“None of your fucking business.”
“Play nice, boy.” I can hear him smiling through the fucking phone.
“Alice,” I grit out. “And the Mad Hatter.”
“Fitting,” Rooke murmurs. “A girl lost in a world she doesn’t understand, and the madman leading her astray.”
I scoff. “If anyone’s ‘leading her astray,’ it’s fuckingyou.”
“You’re the one keeping her from her potential. And from me.”
“We’re not coming. We need a night off. From you. From all of this shit.”
“You’re growing a spine, Kai,” Bastian says softly. “It’s adorable. Stupid, but adorable.”
“I’m hanging up.”
“Do that, and the police will be at your door in ten minutes.”
My breath catches in my throat, and it takes effort to turn it into a scoff.
“You’re bluffing.”
“Fuck around and find out, boy.”
I don’t speak…because I have no fucking idea what to say.
“Do you really think I don’t have another ace or two up my sleeve?” He sounds so fucking pleased with himself, I want to puke. “All it’ll take is one anonymous call to the station, and Deputy Thatcher himself will be locking those cuffs around your wrists.”
“You’re delusional. I never touched Melissa, and you know it. Whatever you have, it’ll never hold up in court.”
Rooke chuckles. “I wouldn’t be so sure about that.”
I bite my knuckle to muffle the annoyed sound fighting its way out of my throat.
“Fine, boy. You want to go to your little costume party? Then go. But you twowillmeet me at midnight, or it’ll be your last night as a free man.”
“Fuck you! We’re not?—“
An angry growl rumbles through the phone. I swear I’ve never heard him make a sound like that before…but I guess my body recognizes it on some caveman level, because goosebumps break out on my arms like a fucking rash and my jaw clamps shut.
“Listen carefully, Kai. As entertaining as your recent streak of defiance has been, don’t for a second think it’s the new status quo. I am, and always will be, the one in control.”
He pauses, the clink of ice reaching me through the phone.
“I’ll send a location pin tomorrow night,” Rooke says, calm and measured again. “You’ll have ten minutes to meet me there.Don’ttest me, boy.”
I pull the phone away, staring at the dark screen as my chest heaves.
I’m going to be sick.
No. I’m fine. I’m fuckingfine.
I just need to breathe and figure out how the hell I’m going to survive whatever Rooke has planned without dragging Haven down with me.
I’m about to put Haven’s phone back on charge when a new DM comes through.
@inherentvice
