“You were driving thirty miles an hour! Don’t you have the balls to go, James?” His eyes narrowed into two slits.
“What the fuck did you say, Will?”
“Look around, we’re still in the middle of nowhere!”
“Say that to my face,” threatened James, inching closer until he towered over William. Okay, tensions were running a bit high.
“Will, please, he’s just trying to provoke you.” I tried to caress Will’s shoulder to distract him, and maybe make him see reason. “Don’t fight.”
I felt exactly like Jackson right then.
“That never happened before you existed,” James said, staring at me disdainfully.
“Oh, that’s hilarious,” taunted William. “Now you’re blaming her?”
“Because you haven’t seen anything yet, Will. It doesn’t take much to understand that he’ll put her through the wringer with that innocent face of hers.” When James came closer to me, I refused to look up at him.
“Come on, James. Let’s go.”
Will got into the car, and I moved back to the car door.
“Touch me again, and I swear I’ll call the police as soon as I get home,” I hissed.
“Sure. But you know that if anything, and I mean anything, happens to Will, I’ll never forgive you.”
I curled up against the car. I wasn’t afraid of him, but those words hit me like a ton of bricks.
“Enough of this bullshit, James! June, get in the car, let’s go.”
I was never a particularly wimpy person, except during horror films. But when we got to the huge, abandoned parking lot, I desperately hoped that I wouldn’t end up inside the club.
We left the car a few yards away as a buffer and walked to the building. James was oddly quiet. There was nothing around us but dry land, sand, and a sun that burned a little brighter than usual.
It looked more like we were in one of those drug dealer movies that my grandma watched than a horror movie.
An unexpected sound from Will’s phone made us jump.
“It’s Jackson,” he whispered, slowing down.
James and I were walking side by side, and I couldn’t control myself.
“So is it true that they have you by the balls?”
“What part of ‘shut up’ do you not understand? Do I need to spell it out for you?”
“They have your gun, you’re their puppet.”
I bit my tongue when James’s broad shoulders created a shadow over me.
“Listen to me, and listen to me good, princess. I don’t give a flying fuck if you’re with Will or pretending to be the little lost girl and my instinct to protect you comes out. But you gotta understand that this will end badly for everyone. And if you’re with us . . .”
I jumped, maybe because this time he really meant it.
“We’re here.” Will came up behind us.
Austin’s place was almost unrecognizable in daylight.
“What’d you have in mind, June?” William asked, looking at me curiously.
