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Katherine chewed her lower lip and looked through the bushes to the clearing. Oliver followed her gaze and his heart ached at the sight of Dave standing in the dark and the rain, his body stiff and unmoving.
“She’s going to come after me,” Katherine said in a quiet voice.
“That’s why we have those.” Cody gestured to the pokers she’d dropped. “All you need to do is wait for Ollie and I to tackle Dave and Demmy, then wrap duct tape around their ankles and wrists. That’s it.”
She looked between them, worrying her lip again. “That’s all?”
“That’s all,” Cody said with a nod, then held out the duct tape. “Please? We really need your help.”
Her heavy sigh was filled with regret, but she accepted the roll of tape. “Okay. I’ll help.” She shot Oliver a quick glare. “And I don’t skulk around the woods.”
Cody’s smile made it look like he’d just won one of those high school football games he and his friend Jugs reminisced about all the time. “Thank you.” He looked at Oliver. “You ready to get dirty?”
Oliver glanced down at his ruined clothes. “Dirtier than this?”
“Come on.” Cody looked at Katherine. “We’ll start with Dave because he’s closer. Once we’ve brought him down, you come running with that tape.”
“All right.” Katherine adjusted her stance, kneeling on one knee. “I’m ready.”
Cody led the way out from behind the bushes and whispered over his shoulder, “I’m going to get on my hands and knees behind Dave and you push him over.”
“What?” Oliver said. “That’s your plan?”
“Hey, sometimes the simplest plans are the best.”
“I hope so, because that’s one simple fucking plan.”
“Shut up and get ready to push your boyfriend over. And put some effort into it, okay? Don’t worry about hurting him. He got pushed down plenty growing up with four brothers.”
“I’ll pretend he’s you.”
Cody made a face. “Cute. But if it’ll get the job done, go with it.”
Oliver followed Cody’s lead and crouched low as they crossed the clearing, although he had no idea why. Rebecca Hawkins was a ghost. Wouldn’t she already know they were there?
Before he could follow any of that argument down a logical path, Cody had dropped to his hands and knees behind Dave. Taking a deep breath, Oliver stepped in front of Dave. He tried to keep from looking up into his face and told himself to just give Dave a hard push in the chest and send him to the ground. But he couldn’t help himself, and the sight of Dave’s slack expression and flat, unfocused eyes was like a knife to his heart. He hated to see him like this.
Dave’s arms came up fast, hands extended toward Oliver and his fingers crooked like claws. Oliver shouted in alarm and took a step back and Dave advanced toward him.
“Ollie!” Cody shouted. “Push him down, goddammit!”
Oliver tore his gaze from Dave’s face and stepped into him, shoving hard against his chest. Cody had moved sideways on his hands and knees, keeping close to the back of Dave’s legs, so when Dave staggered back, he buckled at the knees and fell over Cody. There was a blur of movement as Cody and Dave wrestled in the mud, a sight Oliver hoped his subconscious wouldn’t turn into some sexually tainted Bower incest dream sometime in the future.
Then Cody shouted for Oliver to keep Dave’s feet together, and he dropped to his knees and trapped Dave’s feet beneath one arm, grunting with the effort to hold him steady. Katherine rushed up and got on her knees, wrapping tape around Dave’s ankles. She taped up his wrists as well, and the three of them got to their feet and took a couple of steps back, all of them panting. Dave rolled back and forth in the mud, struggling to free himself.
“He’s getting loose already,” Oliver said.
Cody took the tape from Katherine and peeled a long strip off the roll before approaching his brother. “Not for long.”
After Cody had finished with him, Dave was more or less hogtied. He lay on his back with his arms and legs above him, all four limbs secured together by a heavy wad of duct tape. As Cody stood smiling with satisfaction at his handiwork, Oliver noticed movement behind him and realized Demetrius was coming toward them.
“Look out!”
Cody turned and ducked a wild swing Demetrius had aimed at the back of his head. As he dodged Demetrius’s attacks, Cody tossed the tape to Katherine and shouted at Oliver, “Get on your hands and knees.”
“Me?” Oliver said.
“Do it!”
