“Rena!” He dove over the mattress and caught my arm at the last second. His grip was strong and possessive as he pulled me upright from where I’d dangled, skull mere inches from the floor. “What happened?”
That’s when I caught it—the stormy scent of rain and evening air. I looked up as he released my arm. “It is you.” Relief came over me so strongly, I nearly jumped him. Too bad it was eclipsed by pain. What the hell did he do to my arm?
“What happened?” he repeated, tearing back the dark hood that’d cloaked his hardened features. Narrowed blue eyes glowed, piercing the shadows.
His terse words cut through me like a knife. There was no pleasantry in his tone. No ounce of sympathy. He hadn’t come to save me.
I scrambled to stand up, pushing myself to unsteady feet. “I…uh…”
I rubbed at my arm where he’d caught me and licked the taste of Cole’s unwelcomed kiss from my lips. Shit. What was I going to do?
“Are you okay?” he asked in a tone that didn’t soften as he started around the bed.
I held up my hands in defense, eyeing him as I backed toward the kerosene heater. “Listen…” My mind was racing. What was I supposed to say? “I called Cole.”
The cords in his neck bulged, and I put the heater between us. “H-He slipped me his number yesterday. I thought we could meet in private. You know, to sort this thing out.”
“And what would possess you to do something so stupid?” His voice rose, and he ran a hand through his damp hair, making it stand on end. Apparently, he hadn’t gotten the hood up quickly enough to avoid the downpour. “You called and arranged to meet some guy you barely even knew. Do you ever think before you act?”
The heater’s warmth rose to my face. Was he serious? I’d just said that I’d endured this shit to help him out, and he was mad at me? “Because, obviously, I should’ve known your brother was a freakin’ psychopath.”
“See, this is what I like,” Cole interjected with a laugh, dusting himself off. “One second she’s all timid and then reeoowr! Hellcat.”
“Shut up!” Wallace threw a dangerous look over his shoulder before turning back to me. “I distinctly remember asking you to leave this alone.”
“I thought you were being stubborn,” I said through clenched teeth, hoping to mask the hurt in my voice. A wall of tears stung my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. “I thought I could help you, but obviously I was wrong. Why don’t I just make this easier on all of us and go?”
Go call the cops, that is. I turned and took a step toward the dark end of the room. There had to be an exit somewhere. I was done with this situation. I just wanted out.
“Cole, don’t,” Wallace warned.
Something slammed into me, jarring my entire body, and hands grasped my arms. I jerked my chin upward, feeling the last shred of my patience wear thin. “Don’t touch me.”
Cole’s eyes creased with sardonic ecstasy, like I’d played right into whatever he had planned.
“I’m serious,” I spat, thrusting my arms up to break his hold. They cut through his hazy afterimage, and I blinked. Okay, his reflexes were getting weird. Like, trippy weird.
“Easy there.” Cole coaxed from behind me.
I whirled around, falling back into a defensive stance. I’d let my guard down. Again. How did that keep happening?
Wallace stormed across the room, his unzipped hoodie trailing back like a cloak. Before I could say anything, I found myself staring up at the wide expanse of his back as he positioned himself between us. Why would he—
He shifted his weight. “Let’s make this clear now. You do not touch her. At all.”
“I can ‘not touch her’ again,” Cole teased, more calm than he should have been.
“Enough!” Wallace reached forward, grabbing his brother by the collar. “This isn’t one of your games.”
I peeked around his arm, unsure of what to do. Was this the time to run? They were both preoccupied. Maybe I could just slip away and…
“Relax.” Cole shrugged him off, straightening his shirt. “It got you here quick enough, didn’t it? What’d you do? Sense your girlfriend’s distress signal?”
Wallace’s posture went rigid. “Shut up.”
Girlfriend comment aside, Cole made a good point. We were at least two and a half hours from school, and I was pretty sure the first call had only been a little over an hour ago. Wallace would’ve had to have left before that, but that didn’t make sense. “Were you already in town?”
