I stand staring down at my friend sitting in the snow with blood running down his nose. I should be mad, but all I can think about is how my sister can’t accept him for who he really is. I’m not surprised. She never really did me either. But she doesn’t understand our need for revenge. Demi understands it. She’s lived it with her sister for years.
I walk over to him and reach out my hand. He looks at it and then up at me before taking it. I pull him into me and slap his back. “I already consider you a brother, Bennett. But if you hurt her, I’ll have no problem killing you.”
He chuckles pulling away. “That’s not gonna happen.”
The three of us enter the house to find my sister sitting at her kitchen table. She jumps up the moment she sees us and gasps. “What the hell, Deke?” She runs to him, placing her hands on his bloody face.
“He’s fine.” I wave her off. “Just a scratch.”
“Where are the girls?” Cole asks, looking around for Austin.
“They left to go take Lilly to see Blanche for the day. They’ll be back later.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
DEMI
I SIT IN the spare bedroom scrolling through my Facebook when I hear a knock on the door. “Come in.”
Austin pops her head in. “Hey, I’m gonna go pick up Lilly from Blanche’s. Wanna ride with me? I thought we could grab dinner on the way back for everyone.”
“Yeah,” I say, getting up and grabbing my jacket. “Sounds good.”
She backs out of the driveway, and I send Deke a quick message. I haven’t spoken to him much today. Austin and I left earlier while he was outside beating the shit out of his friend. We had dropped Lilly off at Blanche’s and then met Shelby at the mall for some girl time. She explained the guys made up and how they were going to meet Shane at the clubhouse later to go over some things. Whatever that meant.
Me: Gonna pick up Lilly and grab dinner. Ask the guys what sounds good.
Locking my phone, I put it down in my lap and look out the windshield. When we arrived in Collins earlier today, it had been snowing. It’s stopped for the time being but looks like it could start again at any minute.
We’re on a two-lane road heading back to Blanche’s. She lives on the outskirts of Collins. The road is curvy with lots of hills so we’re going slower than normal due to the weather. We make a curve, and Austin slams on the brakes. Her hand comes out, shooting across to my chest to hold my back to the seat.
“What the hell is going on here?” she asks as we come to an abrupt stop.
“Maybe they wrecked,” I say, looking over the tire tracks of a car that sits in the middle of the road. You can tell that they were heading in the same direction as us and then spun around, doing a one-eighty. When it finally stopped, it’s now facing us head on but still across both lanes.
Austin opens her door and gets out, so I do the same. “Hello?” she calls out.
I look over at the ditch, and my heart begins to pound in my chest when I see the three, white wooden crosses that Deke and Cole placed here after their friends were killed in the car wreck. I remember being at Eli’s funeral and hearing people whisper that Cole and Deke didn’t show. They had been here, setting these.
Right where we stand.
“Austin?” I turn to face her, and she’s got her hands on the window of the car, trying to look through the blacked-out windows. “I think we should leave,” I say, getting a bad feeling about this.
“I don’t see anyone …” The door opens, hitting her in the face, knocking her off her feet and onto her ass.
“Austin?” I shout, running over to her, but an arm wraps around me from behind, and I’m yanked off my feet. Oh, no. God, no!
She rolls over onto her hands and gets up on her knees. A guy steps out of the car, and my breath hitches. No, no, no. “Austin … run.”
He walks over and kicks her in the side, and she cries out, grabbing it.
“Stop!” I scream, trying to fight the hands that hold me.
The passenger door opens, and I watch my sister walk around the back of the car. My teeth clench at the sight of her smiling at me. “You fucking bitch!” I scream.
The guy holding me tightens his hold, pinning my arms down to my side. “Nice to see you too, sis.” She gives me a smile that I wanna cut off her fucking face.
“Let her go,” I order. I can’t let Austin get hurt. Not because of me. Not because I stole my sister’s boyfriend.
She laughs. “Not a chance.”
“Your fight is with me.” My eyes go to Austin, and she’s now on her knees with her head in her hands. The car door hit her pretty hard, and I’m surprised it didn’t knock her unconscious. She’s definitely confused as to what is going on. “You hate me. I took him from you.”
Becky steps into me, pressing her chest into mine. Her blue eyes narrowed. “I no longer give a fuck that he picked you.”
She spits in my face. Then she gathers her blond hair to the top of her head and spins around, giving me her back. I see four tally marks across the back of her neck just below her hair and then one across it. Fuck, Deke, what did you guys do to her? They had to know she wouldn’t quit. Not after that.
She spins back around. “The sharks did that to me. Because of you. Because of her …”
“You deserved it.” I growl. They should have just killed her.
She slaps me across the face, and I taste blood, but I refuse to make a fucking sound or let her think she hurt me. Instead, I spit it on her.
She laughs, and says, “Do it.”
Before I even get the chance to comprehend what she says, I feel a sting in my arm. “What …?”
“You’re done, Demi. Once and for all.”
I panic as I look over at Austin. She’s getting to her feet, her hands up and fisted because she’s more alert now. Just as the guy goes to swing, she ducks and punches him in the dick.
Good for her. Maybe one of us will survive this.
“Don’t worry. It’ll only hurt a lot,” Becky taunts.
The guy shoves me forward, and I fall to my knees in the middle of the street. I watch Becky walk over to Austin, and I take the chance to pull my phone out of my back pocket and go to Deke’s number.
“I’ll take that.” She yanks it from my hands and throws it out into the woods behind me.
“I hope he fucking kills you,” I growl up at her from my knees.
“He already has,” she states with a smile.
The guy who was holding me walks around and picks her up. She kisses him while he spins her around, and I blink, making sure I’m seeing what I think I see. What did she give me? Am I hallucinating? “No …”
He drops her back down to her feet.
“Can’t … be.” My eyes are getting heavy, and my lips won’t work.
She kneels in front of me. “Nothing is ever what it seems.” That’s the last thing I hear her say before my arms give out, and I fall to the snow-covered street.
BECKY
“Put her in the back of the Range Rover,” I order David.
He bends down to pick up my sister and carries her over to Austin’s SUV. I turn to face the bitch who was supposed to be my best friend.