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“Why did you push Adrian in the hole?” I asked curiously, really needing to know the answer to the question for some reason. It seemed like an odd thing for a kid to do.
He looked away from me and began fidgeting with the sleeves of his robe. He looked uncomfortable, embarrassed even. “Adrian’s a bad man, and that’s all I’m going to say about it.” He clamped his mouth shut and still refused to look at me.
As I watched him, a sick feeling took root in my belly. Adrian had done something to this beautiful boy, and whatever it was had marked him in a way it would stick with him for a really long time, maybe even the rest of his life.
Yeah, he’d been through something bad, it was obvious.
Adrian was lucky he was already dead, because when Quinton heard about this, there was going to be hell to pay, and he’d need a target to take it out on.
If this boy was anything like his brother and his nephew, then loyalty was a really big deal to him. If these other kids meant something to him, then I knew there was no way I could ask him to just leave without trying to get them out of here with us.
“Do you know the way back to the motel?” I asked him.
“Course I do.”
Well alright then. He was a cocky little shit. I waved my arm out in front of us and grandly suggested, “Lead the way.”
He smiled at me, just the corner of his mouth tilted up, and I almost cheered at my victory. I was going to have to work for every smile I got from this kid and that was okay. I just hoped he was worth the effort I put into the endeavor.
The boy hadn’t lied, he knew his way through the woods like he had a damn map ingrained in his mind.
I wanted to take his hand and hold it in mine, but he was dodgy, and I didn’t think he’d appreciate me touching him, so I kept my greedy little hands to myself.
And since he apparently had nothing more to say to me, I kept my mouth shut as well. It felt like one of the hardest things I’d ever had to do in my life, because I had so many questions, I burned with the need to ask him.
The closer we got to the motel, the more I recognized my surroundings. We actually weren’t far from where Romero had been held captive, and a couple of miles in the other direction was where Isobel had been found in the ground.
Every inch of this property needed to be searched. Who knew what and who else the Council had hiding out here? That was a scary thought.
The motel was in sight when a tall figure in a dark robe came storming toward us. I was glad I had pulled the hood of my robe up so he couldn’t see who I was right away.
“Shit,” Brighton whispered urgently. “He’s spotted us. This is not going to be good for us. You should probably leave me here and run, save yourself. Just don’t forget me.”
Like hell I was going to leave him here. This kid had no idea, but with time, he’d learn family stuck together, and that was all there was to it.
“You,” the man growled. “What do you think you two are doing out here? We’re going on lockdown, and you need to be in your rooms or you’ll be punished. And you don’t want me to punish you. I’ll like it, but I promise you won’t.”
Didn’t that sound like a fun time? Not.
“They lock us in our rooms at night,” Brighton whispered to me.
“Do you know this man?”
“Yes.”
“Is he a bad man like Adrian?” I had to know. What I really wanted to ask him was if this man had hurt him too.
“Yes,” he whispered so quietly I had to strain to hear him.
That was all I needed to know.
I raised my arm and flicked my hand in the man’s direction. I wasn’t fucking around with these people anymore. I was done, I’d had enough, and this shit ended tonight.
Flames licked their way up the front of the man’s robe, catching and taking hold. The man screamed as he frantically slapped at them in a fruitless effort to put the fire out.
He dropped down to his knees and screamed as he tried to rip the robe away from his body, but it was too late for him. He was going to burn to death because I willed it.
“Holy…” Brighton breathed in awe.