“What?” Wallace turned to regard me, confusion etched into his features. “What do you mean?”
“How did you get here so fast?” I asked. “How did you even know where to go?”
Something changed in his eyes, and he looked away. “I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?” I snapped, crossing my arms over my chest. “So, you just came here on a whim?”
“Yeah, Wallace,” Cole chimed in, stretching out across the bed. “How’d you know?”
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Cool, levelheaded Wallace was actually allowing himself to be backed into a corner and not in a controlled way like yesterday. He flexed his hands and tightened them into fists, as redness crept around his collar. “Cole, if I were you, I’d—”
“How about this?” Cole sprang to his feet in one, effortless motion. “If you lend me your”—he hooked his fingers in the air like quotation marks—“expertise Sunday night, I won’t feel inclined to clean up this little mess.”
That wasn’t an offer he’d just made on the fly. It was too heavy, too practiced. Before, I thought this was about him needing bait, but it was more than that. I was his leverage, his bargaining chip. If Wallace didn’t agree to help him—
“We’re leaving,” Wallace growled, drawing deep breaths through his nose. I’d never seen this side of him. Hell, maybe Cole was right. Maybe I didn’t know him like I thought I did. “And if you think, for one minute, I’m going to overlook this...”
“Think you can outrun me?” Cole quipped, amused.
“Hey,” I cut in without thinking. “The hostage isn’t going anywhere with anyone, until someone answers my damn questions.”
Wallace rubbed his temples and blew out a sigh. “Don’t call yourself a hostage.”
The chains dangled as I held up both wrists. Not a hostage, huh?
His gaze lingered on my arms and then slid over my head. “Give me the key.”
“Sure you don’t want to break ‘em off?” Cole asked. “You already ruined them. That’s forty bucks I’ll never see again.”
“Give. Me. The. Key.” Wallace spat the words through clenched teeth, barely keeping hold of his composure. This man was a stranger to me. I’d never seen him so tense.
Something flew past, and he reached out to catch it in midair. Without a word, he manipulated a small silver key in his hand until it faced the right way. “Give me your wrist.”
I stood there like a deer in the headlights, confliction dividing my will in two. Part of me wanted to obey without question, and the other part trembled at the thought of his touch.
“Please,” he added quietly, holding out his hand.
I cringed, finally giving my mind the ounce of leeway it needed. Doubt slipped in, dark and unannounced, to weigh on my emotions. Had Wallace really taken someone’s life? Looking at his outstretched palm, all I could see was blood—slick and crimson, deceitful and cruel. I’d dismissed the notion before, but now I couldn’t seem to ditch the Lady Macbeth goggles. Was he…a killer?
“Rena.” He lowered his voice, staring at me with a pitiful mix of confusion and bewilderment. It was like staring into the face of a little boy, lost and looking for someone to cling to. “What is it?”
“Nothing.” I snatched the key without asking and crammed it into the lock on my left cuff. “Don’t worry about it.” I could hear Cole laugh behind me, but I chose to ignore it. He wouldn’t help the situation.
“A-Are you…” Wallace nearly choked on
the words, lifting his brows in disbelief. “Are you afraid of me?”
My hand shook as I twisted the key in the lock, and the metal arm sprang open. I discarded the broken cuff without looking and flinched when it cracked against the floor. “No.”
“Hey.” He started to reach out and froze, half-bent to meet my eye. “Seriously. You can tell me.”
I made quick work of the other cuff. “What’ll you do, if I don’t tell you?” I forced the words out, knowing I wouldn’t have the nerve to bring it up later. “Kill me?”
All semblance of life slipped from his features, and his lips parted in shock. It was like watching someone witness a car wreck in slow motion. Helpless, sick, terrified.
My heart gave a painful squeeze. “Sorry, that was out of li—”
“You know,” he muttered, straightening with vacant resignation.
I looked down, unsure of what to say. It’d become too real. His reaction, the feeling gnawing in my chest—it wasn’t just a suspicion anymore. “It’s true, isn’t it?”
