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A pang goes through me and I reach up to him as well, though I only mess with the zipper of his hoodie to give myself something to do with my hands. Fuck, I’ve missed them more than I can say.

From my left, Adrien clears his throat. “Don’t I get the same kind of evaluation?” he asks slyly, in a way that makes me ache to beam him with the crowbar. “Especially since–” He holds up a hand the moment I turn, my mouth already open around a not so nice comeback. “They know because of me.”

The words take a moment to hit me. I narrow my eyes, trying to decide if he’s telling the truth. “You?” I repeat. But when I glance at Ansel, he gives me a little nod of agreement. “I don’t even know you.”

“Yeah, so, like I said. They talk about you. It’s actually a little annoying and quite frankly, my expectations are not exceeded.” He peers down at me from his six-ish foot height as if he’s some tall specimen who deserves to be in the Guinness book of world Records. “I’ve seen pictures. How could I not have seen pictures?” When he looks at Ansel, I notice my best friend is surprisingly quiet.

“You show people pictures of me?” I ask haltingly, confused.

But his face only tints pink in the light from the Diamondback, and he makes a face at Adrien. “Dude, can you shut the fuck up about it?” he grumbles, reaching out and wrapping his arms around my shoulders to pull me against him.

In an instant, my frustration and fear fades. I used to be the one to come to their defense. I used to be the one to drag them into a hug they wouldn’t admit they needed. Ansel, specifically, would never admit to needing anything that he deemed would make him appear ‘sensitive,’ so I was the one always dragging him into hugs or grabbing his hand to pull him along with me.

This is new.

This is nice.

He’s so fucking warm against the night’s chill, and taller than I remember. But when I press my face to his hoodie and take a breath, I catch the same scent of aftershave and the same feel of him against my nose. My body melts against him, and I have to pry myself back to glare at Adrien when he scoffs.

“Anyway. I got invited to this little hunt club a few years ago. Never left the group chat, I guess.” He says it like it isn’t a big deal, like the whole idea of this isn’t horrifying. At my look, he rolls his eyes. “What did you want me to do, huh? You think I could just go to the cops and they’d do anything?”

“I literally didn’t say anything,” I retort, deadpan. “Not my fault if you have a guilty conscience over murder.”

That makes Ansel shift, and a small sound leaves him just as Ronan wanders over. But I catch a look from the latter that he gives to Adrien. One I decide to file away for later.

They’re hiding something from me, I think to myself. Something that they think will change my opinion of them.

“Saw your name pop up in there a few weeks ago. It’s been getting active again, since they picked Halloween this year. I thought it was kind of crazy. Especially when I saw they were holding it here. They’ve told me about this shit hole.” he kicks the aluminum side of the coaster car behind him, sending a clang through the platform.

"What did you do?” Ronan asks finally, his hands in his pockets as he looks out over the pier. “Adrien said some guy was really pissed off over you. Did you stab him?”

“Oh. Yeah. Short and Shitty? That’s what I call him. It was just some guy checking into the motel one night.” I hate talking about my job around these two. I’d promised I would actually do something while I was here, not end up in some dead end occupation like a lot of other kids from the group home.

I’d promised them that much.

And when they’d pushed me on it, I’d all but ended our friendship. My stomach twists into knots as if to punish me, and I want to drag Ronan into a hug and make new promises.

Fuck, I’ve missed them so much that I only now realize how shitty things have been. Tears burn behind my eyes as so many things that I want to tell them bubble to my lips. But not now. I have to remind myself over and over that I can’t do this now.

Unless I don’t have a tomorrow.

I won’t entertain that thought. While Adrien has no reason not to sacrifice me if it means keeping his skin in tact, Ansel and Ronan aren’t like that.

Weren’t like that.

But maybe I don’t know them well enough now to–

I push that thought away, because they’d come here for me. They had decided to show up here, knowing that everyone else is looking to kill participants like me, and me included, and came anyway. “Anyway, he was gross. Kept staring at my tits like he had some kind of all access pass along with the reservation he was making. So I, very politely and very demurely, dumped water on him from the coffee pot.” I pause, then add almost defensively, “It wasn’t hot. He just got mad.”

“That’s it?” Adrien looks almost disappointed. “Really?”

“Really.”

“Over that?”

“What can I say? Men are over dramatic. Present company that I’m looking at very much included.” I don’t know what I’m expecting him to do. Frown, maybe, or take a verbal crack at me.

I don’t expect this stranger to laugh. Full throated and absolutely amused, he fucking cackles over my words before a slow smile curves over his lips. “Oh, feisty girl, you are something. I get it now.” His eyes go to Ronan, then Ansel. “I really get it. My bad for underestimating your little psycho killer.”