care. Gripping the zip-ties, I continue to pull him to the door.
The building’s been abandoned for as long as I can remember. In fact, we used to sneak in during high school and throw parties, and I’m sure that’s the main reason the speak-easy was near here. In a city this size, it’s hard to find some places under the radar to do so, and this is the perfect spot. I’m sure kids still party here, but I’ve yet to hear about it.
Tossing him into the middle, where a stream of moonlight shines through the window. I kneel, coming eye to eye with him, but I don’t say a word.
“Fuck you.” He musters again. “Why do you give a shit about what I did? I know the two of you parted ways when you betrayed him and became a pig.”
“Doesn’t matter.”
He just gives me a confused look.
“I know this isn’t the first time you pulled this shit. You just went after the wrong one this time. Didn’t expect her to fight back.”
He laughs this time. “Word has gotten around.”
“What word?”
“How naive she is. She grew up too protected, and alwaysunderestimates people. It was a fluke that they didn’t succeed last time.”
Grunting out as I slap him on the head with my gun. It sickens me how easily he mentions it.
“What’s your plan? Bring me out here to scare me? Then what?” He laughs again. “I know you won’t do anything. You can’t.”
I don’t say anything, just continue to look at him, suddenly feeling like I’m in over my head. I hadn’t quite figured out what I was going to do once I got him alone; I was just reacting.
I know what every fiber in me want’s to do, but…
“How do you know I won’t report you?”
This time I laugh. “Go ahead and try; I’m sure it’ll be real easy to tie the drugging back to you. And I’m sure it’s not the first time. This is a warning: if I ever hear about you doing shit like this again…” I pause, letting his imagination take over.
He looks straight at me for a moment before smirking. “You know, it’d make sense for Z to be here, but not you. Why areyouhere, Eli? How the fuck do you even know?”
“That’s not important.”
“I feel like it is. We’ve already established that you’re not gonna kill me; you’re too much of a pussy for that. And it’s not like you even really know Z anymore.”
I don’t say anything.
“Oh…” he heckles me. “Now I know.”
