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“Why do I need a hood?”
“So he doesn’t recognize you.”
Meanwhile, we all start pulling on our devil masks.
“So who doesn’t recognize me?”
“You’ll see.”
The van stops and Shane, Ezra and Jase jump out to wrestle Granger away from his car, tie his hands and feet then slip a hood over his head.
“What the fuck is going on?” he screams as he’s carried in, and Blue flinches against me in recognition of his voice.
“Is that?”
“Shhhh,” I whisper, bringing my masked face against her hood so she can hear me. “No talking for now.”
“Who the fuck are you people? Get the fuck off me!”
It takes a few minutes for the guys to pin Granger down.
Ezra pulls Granger’s hood off, and his eyes grow wide at the sight of our masks.
“The fuck?”
“Here’s the deal,” Jase tells him while Shane grabs the laced absinthe. “You either drink it on your own like a good little boy, or we hold your nose and dump it down your throat. Either way, this is going to happen.”
“I’m not drinking shit—“
Poor bastard chose the hard way. Jase grabs his face, pinches his nose then forces his mouth open while Shane pours the absinthe down his throat.
Granger chokes and sputters but swallows enough of it that we know it’ll take effect. They replace his hood then hold him down as we drive to the woods we’ve staged for the gauntlet.
Granger continues raging and fighting most of the way there, but he tires himself out as the absinthe takes hold, his movements sluggish when we pull onto the dirt road leading to the woods.
Thankfully, Blue remains silent the entire time. Granger can’t know she’s a part of this. I’d lose my shit if he called the cops and she went to jail.
Once we reach the woods, Gabriel stops the van, and they drag Granger out. The rest of us pour out of the van, and grab the horn we use to announce the time.
I walk Blue in front of me, ensuring she doesn’t trip on tree roots or rocks that are along the dirt path.
After lighting the torches, we drop Granger at the front of the trail leading into the woods so that Tanner can explain how the gauntlet works.
Kneeling beside Granger—who by this time is delusional and hallucinating—Tanner explains, “When we untie you, you’ll need to run as fast as you can because when you hear the first horn, three men are coming after you. After that, you’ll hear the horn again, then three more will be running you down. And by the third horn, the last three will be hunting you, and you don’t want any of us to catch up. Do you understand?”
Granger is slurring his words but manages to nod his head while cussing us the fuck out.
Tanner grins. “Good. Do you know why this is being done to you?”
Granger grows quiet, his body still.
“I’ll take that as a no. Let me put it this way… If you lay another hand on a woman, if you harass another woman or if you attempt to use another woman by promising them money, we’ll find you to teach you this lesson all over again. Except next time, we won’t be as nice about it.”
“Oh, fuck,” Blue whispers.
They pick Granger up and untie him.
Sawyer grabs the horn then blows it at the same time Tanner yanks the hood off Granger’s head.
