AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Casually, I smile at Shakespeare. “Is this not Eden? I thought you guys owned all of this land.”
Shakespeare makes a tsking noise. “I highly doubt that. Why don’t you get in the car? Let me take you back to your husband. Scary things lurk out on this road.”
I am 1000 percent sure he’s talking about himself. “No, no, that’s okay. I would hate to interrupt your drive. I’ll turn around and go back the way I came.”
The door unlocks. “I insist. My brother would kill me if he knew I left his wife alone in the dark.”
And he keeps sounding creepier.
“He won’t mind. He knows I do this all the time.”
“Oh,” Shakespeare says, holding up his phone. “Well, then, he won’t mind coming to get you. It’s a long way back—at least a quarter of a mile. You might catch a cold, which would anger the Prince of Vengeance.”
I might catch a knife to my throat if I keep playing these games with Van’s brother. But I know better than to run from a predator. They love the chase. So, like the idiot I am, I let out a big sigh and walk toward Shakespeare’s car.
“Fine,” I tell him, yanking open the door and dropping onto the leather seat like a petulant child.
Fair is fair. He caught me. The question is, will he return me to Van, who will go crazy? Or will he take me somewhere worse?
The doors lock, and immediately, I turn to Shakespeare, finding a wicked gleam in his eye as the interior lights reflect in them.
“I know that look,” he claims. “That look is trouble.”
I swallow thickly. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Deny, deny, deny. He can’t tell Van anything that he doesn’t know.
“No judgment here, darling. I love trouble. So, tell me, where are you really headed?”
This is insane. I am about to be bound and gagged in the back of this man’s trunk. I can feel his crazy vibe chilling the hair on my arms. But since Shakespeare loves trouble, maybe he’ll love it more than tattling.
“Okay, fine,” I admit. “I need to see a friend. He’s not really a friend, but I need to meet him.”
“What’s his name?” Shakespeare doesn’t bother with pleasantries.
“Blake?” I say it as a question. “Yeah, his name is Blake. He was blackmailing me not too long ago. Van’s not his biggest fan. To be honest, neither am I. But he has something I need.” It’s like word vomit spills out of me, confessing exactly what I’m feeling to a man I don’t know.
“And this Blake… he’s a bad guy?”
I almost ask him to give me a range of comparisons, but I don’t. That would be insulting, and I need Shakespeare to be on my side right now.
“I wouldn’t say he’s a bad guy. More like a shitty guy, but not bad. You know what I’m saying?”
A smile creeps along Shakespeare’s face. “I got you. But how about, just in case, I give you a lift over there, for my brother’s sake?”
Nothing in his tone backs up his words. Shakespeare is not doing this for Van. He’s doing it for the thrill.
“Are you going to rat me out to my husband?”
“Do you want me to?” His eyebrows waggle playfully, pulling onto the road. “Sometimes, those result in the best makeup sessions.”
I’m sure they do.
“No, that’s okay. I’ll tell him when we get back.” That way, I can soften him with the truth of who turned him in that night.
“Whatever you want, sweetheart.”
Chills break out along my skin when he says the word sweetheart. I don’t know if it’s the seductive tone in which he says it or how he fingers the chain around his neck.
