My skin crawled, a stew of nerves and anger brewing inside me.
“The fuck are you two doing here?”
“Been out, been having a good time,” Bob added. “We thought we’d come by and enjoy some breakfast. Luckily, looks like you’ve got yourself set up for two, here.”
They headed into the dining room and sat down.
I kept an ice-cold expression on my face. I’d never give her away.
I just hope Natalie would be cautious and quiet. If there was a time to jump out the window and into the snow for a getaway, this was it.
“You two are high as fuck. I’m going to ask you again. What are you doing here?”
My gaze jumped to the butcher knives in the kitchen, and I tried to play it off like I was just rubbing my face.
I saw that desperation in their eyes. They were out for blood and revenge.
My heart sunk thinking how I’d had the same feelings coursing through me, until I actually *met* Natalie.
“We’re going through with the plan, Shaney. And we know you know where she is.”
“The fuck you’re talking about? I have no idea where she is.”
Jared flitted his eyes between the two plates. “Then who’s breakfast for two for?”
“None of your fucking business.”
Jared and Bob chuckled.
It was an evil, devilish laugh, with no hope for redemption. Even their eyes looked like they’d been taken over by demons.
Jared nodded to Bob, and Bob reached into his jacket and pulled out a gun.
I thought of the butcher knives, but I didn’t look at them.
“We thought you’d say that. But we know you know, Shaney. You forget how quick word gets around this town. Fuller saw you two in front of your house yesterday. Quit your lying, man. We’re doing it. So where is she?”
26
Shane
“She’s not here,” I said without missing a beat. “Are you two for real right now? Coming in, looking all tough with a gun? Don’t be ridiculous.”
Bob cocked it, pointed it at my mom’s cabinet, and pulled the trigger, blowing a hole in the cabinet and hitting some dishes.
Jared even jumped, but I didn’t flinch.
I had to keep my cool with as crazy as they were getting and talk them down. They really were out of their minds, coming in here like this. Fuck them and their tough guy approach.
I wondered how far I would go to protect Natalie from my former friends. The thought scared me.
“You fucking asshole. You just busted up my mom’s gear,” I spat out.
“Where. Is. She.” Bob’s voice cracked. His eyes were bloodshot.
“You think this is going to give you closure? Taking the life of an innocent girl-turned woman?”
“Who said anything about taking a life? That’s no fun. We just want to traumatize her, like we were traumatized.”
“Her father is fucking dead now, not sure if you noticed. Plus she’s the one who has to deal with the fact that he was an asshole. I think that’ll be plenty of trauma for her.”
Jared furrowed his brow. “When’d you go so soft, man?”
“How is this soft?”
“Soft. Like the Pillsbury doughboy. I could poke you and…forget it. Let’s go find her.”
“She left. There’s no reason to waste your time. She’s halfway to Milwaukee by now. Left this morning.”
Bob and Jared’s shoulders sank. “You’re lying,” Bob said.
I shrugged. “Fellas, I don’t see why we’ve become at odds. This is a little ridiculous. We’re both on the same team.”
Jared shook his head. “You’re lying. And you know how I know you’re lying?”
Jared bared his teeth. Bob waved the gun around.
“Why don’t you enlighten me?”
“Smells like a girl in this place. It’s the same scent I noted the other night at the bar.”
My stomach churned. “Told you, she left.”
Please, get the fuck out of here, Natalie.
I hadn’t heard the shower running since the two of them arrived. Maybe she had gotten wise and left.
I prayed she had.
“Bob, you wait down here with our former friend. I’m going to head upstairs. I think I heard something.”
Jared headed up the stairs.
“Have a seat,” Bob said, pointing the gun at me. “I insist.”
I sat in the chair in the dining room, my body posture rigid.
“You don’t have to do this, you know. You don’t have to do his freaking bidding.”
“Shut up, North. You’re lucky we don’t do the same to you that we’re going to do to her.”
I furrowed my brow, then stood up.
Bob took a quick breath. “Hey! No moving. I’m in charge here.”
“Bob, you don’t have to do this…whatever you’re planning. Do it to me.”
Bob’s eyes widened, and then he started to laugh.
The laughter was so maniacal, so evil, it made me realize something.
No one was at home any more for Bob.
Nor for Jared.
They’d become shells of the people who were once my friends. Now, they existed in life purely to drag others down like the old crabs-in-a-bucket metaphor. The fact that revenge would be short-lived, and possibly with life-long consequences for them—like jailtime, not to even mention guilt—didn’t matter in the slightest.
The thing that made me tense the most was that I still didn’t know exactly what they planned to do.
Give her a scare was such a general term, and was open to vast interpretation. Seeing their pallid faces made me fear the worst.
I had a feeling this was the last time I’d be one-on-one with one of them. Bob had a gun but this was a chance I needed to take.
I lunged at him, and I caught him by surprise, spearing him to the ground.
Then there was a gun shot, so loud it temporarily deafened me.
I remember hearing Natalie’s voice before I hit the ground, but I couldn’t make out what she said before I felt a blow to my head, and everything went black.
27
Natalie
“How badly did you hurt him?”
I glanced in the back of the truck. I was sitting in the middle seat of Jared’s pickup truck as they drove me God knows where.
I thought about somehow leaning into Jared’s lap, causing a crash, and making a run for it, but I was reluctant since Bob was poking a gun in my side.
“Here’s the thing, Sweetheart. You don’t ask the questions. You answer ours.”
“Real original. I don’t know what you two want, but can’t we figure something out?”
Jared laughed. “You sound like Shaney. He went so soft since you came back.”
“Nah, let’s be honest,” Bob chimed in. “He’s been soft all this past year.”
I glanced at Shane, looking lifeless in the back. They’d duct-taped his hands and legs together and put tape over his mouth for good measure.
“What are you doing with Shane?”
Jared kept his eyes on the road. “You just don’t worry about Shane. Bobby, I’m starting to fade. Will you give me another?”