“I…I’m sorry.”
I closed my eyes and the tears I’d been holding spilled from beneath my lashes. I bit my lip and shook my head, trying to absorb the information. That wasn’t what I’d wanted to hear. All of my illusions of him were shattering, ones I hadn’t even realized I’d made.
“B-But why?” Oh God. I sounded like I was crying.
He hesitated before speaking, his voice barely above a whisper. “Can we discuss this outside?”
Outside? Alone? With a killer?
I glanced back at Cole through a film of blurry tears.
“Is there any point taking her outside?” Cole asked, lifting his chin toward his brother. “Dead girls don’t tell secrets, you know.”
“I got that the first time,” Wallace snapped.
“So, let me ask you again. Are you gonna go with me or not?” Cole’s voice rose in irritation. “I need an answer.”
Why was I holding my breath?
Wallace stared at me for a long moment before he spoke. “If that’s what it takes, then yes—but give me a minute to deal with her first.”
Deal with her?
“Take all the time you need,” Cole said, a smile playing at his lips as he leaned back against the wall. “She’s your problem now.” When we didn’t move, he dismissed us with a flick of his hand. “Go. I’m not gonna stop you. We’ll figure this out when you’re done.”
What had I gotten myself into?
Chapter Twenty-Two
Rain pelted the ground in icy streaks, slamming against the sidewalk. Everything was slick, reflecting light and color like a greasy oil painting.
We sat on the steps of what I’d correctly assumed to be an abandoned factory, and the cool stone pressed through my jeans. Thankfully, the recessed entryway was doing its part to shield us from the elements. I couldn’t have dealt with the bitter wind, otherwise.
No one seemed to be out and about—not that they’d have any reason to. The street looked to be part of a dated industrial district with no active tenants. There wasn’t a soul to be seen in either direction.
“Are you cold?” The rich timbre of Wallace’s voice did little to soothe my nerves.
I turned to regard him with all the icy stoicism I could muster. This was not the time for small talk.
He stared at me for a moment, his eyes wandering over my body in slow assessment. Without a word, he shrugged out of his hoodie and folded it over his arm. The gesture, simple as it was, hurt me in a way I couldn’t describe. How could he still act like that, when he’d…he’d… I shivered again. Damn it. I took the heavy sweatshirt and draped it around my shoulders. “Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it.”
Rain continued to pound the sidewalk, creating static in our silence.
“I never wanted you to be involved,” he said.
“Gee, thanks.” I pressed my lips together, trying to keep my expression neutral. So I’d been right the first time. He didn’t trust me. “Well, you know what? That’s fine.” My heart clenched. “As far as I’m concerned, we can just pretend none of this ever happened and go our separate ways.”
Ah, hell. He was giving me that hurt look again, like I was driving a blade into his chest. “What?”
“Is that what you really want?”
Ugh. “Yes. No. I don’t know!”
“Rena.” He angled his back to the wall so he could face me. “Don’t misunderstand me. I didn’t want you to get involved, because of the danger. Look at what happened to you tonight.”
“So, why didn’t you just agree to help him to begin with?” I asked, pulling his sweatshirt across my chest. “You could’ve spared us both a lot of grief.”
Wallace shook his head and let out a sigh. “I thought he was lying.”
“Who lies about their grandmother?”
He stiffened. “You heard that?”
“Yeah.”
A car alarm went off somewhere down the block. “Let’s just say there’s more to this situation than you understand.”
“Apparently, there’s more to a lot of things,” I mumbled, kicking at a bottle cap. “Were you going to tell me about the drunk driver?”
Wallace winced. “I…didn’t know how to bring it up.”
“So, you just kept it to yourself? I shared something private with you, Wallace. I did it because I felt…well, I felt like I could confide in you. Obviously you didn’t feel the same way about me.” I frowned. “Did you tell Rachel?” Oh shit. I hadn’t meant for that last part to slip out.
“Rachel?” he asked, incredulous. “What does she have to do with anything?”
