“Okay, so picture this, Samantha,” I say. “There’s a douchebag who helped tie down a young woman and fucked herwith a glass bottle. I figure out one of his shameful secrets, and broadcast it over the party sound system. And also make him piss himself at exactly the right time for extra humiliation. I’d say that’s pretty appropriate punishment.”
Samantha stares at me like I’ve grown a second head, then she lets out a harsh sound. “That’s all? I would’ve thought you’d set someone on fire for doing something like that.”
I flash her a smile. “Right? I didn’t even go far enough! Really, I should have tied him down and rapedhimwith a broken bottle and let him bleed out. See, Ezio, Tate should be grateful he got off so easy.”
“Yeah, so easy that Blaze and Rafael beat him bloody and forced him to transfer out.” Ezio shakes his head. “Your entire family leaves destruction in its wake.”
I roll my eyes, then settle against the bench opposite Samantha. “Yeah, yeah. The Pavones suck. Tell me something I don’t know. Like, maybe, where we’re going?”
“I thought about finding a workshop with a table saw. How does that sound?” Ezio says.
My chest goes ice cold. “You’ve got a woodworking hobby, Ezio?”
“Nah. But I found Zayden’s discarded SUV, and those fucking smart cars, they log all the GPS data even when you think you’ve turned it off.” Ezio glances at me through the rearview mirror. “How do you feel about revisiting Zayden’s last trip?”
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
Or maybe, less fuck? I know the cabin a lot better than Ezio does, and I know where all the hidden weapons are. Unless Ezio was there and removed everything.
Why is there GPS signal out in the middle of fucking nowhere, anyway?
I reach into my jeans pocket and wrap my hand around my charm. The three bones warm me.
I hope River can feel me touching him.
I hope they’re smart enough to follow us.
Samantha is looking strangely at me. “Zayden’s last trip? What is he talking about?”
“Oh. Hmm.” I shrug. “Zayden disappeared after you did. A lot of people thought you two ran off together. Or, maybe some people. That’s what your church friends said, anyway. I think they called you a skank.”
“They’d know better,” she insists, but she doesn’t sound entirely convinced. “They’d have been looking for me.”
“No, that part is true,” Ezio says. “I talked to them while I was looking into Zayden’s disappearance.”
Samantha looks from me to Ezio, then back. Tears have started to form in the corners of her eyes. “They wouldn’t,” she says more quietly.
“What Pandora is neglecting to mention is that she’s the one who murdered Zayden,” Ezio continues.
I huff and roll my eyes. “There’s no neglect. It’s not something I would ever say, because it’s not true.”
Snitches get murder, and I don’t want to have to murder Samantha.
“Zayden’s the reason I was… there,” Samantha says with a surprising amount of ferocity in her voice. “Why should I care what happened to him, anyway?”
“Yeah, Ezio! Fuck that guy.” I smile at Samantha, and extend my fist out to her.
She looks extremely confused, but then tentatively bumps her fist with mine. “Is he really dead?” she asks.
I shrug. “I haven’t seen a body, so how the fuck would I know?”
And I know Ezio didn’t see one either, because not only did I incinerate Zayden, but I washed with so much fucking bleach that there wouldn’t be any evidence left.
I scrubbedsomuch.
And scattered his ashes out in the forest and cleaned out the incinerator.
No fucking evidence at all.
