“I–I don’t sell drugs,” I stumble confusedly over my words. “I don’t even do drugs.” He quirks his brow as if to say, “Never?” I rush to correct myself. “Okay, I’ve used here and there, but it’s a party thing. Happens very rarely.”
“So you’re saying you don’t work with or for Phil?”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying.” My voice rises as I spit my response at him.
Blondie reaches over his shoulder, and the other mannervously hands him a piece of paper. “Then maybe you’d care to explain this to us.”
He hands it to me, and I unfold it. Complete gibberish is scribbled all over it. It reminds me of the chemistry I failed miserably in high school. There’s no way I can tell them what any of this means.
“I have no idea what this is.”
“Thatwas found in your home. Which would suggest to us that you knowexactlywhat it is, Hazel.” Blondie is losing his patience, and it’s causing me to lose mine.
“I’venever seen this before,” I retort. “When were you in my home?”
He ignores my question and continues. “I guess it’s just a coincidence that the formula for Snap is in your possession, and Phil recently tried to kill you?”
My mouth drops open in shock as I process his question. I open and close it, trying to speak, but I’m at a loss for words. The paper wads in my grip, my fingers curling into a fist around it as I think about that night a week ago. Phil didn’t say much before the attack, and I tried my best not to listen to the nonsense he spewed during it.
“Tell me,” Blondie says, jerking my attention back to him. He crosses his arms over his chest arrogantly and slightly tilts his head. “Did he renege on your deal? Are you blackmailing him?”
“Blackmailing?” I ask in exasperation. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
His face twists in anger, and he leans toward me. “Answer the fucking question!”
Heat rises in my face as my jaw tightens, and my teeth grind together. I don’t know who these guys are and, at this point, I don’t fucking care anymore. I’m not getting out of here alive, anyway. The chances were slim to none in the beginning, but here in a minute, it’ll be a for sure guarantee.
“I’ve got nothing to say to you.” I finish rolling the paper up into a ball and toss it on the floor.
“Oh, I think you have plenty to say to us.” Blondie stands up and throws the chair over sideways. Guess he’s going for the scary look. He’s never been face-to-face with a monster before. He grips my arm where the belt marks are still raw. I grimace in response and have to put a clamp on my tongue to keep from screaming out. “You better start talking. Now!”
“Go fuck yourself, Blondie.”
In a flash, my fist makes contact with his crotch, and he gasps for air. His grip loosens, and I shove him back into the other man. They stumble into the table giving me enough room to move, and I leap from the bed. Grabbing the legs of the chair, I swing it around and face them. My arms tremble under the weight, and my shoulder screams at me. Blondie is bent at the waist holding himself, agony twisting his lips as he shoots daggers at me. The dark-haired man seems terrified as he clutches his friend’s arms to keep him up.
“Sedate her,” Blondie grits out.
His friend steps forward, and I lift the chair up ready to smack it upside his head. His hand trembles as he gets the needle ready to plunge into me. I’ll be damned if he gets another step closer. I’ll knock them both out and get the fuck out of here first. My feet slide back toward the door, and that’s when the man makes his move. I bring the chair to the side to get as much momentum as I can when a hand wraps around one of the legs and halts my swing.
“Enough!”
My heart stops beating as I turn to find the one person I didn’t expect to see.
CASH
Confusion. Disbelief. Betrayal. All the expressions that cross her bruised face as I take the chair from her hands. I didn’t want it to come to this. I just wanted to keep her safe with Phil on the loose. Dale wanted to be sure that she played no part in Phil’s plan. He assumed if she were hiding anything, he could get the truth out of her. Seems all he did was scare her and piss her the fuck off.
Originally, I had planned to drive up to get her and explain everything on the way back. But she wouldn’t talk to me. There was no way she would go anywhere with me. While we were driving up there, Dale came up with this stupid scheme. He and Joseph would go in there and attempt to take her willingly. If she didn’t, they would sedate her and take her anyway. I sat in thebackseat with her and stared at her battered face the whole way back. It took everything I had not to find Dustin and demand that he take me to Phil to put an end to this once and for all. It’s not about Snap anymore. It’s about keeping people safe from the psycho running free of the consequences of his actions.
I knew we would deal with a lot of shit for creating and selling Snap. Not in a million years did I expect this to happen, especially right after we started selling it. We had come to an agreement that if anything crazy went down, we would stop producing. We would fold our cards early and get the fuck out of the game. Looks like we will be discussing that soon. It’s not small time anymore. We got in way over our heads, and the money is not worth losing innocent lives over.
“Leave us.”
Dale hobbles to the door, and Joseph follows. As soon as they are gone, I quietly close the door. Hazel crosses her arms over her chest, her lips in a tight, angry line. This is going to be difficult to explain to her. I take a step forward, and she puts her hand up to stop me.
“Don’t. Speak your piece, then do whatever you gotta do,” she states coldly. “Just make it quick. As you can see, Phil did most of the work for you.”
Her words cause me to frown. “No one is going to hurt you, Hazel.” She seems skeptical, but I continue. “I brought you here to keep you safe.”
