Didn’t shed tears with the words.
And I didn’t give a shit if it meant he’d follow through on his threat. I couldn’t remove his arm from my neck; he was just too strong, even with me using both my hands.
I couldn’t see his eyes in the darkness, but I could sense them on me. I gasped for air when his arm suddenly disappeared and his fingers wrapped around my throat. I knew what he wanted.
No way in hell was I giving it to him.
Just like with the guy who’d been about to shoot me, I wasn’t going to beg.
Several long seconds passed, but just as I was on the verge of passing out, Vincent released me. I sagged forward and sucked in some air, and then I reached for the door handle and climbed out of the car. I didn’t even care that my bag was still in the car. I had my phone and that was all I really cared about.
So I just started walking.
“Brody.”
I stopped dead in my tracks at the sound of my brother’s name. There was no traffic on the road around us, and dense forest was creeping in on us from both sides. Moonlight filtering in through the sparse clouds was the only thing lighting the ground in front of me.
I turned around and saw Vincent leaning against the trunk of the car. There wasn’t enough light to make out his face, but I could see his stance. Arms folded, one foot crossed over the other.
Like he didn’t have a care in the world.
He probably didn’t.
“What about Brody?” I asked.
“You want to do something stupid, that’s on you. But your brother is the one who’s going to have to pay for it.”
That had me moving.
“You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about! Brody’s safe! I stayed away from him to keep him safe!”
Despite the fact that I was once again in Vincent’s space, he seemed unfazed, and I briefly wondered if the man had ice running through his veins instead of something boringly human like blood.
“I’m talking about the fact that he’ll have to live with your death.”
His simple and calmly spoken statement had me deflating just like that. I took a few steps back because I found that standing too close to him left me feeling wholly unsettled.
Though I wasn’t sure why.
You know why.
I cursed the voice in my head and asked, “How do you know my brother’s name? I didn’t say it back at the house.”
Vincent straightened, and then he was the one to move forward. “Nathan, at the rate you’re crashing, you’re going to be out really soon. You really want to be out here in the middle of nowhere when that happens?”
“I have my phone,” I said mutinously, though all the words did was make me feel like a whiny child.
“Yeah, and the second you turn it on, you might as well hang a neon sign around your neck that saysCome Shoot My Ass Because I’m Too Much Of An Idiot To Know Any Better. You’ll be like that stupid girl in the creepy house that always insists on going to check out the basement full of sharp tools to make sure it’s empty.”
While the comparison pissed me off, I knew he was right.
“In a storm,” I muttered.
“What?”
“She always goes down there when it’s lightning out. And the power is out, of course.”
I couldn’t see if he was smiling, but it sure sounded like it when he said, “And her boyfriend and other friends have all mysteriously disappeared.”
