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He nods. “Of course, but not just him. You’re coming with us.”
Glancing back at Vincent, he waves a hand at the room. “It looks like you two have been playing house in here. You want her to come with us, don’t you? I only came for you, but there’s always room for one more.”
“Where are we going?” Vincent asks casually, leaning back in the chair. I see his fingers twitching on the armrest as though he wants to reach for me, but he doesn’t. Instead, he glances at me, and something passes behind his eyes before they turn cold. “Nah, man. She’s not coming with us. I’ve been keeping myself busy with her because they’ve been keeping me on a tight leash. If we’re leaving, I don’t want a ball and chain ruining our fun.”
A pang shoots through me, but before it can reach my heart, I realize what he’s doing. My eyes narrow, and my pulse starts racing.No. Just no. I’m not some damsel in distress that needs saving. He can’t just march in here and effectively turn the barrel of that gun only on himself.
We’re in this together. Our chances are much better if we stay that way. As deadly as that gun is, it can’t shoot both of us at the same time unless one of us is behind the other.
Besides, as noble as he thinks he’s being by trying to get Justin to leave me behind, it won’t be as easy as that. The guy is psycho, for sure, but he’s also smart. He’s not just going to walk out of here with Vincent and leave me free to run and sound the alarm.
Vincent seems to have thought of that, though. Scooting forward on his chair, he looks at Justin again. “While you tell me where we’re going, I’ll pack some stuff. Then we can lock her in the bathroom. Trust me, no one is going to come looking for her anytime soon. They think we’re fucking in here. They’ve been avoiding this room like the plague.”
Justin suddenly swings the gun in Vincent’s direction. His eyes have turned into slits, and his voice is barely more than a hiss. “Do you really think you can trick me? As soon as we leave here, she’ll get out and go tell on us. Her clothes are all over your room. Her stuff is in your bathroom, and there are flowers in the sink. You’re not just fucking her.”
Vincent takes a measured breath, lifting his hands with his palms facing out. “Whoa, brother. Think about who you’re accusing of being in a relationship here. You know me. The flowers meant nothing, and her clothes are here because I’ve been getting her out of them so often that we haven’t had time to clean up. Besides, I don’t know what you have planned for us, but I’m willing to bet it’s going to be a party, right? Have you met this girl? Shehatespartying. If we take her with us, she’ll be a total buzzkill.”
His lips curl into a cool smirk. “Plus, I’m bored of her. Don’t make me bring her.”
Even though I know exactly what he’s trying to do, the words still slice at my insides. He’s giving voice to my greatest fear and deepest insecurities about our relationship. The only good thing about it is that if I’m hurt by it despite knowing he doesn’t mean it, then Justin has to be buying into it at least a little bit.
He cocks his head, his gaze locked on Vincent before he nods. “Her dad called my mom. Can you believe that? Like we’re in fucking elementary school and I’m a bully who’s being mean to her on the playground.”
Vincent scoffs out a laugh. “Dude, he called your mom? Why?”
Justin shakes his head. “I don’t really know. Apparently, he wanted to find out more about me and corner her about me ‘targeting you.’” He puts the last words in air quotes before he laughs. “My mom’s on our side, though. She didn’t tell him shit. All she did was set him straight.”
Vincent leans forward a little. “Set him straight?”
“Yep.” Justin continues, obviously proud of his apparently equally psychopathic mother. “She told him that I wasn’t targeting anyone and all I’m doing is liberating you from them.”
“Liberating me?” Vincent starts frowning but then catches himself and nods his agreement instead. “Yeah. Of course. What was up with the crosses, though, man? I thought those pics were hilarious, but no one else around here shares my sense of humor.”
Justin barks out a laugh, his chest puffing out as he shrugs. “I was having a little fun. I knew you’d like it. That’s why I need to get you away from them. They don’t understand us. Besides, you said your brother and sister are assholes to you, and this one”—he jabs a finger at me—“is a tease. I thought they all deserved a little warning about what would happen to them if they kept fucking with you. We’re not related by blood, but I think of you as a brother, and no one fucks with my family on my watch.”
Vincent swallows, and I see the concern in his eyes before he closes them, lets it pass, and then smirks again as if he thinks this is all really fucking funny and clever. “What about Mason? I never even mentioned him to you.”
“Yeah, but I thought she might need the extra incentive.” He glances at me again. “She thinks she’s a real badass, doesn’t she? I’ve been watching you guys for a long time, and I knew Livvy here wouldn’t just let us be without some extra motivation.”
Another shiver travels down my spine at his words. So it’s true, then. He’s been watching us longer than he’s been on our radar, which we suspected, but now we know for sure. By the time we realized he was out there, he wanted us to know. Which means by the time we started taking steps to protect ourselves against him, he already had all the information he needed or could ever want about all of us.
Vincent doesn’t look at me, but he stares dead ahead of him so intently that I know it’s killing him not to. “You don’t have to worry about Olivia. She just likes to think she’s a badass, but I mean, look at her. She looks like a fucking girl scout, and that’s what she is. A goody-two-shoes who never puts a toe out of line. Let’s not talk about her anymore. She won’t give us any trouble. You never told me how you got in here, and I’m going to need to know if I’m going to leave with you.”
“Just leave all that to me,” Justin says. “There’s nothing that can’t be achieved if you’ve got the cash to put in the right hands. People think my mom is stupid, you know? They think there’s nothing more to her than being a mindless junkie who didn’t know any better than to fall in love with a murderer.”
There’s a faraway look in his eyes. “We’re sure as fuck showing them all now, aren’t we? All of this is possible because of her.”
He taps his temple with the gun. “She’s fucking smart. She invested all Joe’s money and taught me all about you and the money you still owed my father. I’m going to need you to get that for me before we leave.”
“Get what?” Vincent asks, then frowns. “Money? We don’t need any more money to get out of here. I’ve got more than enough to tide us over for years.”
“That’s not the point!” He snarls before he refocuses on Vincent and chuckles derisively. “They owe me. They owe my mother. She invested all that fucking money, and you know what? She never spent much of it on herself. I grew up in the same shithole of a house she moved to so she could be closer to my dad. She deserves a nice life in a nice house for her retirement, and I’m going to make sure she gets it.”
Vincent holds up his hands again. “I’m not saying she doesn’t, but getting her the money before we leave might complicate things. Our best shot at getting out of here is without anyone even knowing you got in. I can try going to get it for you, but it won’t end well.”
Justin adjusts his grip on the gun before he waves it in my face. “That’s why I’m glad we have ourselves a little insurance policy. If they try anything, I put a bullet between her pretty eyes.”
Vincent’s pulse throbs under his jaw, and he swallows heavily, his voice a touch more strained when he speaks again. I can see that he’s trying to hold it together, but I know him. If something doesn’t give soon and Justin keeps speaking this way, Vincent’s going to launch himself at him to pummel him to a pulp. They’re a pretty even match physically, even if Justin is broader. Vincent’s a lot stronger than he looks, but that’s not really the point. The point is that fucking gun and how it doesn’t matter who’s stronger so long as someone has control of that thing.
