"You fucking suck," I snarled to Woody, who stood in the backyard, his hands in his pockets.
He glared at me as if I was rude for escaping.
"Sable!"
A car squealed to a halt in front of the house and Forrest and Leif both leapt out, racing toward me.
"What the fuck, dude?" Leif asked.
"Give me the keys," Forrest spoke coldly, his hand out toward Woody.
Woody glanced at him before turning his attention to the house, which was now fully engulfed.
"Pretty, isn't it?" he said.
"You're out of your mind," Leif said. He leapt at Woody, taking them both down to the ground, before Leif wrapped an arm around his throat, pinning him down in a headlock.
"The keys," Forrest said again.
Holding a struggling Woody, Leif searched his pockets before pulling out the handcuff keys. He tossed them to Forrest and rolled off Woody. They both sat on the grass, scowling at each other.
Forrest strode over to me and unlocked the handcuffs.
"Are you all right?" he asked, peering at my face, which was probably white with drywall dust.
"Yeah, more or less." I added my own scowl in Woody’s direction.
"No harm done," he said, his lips barely moving. Did he actually look disappointed?
"Apart from the fact I almost died, you mean?" I asked, coughing dust out of my lungs.
"You didn’t," he said.
"She could have." Leif shoved Woody with his elbow. "She's not the kind of person you're supposed to kill."
I stared at them both between coughs. "What sort of person are you supposed to kill?"
What kind of question was that? What kind of situation was this to start with?
Behind me, the fire was roaring but starting to die down. There was nothing nearby to burn, so chances were it'd burn itself out without damaging anyone else's life or property.
Unless, of course, Woody had other people stashed inside the house. At this point, I wouldn't be surprised.
"Come and sit down for a while." Forrest helped me down to the grass a couple of feet away from Woody. Too far to kick him in the nuts. For now. I wouldn't rule out doing that after I'd taken a few minutes.
"Did I mention I don't want you killing Sable?" Forrest asked him his, voice pure ice mixed with a hint of fine whiskey.
"Lucky for everyone she's a badass and managed to save herself," Leif said, grinning over at me.
I almost smiled back, but then I remembered our last conversation. I turned away instead.
He sighed and scooted over beside me.
"Look, I'm sorry for the twenty questions. I should have seen you were uncomfortable and stopped. I just…" He looked around at the other guys.
"Just what?" I asked.
Forrest squatted in front of me and took my hands. They were also covered in drywall dust.
