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“You know how to figure this shit out?” Dec asks as I open the Find Me app, and when I see the location, fear, and anger make me shake.
“So….where we headin’?” Bullet asks impatiently, already climbing on his saddle.
“Dregan’s Lake,” I tell him, hearing the fear in my voice as I take my own saddle and get ready to head off to try and save my girl.
Iwake up with a dry mouth and a sensation of rocking that is making me nauseous. When I open my eyes and see Scott sitting opposite me staring, with the gun in his hand, everything comes flooding back to me.
“We first met on a boat,” he tells me groggily, knocking back the bottle of whiskey he’s got in his other hand.
“Scott, what are you doing?” I look back at him helplessly, trying to make sense of everything that’s happening.
“What am I doing?” He laughs at me. “Well, I sure as fuck ain’t playing with your emotions the way you have mine the last ten years.”
“What… Scott, what are you talking about?” I realize my hands are bound with rope when I reach out. I look down and I see that my ankles are tied together too. The space around us is cramped, and if I had to guess, I’d say we’re in the cabin of a small fishing boat.
“You know exactly what I’m talking about. You must have seen it; you must have known because you used it against meeveryfucking day!You taunted me by fucking my best friend. Did you ever take into consideration how that might have felt for me?” He tilts his head and waits for my answer while his body rocks with the gentle motion of the boat.
“I… I didn’t know.”
“She didn’t know.” Scott looks up and speaks to the ceiling. “Innocent, precious, little Ava didn’t fucking know.”
“Scott, are you saying…?”
“That I have feelings for you? That, ever since the day your mom brought you onto my dad’s boat and I saw you for the first time, that you’ve owned my fucking heart?Yes, Ava, I’m saying I’m in love with you, and all you’ve done is throw that back in myface!”
“We’ve known each other since we were kids. Our parents are married. Scott, you're like abrotherto me.” My words must trigger him because he launches at me, grabbing my throat and squeezing it tight. “Don’t you fucking say that! Don’t try to twist it and make it wrong. It’s not wrong; it’snot!” He screams at my face, and when I feel his phlegm land on my cheek, I have to remind myself to stay calm.
“I’m not saying it’s wrong; I’m just saying I’ve always looked at you like a brother.” My shaky hands reach up to touch his, hoping to relieve some of the tension in his fingers, and when his lips slam over mine, I feel the bile rise in my throat.
“Wait, how did you find me?” I force him away while keeping eye contact. I read somewhere that that's important.
“You used your credit card to check into that guesthouse in town. At first, I assumed you’d left for California early, but when I checked your online banking and saw the transaction, I came straight here.” Something must have switched in his head because he’s not angry anymore; he almost seems excited. And his hands feel tender instead of tense.
“Scott, none of this adds up. Are you and Josh in this together?”
“Josh?” He laughs again. “No, baby, Josh ain’t involved. He’s dead.” He strokes my hair affectionately, and I have to let him because, clearly, he’s unhinged.
“What did you do?” I ask cautiously, wondering if I’m even ready to hear the answer.
“I had it all planned out, and you fucked it up by coming here.” That anger starts to form on his face again. “Josh wasn’t much of a friend, he knew how I felt about you, and he took you anyway. Then he cheated on you. He had everything, and it wasn’t enough.” Scott shakes his head like he’s agitated. “Someone was gonna have to take the blame for all the shit you’ve been getting, and I thought it was poetic justice that it be him.”
“Scott, were you the one sending me those letters? Did you draw that awful picture?” I feel the tears building in my eyes when it starts to become clear.
“Yes, but only to make you understand that you need me.” His fingers tremble as they caress my face. “You were moving away. I couldn’t let you do that alone. It's a scary world out there, Ava, with scary people in it. You need me to protect you.” I don’t argue back, he’s far too insane to reason with, and he's still got a gun in his other hand. All my thoughts suddenly go to Jekyll. Scott shot him; there was so much blood. What if he’s dead? I only knew him and Mia for a few hours, but I could see how in love they were.
“Scott, where is Josh now?”
“He’s in the trunk of the car, sweetheart. Don’t worry; we can take this boat and toss him in the middle of the lake. I got the keys.” He reaches into his pocket and fishes out a set of keys, rattling them in my face.
“Where did you get those? Whose boat is this?” My chest is getting tighter, I can barely breathe, but I can’t panic. I have to keep it together.
“Let’s just say Josh isn’t the person we’re gonna drop off.” He laughs callously at me as he tucks the keys back in his pocket.
“None of this makes sense. Josh made that call; the club tracked it. He was staying in a motel near my new apartment. Was all that you?”
Scott drops his head in shame, and when he finds the strength to look back up at me, I see something really scary in his eyes.
“I’m going to be honest with you, precious.” He lowers his tone, and I gasp when he uses the gun in his hand to push some of the hair from my face. “When you left, I was real mad at you. Mad enough to think that I might have to kill you.” There it is again, that crazed laugh that makes my skin crawl. “I’d been setting up Josh anyway, so I figured I’d have to take him with me. I stopped by his place on my way to find you and gave him a little hit of what I gave you. I tied him up in the trunk and took him along for the ride. I used his card to check into the motel. I used it to buy the burner phone I called you from. Everything will point to him,” he tells me as if it’s reassurance, and all I want to do is scream.
