“Deke,” she warns, feeling it.
I lower my head to her neck and inhale. Her scent of strawberries hits my nose, and I bite my tongue to keep from moaning. I love it when my clothes smell like her. My bed. My car. I love knowing she was there. With me. All mine.
“Well, let me remind you it’s me, baby.” My voice is rough, and my cock throbs. I wish we were alone. I’ve fucked her in this room so many times before, but since I know Demi is next door, I won’t.
“No.” She shoves me away, and I go willingly. I honestly didn’t come here to get between her legs. Or her mouth. Although that would be a bonus. “Who the fuck is Evan Scott?”
I run a hand through my hair. “I had to create a fake profile for a dare.”
“I don’t know.” I answer his previous question. “She could have, but I can’t say for sure.” I don’t know how long Demi had been standing on the stairs when Becky called me Evan Scott. But she could have heard Becky ask me about him once she and I were in her room.
“We take her out,” Shane announces.
I throw my head back and laugh at that ludicrous idea. I wanted to threaten Demi, but take her out? Not happening. Make her life a living hell if she’s behind this? Absolutely.
“We’re not doing that.” Cole shakes his head.
“I didn’t get this far to let some little bitch get us thrown in jail. Who the hell knows what she knows?” Shane fists his hands.
“We can’t kill her.” Cole growls. “We’re not in Collins, you fucking idiot. She has a sister. Parents. She’s a senior in high school. Not some old guy with no one who would look for her.”
“You did whatever the fuck you wanted to do with Austin,” Shane snaps.
Cole’s eyes narrow on him. “Yes, but she had no one. This situation is not the same. And we’re not in a place that we know well enough to start killing people and hiding bodies.”
I hang my head and run my hand through my hair. “How about we just ask her what she knows?’
“Do you think she’ll be truthful?” Bennett asks me. “Like if she knew her life was in danger?”
I shrug my shoulders. “I don’t know.”
“This is bullshit,” Shane snaps.
“Watch it, Shane,” Cole warns. “You’re starting to sound like Kellan. And we all know how that worked out for him.”
Shane ignores his threat and looks at Bennett. “Speaking of Kellan, how do we know you really killed him?”
“Excuse me?” Bennett quirks a brow at the accusation.
“I killed him,” Cole corrects Shane.
“But how do we know he stayed dead?” Shane argues, pointing at Bennett. “This fucker could have …”
Shane doesn’t get to finish that sentence ’cause Bennett’s fist connects with his jaw, knocking his ass into the table.
I grab Bennett by the shoulders and yank him back. “Cole? A little help,” I snap, watching him leaning up against the wall.
He releases a huff and pushes off and yanks Shane up off the floor by the collar of his shirt. Not exactly what I meant by helping, but it’ll do.
“It makes total sense.” Shane shoves Cole away with a growl. “His name is on there and marked off ’cause we believe he’s dead, but what if he’s still alive?”
“No.” Cole speaks. “He. Is. Dead. I made sure that fucker was cold before I handed his ass over to Bennett.”
Shane runs the back of his hand over his bloody chin as he glares at Cole. “You willing to bet Austin’s life on that?” he asks.
Silence fills the small area. Bennett pulls away from me, and I cross my arms over my chest. Cole squares his shoulders and fists his hands. “I don’t care if God himself wrote us this fucking riddle. I’ve already told you if something happens to her, you’re the first one I’ll kill.”
Shane ignores him and turns to face me. “Did Kellan know Demi?”
“We all went to school together. Of course, he knew her,” I answer.
“No, I mean really knew her.” He growls. “She’s the only one on the list who doesn’t make sense.” He licks his busted lips. “Did they fuck?”
“Who didn’t Kellan fuck?” Bennett growls.
The thought of Kellan and Demi together makes my jaw tighten. I always saw Demi Holt as a good girl. A bitch, yes, but someone with very little experience in the bedroom. She never flaunted herself like her sister did. I figured she’d take a little more time to spread her legs open for a guy. And Kellan didn’t have that kind of patience. But then again, I’d never have guessed she would allow me to finger-fuck her in a haunted house either. So what the fuck do I know when it comes to her and what she will do?
I try to think back to anything that would give away the two of them even communicating in any way. “No,” I say when I realize we already know the answer. “But I know how we can figure it out.”
“How so?” Bennett asks.
“We have Kellan’s phone …”
Bennett shakes his head. “We gave it to the police. Plus, other than the recording I wanted them to have, I wiped it clean.”
“We still have his other one. Let’s go through it.” His phone never mattered before. Austin survived. Kellan was dead, and his body was never going to be found, so we never went through it, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t keep it.
Cole finally nods. “Grab the note and let’s go.”
We lock up the cabin and get back into my SUV. As I start my car, my phone dings. It’s a new text from Austin. I open it up.
Austin: Where are you guys? His phone is still off. I’m really worried, Deke.
Me: Headed home.
I throw my car in reverse.
“Who was that?” Cole asks, staring down at my phone sitting in my lap.
“Demi.” My stomach instantly knots at the lie. And, fuck, why did I have to say her? Becky would have been a better choice. More believable.
His eyes meet mine, and I know he knows I just lied. I wait for him to call me out on it or maybe punch me in the face. Nothing would surprise me at this point. At least I didn’t think so. But then he nods his head once and looks away from me, not saying one word.
DEMI
I sit in my bath, the only light from the flickering candles lining the bathtub. I have bubbles in my water, and Austin’s journal in my hand. I haven’t been able to put this down. It’s like a dark and mysterious maze. Even though I know they end up together, I’m still trying to figure out how Cole will win her over.
He treats her like shit. Blackmail and physical harm are just a couple of things he puts her through, but she dishes it back. In a way, she’s my hero. I wish she was my sister and not Becky. Yeah, Austin gave in and had sex with Cole, but it was more than that.
She reminds me so much of myself. She feels this pull to Cole’s darkness just as I do to Deke’s. I wanna see what he can do. How dark he can go. Push his limits like Austin did with Cole. And push him, she does.
She has just completed her first dare in this part. She pulled the fire alarm at school and stole Cole’s car keys out of his locker. She needed a distraction to get Shane out of the school so he could steal Jerrold’s laptop. Eli’s brother-in-law. The man who was married to his sister. The murderer who killed her just months after Eli died in the car wreck. Deke threw her a party to celebrate it on the beach. And it reminds me of when I went there with my sister and David. That night that changed everything.