“Nope, I’ve never had someone love me enough for me to break their heart.”
“Aw, damn girl,” Ramona murmurs. “That’s rough. We need to get you a man who thinks you’re a god damned princess.”
Delilah scoffs. “Good luck.”
“There’s one out there, honey. I promise you.”
My phone rings, breaking up the silence. I get up and reach over for it, seeing Hugh’s name flash across the screen.
“Hey, handsome,” I answer it.
“Where are you?” he demands, his voice rough.
“What do you mean? We’re out.”
“Where. The. Fuck. Are. You?”
“Hugh, what’s going on?”
Everyone sits up, all their eyes trained on me.
“Tell me you’re not at the lake ...”
I blink, slowly. “We are. Why?”
“Fuck. Get out of there. Right fuckin’ now. Just got a call from a friend who was at the bar, he said a couple of guys followed a group of girls out and the description matched all of you. Those guys match the description of the men who overheard you. You need to leave. Right fuckin’ now. Get out of there.”
Shit.
Shit.
“We’re going. We’re going right now.”
I jump to my feet, urging everyone else to get up.
Car headlights flicker in the distance.
Oh crap.
“I think they’re here,” I say into the phone.
“Who’s here?” Eve asks, looking slightly frantic.
“Hide, Maggie. Find somewhere and stay there. We’re on our way.”
I shove my phone into my purse. “We need to get out of sight. Right now. Come on,” I say, grabbing Gabby who is right next to me.
“What’s going on?” Delilah asks, her eyes darting around.
“We just need to go. Come on, let’s hide, I’ll explain later.”
We all take our things and rush toward a huge thick area of trees. We find a spot and crouch down behind some thick bushes. My heart is racing as I whisper, “Phones on silent. Hurry.”
Within seconds, everyone’s phone is on silent.
“My ... my phone isn’t in my purse,” Delilah says.
For that second, it feels like my heart lands in my throat and cuts off my air supply. “Check again,” I say softly. “Maybe you missed it.”
She ruffles around. “It’s not in here. I must have dropped it back there.”
“Maybe you can run out and get it,” Eve says, but before Delilah can even answer, we are forced to go quiet when a car pulls up.
It idles there for a minute, and then two men climb out. It’s the same two men I saw at the country club, and immediately Delilah taps my arm and leans in close, “Why are they here? I know them. They’re harmless.”
This isn’t how I wanted to break anything to her, but right now I need her to stay hidden and to do that, I’m going to have to give her something.
“I know you don’t want to hear it,” I whisper right into her ear, “but they’re dangerous. I have proof, they’re looking for me because I overheard something at the country club I shouldn’t have and they don’t want me speaking out. I’ll explain everything later, but for right now, I need you trust that I’m telling you the truth and you can’t go out there.”
She squeezes my hand. Her answer.
The guys shine a few flashlights around, and then they turn back toward their car. One of them stops, just as he’s about to reach it, and leans down, picking something up off the ground. It’s Delilah’s cell phone. Eve makes a sound beside me, a little frightened. They start shining their lights around again and walking right to the area we’re hiding.
I hold my breath.
It feels like time stands still.
Their hushed voices whisper as they move closer.
Then the sound of a truck coming down the road has them pausing. They both look in the direction of the sound and then rush back to the car, getting in and spinning it around, speeding off as quickly as they came in. I exhale in relief, so grateful that in that second, we were saved because if they had found us, the result wouldn’t have been great.
“Is that the guys?” Eve asks as the truck nears.
“Yes,” I say, recognizing Hugh’s truck. “Let’s go.”
We stand up, and another truck rolls down behind Hugh, that one belongs to Riggs. The two guys get out and my chest tightens as I reach Hugh, throwing my arms around him. “Delilah dropped her phone. They picked it up. They’re going to know she was here.”
Hugh takes a deep breath in. “We’ll deal with it when we’re back at the club. For now, let’s go.”
We all get into their trucks.
Nobody says a single thing on the way home.
They know Delilah was with us.
If they suspect she knows anything they’re not going to stop.
This just went from bad to worse.
Really, really quickly.
19
“I don’t understand,” Delilah says, her legs crossed on the sofa at Hugh’s place, a blanket wrapped around her shoulders, a cup of tea in hand. “I’ve known those guys all my life, there is no way they’d be doing something like that.”
“Just because you know someone, don’t mean they’re not doin’ bad shit,” Riggs explains to her. “I can promise you, they are. Your father knows about it, no doubt involved, too.”
Delilah glares at him. “My father would never take girls and sell them. He’s a great dad. He’s not a god damned monster. You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“But I fuckin’ do,” Riggs growls. “You want fuckin’ proof? I’ll get it for you. You think I’m lyin’, go ahead and start digging around. I’m sure what you find will change your spoiled fuckin’ mind.”
“Okay, okay,” I say, putting up my hands. “We don’t need to get upset. Delilah is allowed to feel what she feels, Riggs. It’s her family, I’m certain if someone told you Hugh or one of the guys was the scum of the earth when you didn’t believe it, you’d fight back, too.”
Riggs grunts.
Hugh, who is feeding Star her bottle, carefully places it down and brings her up over his shoulder and pats her back. He’s so good at this now, it’s so damned cute how well he took this on. Especially for someone who didn’t want kids.
“I just,” Delilah says, “I think I have the right to say I know my family, and I know they wouldn’t do something like that.”
“You’ve heard of all the missing girls in the area, surely?” Hugh says to her.
“Yes, I mean, of course but those girls have nothing to do with us.”
“Don’t they?” Riggs mutters.
“I just ... I can’t believe it. I won’t.”
“Well, that’s where we’re goin’ to have a problem. Can’t have you runnin’ back and tellin’ your family what we know. It’ll cause a huge fuckin’ problem. So, if you’re not goin’ to keep your mouth shut, then you’re goin’ to get held here until we sort this out.”