I yanked open the driver’s-side door before turning my derisive sneer back on the guys. "My mom wasn't pregnant. She couldn't get pregnant; she had her tubes tied right after I was born."
"Madison Kate," Archer snapped, taking a few steps toward me, "what are you doing?"
I slid into the driver's seat and slammed the door shut, so instead of replying, I just flipped him off through the windshield and turned the engine on.
Archer rushed to the driver’s door and tried to yank it open again, but I'd already hit the automatic locks.
Steele was closest to the other side—the one with a shattered window—but I gunned the accelerator before he could reach in and unlock the door.
Fuck this.
Fuck all of this.
They'd tried to gaslight me, and they'd almost succeeded.
Tears clouded my vision, and I frantically scrubbed them away so I could see the road. My whole body was tense, and I nervously buckled my seat belt while clutching the steering wheel for dear life. I knew how to drive; I'd forced myself to get my license so that I'd always have the option should I want to drive. But fucking hell, I was not experienced, and in my current emotional state...
Something flashed in the trees, and I flinched, jerking the wheel, then narrowly managed to straighten out before I crashed into a ditch.
"Slow down, MK," I whispered to myself. "Just slow down. Slow the fuck down."
But as many times as I told myself to slow down, I couldn't force my foot to ease up on the accelerator.
Memories and flashes of images kept assaulting me, making me flinch and jump. It was like Pandora's Box had been unlocked, and the repressed memories wouldn't go away until they'd all been seen.
Flashes of my mother, happier than I'd ever seen her, and a pair of heavily tattooed arms around her waist, his inked hands resting on her belly as I spied on them through the half-open door of her bedroom.
But then darker images, too. Her leaving me in the car for ages while parked outside a shady bar in West Shadow Grove. Me sneaking around, peeking through the dirty windows, and witnessing a skinny, ink-covered gangbanger on his knees, a gun to his head.
A blue-eyed boy, older than me, yanking me away from the window and yelling at me to get out of there.
Tears clouded my vision again, and my chest ached as I sobbed.
Headlights lit up my car, and fear flooded through me. I was speeding, and the car behind was rapidly gaining on me.
Could it be the guys? Maybe. I could imagine one of them probably had the necessary skills for hot-wiring a car, and there had been plenty to choose from parked outside the warehouse.
Except the car following me had its high beams on, momentarily blinding me when I tried to look in the mirror. The heavy revving of an engine, audible thanks to the smashed-out passenger window of the G-Wagen, was the only warning I got before the car behind me hit my bumper.
I screamed as my vehicle lurched forward, knowing I was about to lose control. I clung to the steering wheel, fighting to stay on the road as my back end started to fishtail. Another ram from the other car sealed the deal.
The wheel wrenched out of my stiff fingers as my wheels caught on the rough surface of the shoulder, then the car hurtled out of control into the ditch.
A deafening bang sounded, and my whole world went black.
37
Sound came back to me first. A high-pitched ringing in my ears that made me dizzy and disoriented. I blinked my eyes a couple of times, clearing them of white powder.
What had happened? All I could remember was a loud bang and then... nothing.
"Shit," I groaned, touching a hand to my nose. Blood trickled from my nose and the bridge ached, but amazingly, it didn't seem broken. Pretty lucky, considering how many airbags had gone off inside the G-Wagen when I collided with the huge ass tree directly in my line of vision.
The whole front end of the car was crushed, and if I'd been in a smaller car, I would be dead for sure. As it was, the worst of my injuries had come from the airbags deploying and the seat belt cutting into my chest and waist.
It took four or five solid shoves with my shoulder to open my door, thanks to the buckled metal, but when it finally popped free, I tumbled out into the dirt with a cry of relief.
My ears still rang with a high-pitched whine, and my balance was all over the place. Those were lessening by the minute, so I didn't think I'd ruptured an eardrum. Hopefully. There was blood on my neck and ear, but that could have come from the gash at my hairline.
Pushing my sticky, bloody hair back from my face, I sucked in a few breaths and looked around. The car that had pushed me from the road was nowhere to be seen, and the woods I'd crashed into were dead silent. Of course.
I needed to call for help. I needed...
Fuck.
I wanted to call the guys. But I couldn't. Not after how I'd just left things with them. Not after the bullshit they'd just tried to spin with me.
Besides, I didn't have my phone. It had been in the pocket of my jacket, which was probably still under the speaker at the warehouse party.
"Fucking hell, MK," I muttered to myself, watching my breath fog in the cool night air.
Wobbling and stumbling, I made my way back up to the road. I still had my high heels on, but I'd keep them on as long as I could so I didn't tear my feet up on rocks or gravel. The road looked quiet, and I had no idea how long it might be before someone came along. Hell, I wasn't even sure where I was. I hadn't paid attention when I left the warehouse, and now I was paying the price for my own stupid decisions.
One thing was for sure—I couldn't stay there. What if the person who ran me off the road came to finish the job?
Decided, I hurried along the road. Maybe if I got my blood pumping, it'd help me keep warm. Then again, it would also make my head wound bleed harder. Such choices. Die of hypothermia or die of blood loss.
Around the next corner I spotted lights through the trees. I needed to get off the road because walking along the road was just as bad as staying with my car if someone wanted me dead, so I made a quick decision. I'd head for those lights and pray to all the celestial beings it was a diner or police station or something equally useful.
For the next few minutes, I carefully picked my way through the thick undergrowth, heading for the bright lights ahead. The closer I got, though, the deeper my unease grew. When I finally emerged from the tree line, I just stood there for a long time, hardly comprehending what I was seeing.
It was the Laughing Clown. I was at the goddamn, fucking Laughing Clown. Except instead of the dark, abandoned park we'd seen after Bree's party—when we'd left Skunk beaten and bloody under the clown face—it was fully lit up.
Everything was still shitty and run down, debris and weeds everywhere, but someone had reconnected the electricity and the enormous clown mouth was fully lit up and flashing. Creepy music tinkled from ancient speakers on tall poles, and a deep shudder ran through me.
I'd just walked straight into a trap, tailor-made for me. There was no doubt in my mind.
"Fuck no," I told the huge clown face over the entrance. "No way in hell."
I turned to retrace my steps, but a dark figure silhouetted on the ridge I'd just come down made me freeze. Terror flooded through me, triggering my fight-or-flight reflex. I was no idiot; I fucking ran.