Don’t say a fucking word, he mouthed.
With wild eyes and my heart racing at a marathon pace, I stared at him. I couldn’t have said anything even if I’d wanted to. My brain was still fuzzy, so what I was seeing didn’t register.
Mark was my best friend. Yet he was a stranger.
As he turned his attention back to his call, he morphed back into the man I knew. Cool and casual, he laughed at something the person on the other end had said. “Nah, it’s nothing serious. Probably just a cold or something. Nothing I can’t sleep off. See if Brent can stay late tonight. I’ll be in tomorrow. Yeah. No, that’s cool. Okay. Thanks.”
He hit the end button and dropped his phone into the cupholder in the center console, never taking his eyes off the road ahead.
Finally, I managed to snap out of the haze and with a shaky voice asked, “Where are you taking me?”
He pinned me again with a cold glare. “Jesus fuck, Remi. Clean up your face. You’re getting blood all over my Goddamn truck.”
I flinched as his hand shot out toward me, a reaction he clearly enjoyed as the corners of his lips curved upward. Afraid of what he was going to do, I kept my vision trained on that hand, giving a small breath of thanks when, instead of making contact with me, he pulled the handle to the glove box, popping it open. The sight of the gun inside skyrocketed my pulse. I knew he had one. He’d gotten it for protection for the times he had to take the bar’s weekly deposits to the bank. He had permits, had taken classes, and occasionally went to the gun range for target practice. I’d even gone with him once. Never in my life had I ever been scared of what he would do with it.
Until now.
“W-what are you doing?” I stammered, pressing into the seat in a desperate attempt to disappear.
“Relax,” he rumbled, annoyance lacing the word. He slapped his hand around inside the compartment, blindly digging through the messy contents until he found what he was looking for. The stack of napkins he threw at me hit my chest and dropped into my lap. Just before he slammed the glove box shut, I saw the one thing that was almost as terrifying as the gun inside.
My stomach rolled as I swung my gaze his way, tears immediately filling my eyes. “Why do you have Bowen’s EpiPen?” I didn’t want him to answer. I wasn’t sure I could handle the truth.
“If it’s in my truck, then it can’t be in his leg, now can it?”
“You stole it? Why would you do that?”
He barked a laugh. “Because I went to a lot of fucking trouble to sneak powdered peanuts into the spaghetti sauce without you or Aaron noticing.”
“Oh my God, Mark,” I croaked. “You could have killed him.”
He huffed. “Gee, Remi, it’s almost as if that was the goal.”
I slapped a hand over my mouth, forcing the contents of my stomach to stay where they were, and stared at the man beside me.
I’d spent over a decade with him. For more than ten fucking years, we’d been friends.
Best friends. Roommates. Fucking family.
Yet I didn’t know Mark Friedman at all.
The maniac driving the truck at an alarming speed wasn’t the same kid I’d met behind the gym our junior year in high school. He was unhinged and downright sinister. A mere hour ago, I would have gone to blows with anyone who’d had one bad word to say about the gentle giant who had become a fixture in my life. But now? I didn’t recognize him. I didn’t know him at all. And I sure as hell didn’t want to stick around to learn everything else I didn’t know about him.
“Stop the car,” I demanded.
He scoffed and ignored me, continuing to barrel down whichever highway we were on. The fear in my stomach remained, but it had given way to anger and my patience snapped.
“Stop the fucking car!” I yelled at the top of my lungs, my voice slicing through the cab of the truck.
This time, he listened. Only it wasn’t the grand escape I’d envisioned.
It was only then that I realized I wasn’t wearing a seat belt, so when he slammed his foot on the brake, my entire body flew off the seat as if I’d been fired like a bullet, my already bloodied face slamming against the dashboard.
“Is that what you wanted?” he snarled, stomping on the accelerator and sling-shotting me back into my seat.
I refused to give him what he wanted, so I stifled the cry bubbling up and swiped at the warm trickle of blood dripping from my nose. “I want to go home.”
“And exactly which home is that, Remi? Our home? Bowen’s home? Some fucking place in Savannah? I can tell you right now that two of those options are never going to happen.”
I shook my head. “Why are you doing this?”
It was as if Mark were a grenade and those five words were the pin I’d unknowingly pulled.
What little hold he had on his composure disappeared as he roared, “Because you won’t stop trying to leave me!” He banged the heels of his palms on the steering wheel as he continued to rage. “How the fuck do you still not get it? I love you. I’ve always fucking loved you. But then you met Bowen, and three weeks later, you were ready to throw it all away. It was like I meant fuck all to you. Like I was a placeholder until you could find someone better.”
He gripped the steering wheel so hard that I wouldn’t have been surprised if it bent under the pressure. He grinned at me, flipping the switch on his demeanor in one fell swoop. It was chilling, the icy fear once again coursing through my veins.
“But I didn’t let that happen then, did I?” He shot me an arrogant wink. “I gave up heroin a while back, but I’ll see what I can do about getting you some more. You really seemed to like that last time.”
“No,” I breathed, the pieces clicking into place on a puzzle I never wanted to see.
Bowen had never asked me to move in with him, especially not after three weeks. But I remembered the story he’d told me about Sally. He had asked her to move in with him and she’d gone missing the very next day.
No, I had gone missing.
That was why the suitcases had been in my car when I’d been found unconscious at Grove Hill. Three weeks of knowing a man and I’d been ready to pack my things up and live with him.
Until I’d been kidnapped.
By Mark.
The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end as I stared at him. His entire aura changed right before my eyes.
“You took me,” I whispered.
He nodded. “And this time, I won’t make the fucking mistake of giving you back to him.”
He wasn’t a friend.
He wasn’t even a stranger.
I’d been living with the enemy all along.
And for the second time, he was once again in total control of my destiny.
The story continues in the gripping conclusion,
The Difference Between Someday and Forever
The Difference Trilogy
The Difference Between Somebody and Someone
The Difference Between Somehow and Someway
The Difference Between Someday and Forever
From the Embers
Release
Reclaim
The Retrieval Duet
Retrieval
Transfer
Guardian Protection Agency
Singe