His grin stretches wider. “Dunno what you mean, but if it’s a flat, I can change it for ya?”
“It’s all good. Cece’s already on her way.”
Shannon tilts his head to the side as though guesstimating how much meat he might be able to carve off my bones. “You sure? I wanna help.”
“And that’s great, but?—”
“Because if I help, you might get that you should stop hanging around the farm. Talking to people. Then you might not need so much help.”
I pray my trusty friend, Autism, is keeping the fear from my face because this situation has gone from scary to terrifying. “I didn’t know I wasn’t allowed to talk to people?”
Shannon’s smile thins, his lips vanishing into his beard. “I think you do. Or you should.”
I say nothing. He’s bordering on outright threats, and I don’t need to give him a reason to make them explicit. I just need to remind him civilisation is a mere button-push away. I take my phone out of my pocket, careful not to block the speakers with my fingertips.
“Not gonna answer, huh?”
“Guess not.” I open Instagram and start scrolling. “You can get going by the way. I told you, Cece’s coming. Her brother, too. You know Tristan Taylor?”
He glances over his shoulder.
That’s right. Clock’s on, asshole. It’s a fake clock, but you don’t know that, so fuck off.
He doesn’t. He just keeps smiling that same thin-lipped smile. “You keep acting the way you are, Ada, something bad’s gonna happen. Worse than a busted tyre.”
I stay silent. I don’t need the cops hearing me call Shannon Strom a miserable cunt on the recording I intend to give them.
“Something probably will, you know?”
“Mmm.” I double-tap a picture of someone’s kid wearing a Cinderella costume. “Is that right?”
Heavy boots crunch on the gravel toward me. The hairs on the back of my neck prick up, but I force myself to stay still and keep scrolling. As petrifying as he is, I’m pretty sure Shannon Strom’s never killed before. So, unless he wants to murder me in cold blood by the side of the road, there’s nothing he can do. I just have to hold the line.
“I mean it. Bad things happen all the time. ‘Specially to girls like you.”
He’s right beside me, above me,aroundme, and all I have is a phone and a social code to protect me. Blood rushes to my head, and for a second, I think I’m going to pass out. Then a switch inside me flips. I round on Shannon Strom like I once rounded on Jenny Wallis, the same brutal rage flooding through me, electrifying me to my bones.
“What...” I snarl. “… the ever-lovingfuckis that supposed to mean, Shannon?”
He takes a step backward. “Calm down.”
“Fuck you.” It’s too late to dig around for my knuckledusters. I wrap my fingers around my phone. Fuck the recording, and fuck the evidence, I’ll smash it into his balls if I have to. I’ll die before I let this animal think he’s scared me.
“So you’re gonna do something bad to me if I don’t back off the farm?” I ask. “That’s what you’re getting at, talking to me in little riddles like you’re fuckin’ Yoda?”
“Don’t be an idiot,” he snarls.
“Oh, yeah?” I say stepping right into his BO cloud. “I’m an idiot, am I? I’m wrong about the fact you’re here, having slashed my tyre to intimidate, then threaten me? That’s your angle? That I’m crackers?”
“Yeah, you’re psycho,”he says, his voice lifting an octave. “Everyone knows that. You’re acting like I’m tryna rape you or something.”
I laugh, a crazy jangling laugh. “Am I? Because I was just thinking you lookreally fucking greatin your hideous workpants. Why don’t you give it a try, Shan? You never know, I mightwantto get fucked on the hood of my best mate’s car by a dude who cuts up tyres for his boss.”
Shannon looks around, scratching his arm, and I laugh harder, just to screw with him.
“What? You don’t want to?” I say, making my voice a babyish whine. “Is it ’cos I’m a wog? Or is it the Autism? Because I promise it’s not contagious. C’mon, Shannon, why won’t you fuck me by the side of the road,right now?”
“I...” He squints at me. “What are you…? D’you…? What’s happening?”
