I hold up a finger. Then I turn around and throw up over the wheel of Lachlan’s fancy car. I brace my hand against the hood, coughing and spitting as my eyes water.
Lachlan’s boots appear in my vision and I stand up to find him looking down at me with his arms crossed. “You know, the whole leaving no evidence behind is easier if you don’t contaminate the crime scene.”
I let out a sharp humorless laugh and throw my arms wide. “Well excuse me for being a dead body virgin.”
Lachlan sighs and curls a hand around my bicep. “Come on, it’s due to rain soon anyway.”
My body goes numb as I let Lachlan guide me back around the car and into the passenger seat. A few seconds later, he climbs into the driver’s side and hands me a bottle of water.
“Thanks.” My fingers tremble as I unscrew the cap, but the clean water feels good on my burning throat.
“Are you okay?” Lachlan asks.
“No.”
“They would have killed you. Killed Ana.”
“I know.”
He passes me an open bag of Werther’s Originals, but I shake my head.
“I’m not hungry.”
“You’re going into shock. The sugar will help.”
I feel like I’m on autopilot as I untwist the wrapper and pop the candy in my mouth. I wait for the flavor to hit my tongue, but it tastes of nothing. I shudder and pull my feet up onto the seat.
Lachlan turns the engine on and straightens the car. I turn my head, not wanting to see the bodies as we drive off, leaving the SUV stranded in the middle of the road.
Maybe Wright will get a 911 call later today from whichever poor soul stumbles upon the carnage Lachlan and I just left behind.
We drive in silence for a while as the candy slowly melts in my mouth.
Rain starts falling, just the occasional drop at first before building to a steady patter on the roof of the car.
Lachlan’s gloves creak against the steering wheel and he glances over at me before setting his gaze back on the road. “There is no doubt in my mind that those men deserved to die. If you have doubts, then you need to figure that out before it’s too late.”
How can I not have doubts about the death of two people?“Too late for what?” I ask, staring out the passenger window.
“You’re right about Flynn, he doesn’t feel things the way the rest of us do, but he does still feel and I’ve never seen him as obsessed with anything as he is with you.”
My ribcage flares in a way that makes me feel unprepared for the blow Lachlan delivers next.
“What I just did is child’s play compared to Flynn. So you need to decide, Hazel, whether you’re okay with that. Whether you’re okay withhim.”
The windshield blurs and I’m not sure whether it’s from the rainfall or the tears in my eyes because I’ve fallen in love with a sociopath and it’s about to break my heart.
29
NORMAL IS OVERRATED
Flynn
The police gaveup on monitoring Lachlan’s house a few days ago, but I still drive into the garage before getting out.
The pressure in my head is manageable at the moment but my body jitters with the need to see Hazel. Except the second I walk into the front room and find her sitting on the couch, her legs pulled up to her chest, I stop moving.
She’s staring off into space, her normally peachy skin far too pale.
