AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Nick didn’t move. There had to be a way out of this.
Had to be.
He tried not to think of his brothers. Had this guy gone after them first? Were his brothers dead and he didn’t know it?
Not likely, if they were all together.
Then he remembered his conversation with Michael. They were scattered. That could mean anything.
And not just scattered. Scattered remotely. Gabriel would be home alone—with no Nick to warn of danger approaching.
Chris and Michael were working a job, and if they were finishing the one Nick and Michael had skipped last night, it was a massive yard away from any other houses. Sitting ducks.
Hell, if the Guide took out Nick and Gabriel, he wouldn’t even have to go looking for Chris and Michael. He could just wait for them to come home.
“You’ve already given me proof,” said the man. “I know this girl is innocent. There is no need for her to die.”
Think, Nick. God, what the hell use was his GPA if he couldn’t think of a way out of here?
“Come out now,” said the man. “Three seconds and she dies.” He didn’t hesitate. “Three . . . Two . . .”
“Nick!” Quinn’s voice, high and panicked.
“Okay!” Nick shoved Adam down and stood, revealing himself. He didn’t recognize this guy at all.
But he recognized the danger of a gun pointed at Quinn’s head.
Nick put his hands up to show he was unarmed. “Okay. I’m here. Let her go.”
Adam. Stay hidden. Please, Adam.
“That was easy,” said the Guide.
Then he pointed the gun straight at Nick’s head and pulled the trigger.
CHAPTER 30
The gun fired, and Quinn flew back and hit the wooden floor like someone had given her a hard shove. The studio windows exploded outward, but the sound only came to her distantly, as though she were underwater. The overhead lights burst and glass rained down.
Time stopped. She felt as if she lay there for a minute. An hour. A day.
o;Don’t you dare talk about my sister.”
“You think losing someone gives you a free pass to be a raging ass**le? It doesn’t. You’re not the only person who knows loss.”
He’d hit a nerve. Tyler was breathing heavily now, his fists clenched. “Shut up, Merrick.”
“No, you shut up. You want to hate us because of what we are? Fine. Hate us. Punch me, burn me, call the Guides, whatever. But I know the truth. I know what you are. I know what you can do.”
“You don’t know anything.”
Nick knew Tyler was a breath away from snapping, but he couldn’t stop. Standing up to Gabriel had changed something in him. For the better, for the worse, he had no idea. But just like Adam poking him in the side this morning, demanding to know what Nick wanted, Tyler’s presence was like a constant jab, over and over again.
And Nick wanted. It. To stop.
He leaned forward, holding Tyler’s gaze. “I know you’re probably scared to death that the wrong person is going to find out you’re just as cursed as the big, bad Merricks. Guess it’d be pretty hard to cry to Mommy and Daddy, then, huh? Or do you think they’d pull the trigger themselves? God knows they’ve been dying to do it to us for years.”
“I’ve never killed anyone,” Tyler hissed.
