“When did you ever help?” Dimitri cuts him off and disconnects the call.
We all stay silent, waiting for Dimitri to say something. Anything.
“Turn up the music,” Dimitri says and huffs.
Hope shifts in her seat, turns on the radio to drown us, and I speed up.
We won’t go back. We can’t. No more hiding. No more pretending we aren’t a fucked-up bunch.
This is either our end or beginning.
The sun is barely up by the time we reach the edge of the old forest.
Jaxon is out of the car before I finish parking, popping the trunk and pulling out a battered duffel. Dimitri shrugs on hisbackpack and checks for the gun in the waistband of his jeans. Hope is the last to leave the car, pausing with her hand on the door handle before stepping out, drawing in one slow breath.
“We stay off the paths,” I say and lead the way. They know we’re coming but we shouldn’t make it too easy for them.
Jaxon stalks right behind me, eyes hard and wild, checking each tree like he expects something to step out and challenge him. Hope follows in my shadow, silent, but I see the fear darkening her eyes. Dimitri walks beside her, his hand on the gun.
We shouldn’t have brought her, but we had no choice. It was hers.
We hit the clearing and the cabin comes into sight. The front door hangs on one hinge. Police tape hangs loose. Jaxon slows, and for a second, I think he’s going to say something brave or reckless, but he just stops, head cocked, listening.
That’s when I hear it: a voice, faint, female.
I glance at Hope. Her face has gone white, every muscle in her body locked tight.
“Do you guys hear that?” she whispers.
She doesn’t have to say it twice. We all freeze.
“Please don’t! Please don’t! Please… no, no, no…”
My heart stammers in my chest and I grab Hope, pulling her behind me. We all listen in.
“It’s a loop,” Dimitri mumbles.
“Please don’t!”
Jaxon shifts on his feet as the words become clearer and Hope covers her mouth with her hand.
“Who the fuck is that?” I hiss and I see the blood drain from Jaxon’s face and Hope’s eyes squeeze shut.
“Jaxon, who is it?” Dimitri asks and grabs Jaxon’s shoulder.
“Please… please… I’ll be good, I promise, I’ll be—”
JAXON
Her…
Why does it have to beher?
“Jax!” Knox hisses.
Hope grips my wrist so tightly, I feel her nails, then her fingers lace through mine. I squeeze, and can hear one of her fingers pop, but I can’t make myself let go. Something breaks in me, fractures just like my spine probably should have.
“Daisy.” It’s supposed to be a scream, but it’s a pathetic whine. “Fuck, why… why is it…?”