“She…you…well, you’re together, aren’t you?” Smooth, Rena. Really smooth.
“What? What gave you that idea?” A thousand emotions raced past, reflecting in his eyes. “You thought we were…?”
“Well, hell, I didn’t know. You guys seemed so close, and she’s always sitting with you in the dining hall.” I crossed my arms, feeling more and more self-conscious. “I just figured—”
“We’re not together,” he said in a firm tone. “She doesn’t know anything more than you did a few days ago. In fact, she probably doesn’t even know that much.”
“Oh.” The wind howled, grounding me in reality when I wanted, so badly, to retreat into the depths of my mind.
“I do want to confide in you.” His strained voice broke me free of my musings. “But, you’ve got to understand I just…can’t.”
I shot him a hard look. The cryptic excuses were getting old. “If you wanted to tell me, you would. That’s all there is to it.”
Even though he’d confessed to it, I couldn’t bring myself to think of Wallace as some cold-blooded killer. Sure, I found myself a little nervous—maybe even fearful—earlier, but a few words from him and it all went away. I knew I was being stupid, but I wanted to feel safe around him again—even if it was a temporary delusion.
“I guess you’re right. I don’t want to tell you,” he conceded, pausing for a moment. “If you hadn’t gotten invol—”
“Ugh. Would you just shut up about that already?” I dug the heels of my palms into my temples. “Seriously, I get it. It was a mistake to interfere, and I already paid for it. That’s done. Do you understand what I’m saying? I’m already in this, Wallace. It’s too late to worry about that now.”
He stared at me for a moment, and I squirmed under the weight of his gaze. “What?” I snapped, frustrated by the sudden lull.
“I don’t understand how you’re dealing with all of this.”
I blinked. “Well, I…” Geez. When would he stop catching me off guard? “I don’t really have a choice, do I?”
He looked down and blew out a sigh. “You know that if I tell you, it’s going to change things, right?”
“Yeah.” Of course I knew. I’d known for a while now. How I knew, well, that was another story. That one still left me in the dark.
“Before I go on, I have to say”�
��he met my gaze and gave a heartbreaking smile, resigned and bittersweet—“I really enjoyed our time together.”
My nerves twitched.
“What does that mean?” I felt dizzy as I reached out and grabbed his arm. “What are you going to do?” Was this what he meant by dealing with me?
He didn’t flinch at the contact, and I forced myself to hold on. His skin was warm and hard to the touch, taut with layers of muscle. For a moment, I felt stable, like I could brace myself for whatever was coming.
“Nothing,” he finally answered. “What I meant was, you might not feel comfortable around me after this, so I just wanted to—I don’t know—thank you.”
“Don’t say stuff like that.” I tightened my grip, swallowing the last of my nerves. “Just tell me.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
“I don’t know where to start. I don’t even know what Cole told you,” Wallace muttered, blowing out another sigh.
I let my hand fall back, limp at my side. “He didn’t say much. I think he was trying to scare me.”
“Doesn’t surprise me. He’s always been like that.” He turned and hunched forward, leaning over his knees to draw a slow breath. “It was a Wednesday night. I think we were eight at the time, spending the night with our grandparents.”
He wasn’t looking at me, but I could practically feel the latent emotion stirring inside him. Already, it was starting to poison my veins with apprehension.
“Mom was a teacher at the middle school, and they were having some kind of parents’ night. My dad went along to set up.” He paused, pressing his lips together as he swallowed. “They were on their way home when this drunk driver, Roman West, went left of center and hit them head-on. They died at the scene. I-I remember the phone rang, and Grandma started crying. I’d never seen her cry before.”
I didn’t know what to do. Comforting was never my strong suit. Should I say something?
“It’s a little blurry after that. Lots of people came to the house, and we didn’t go to school for the rest of the week. There were services and dinners and…” He trailed off. “Eventually, West was found guilty of two counts of…uh, something like vehicular manslaughter. There were a few other charges, too. Drunk driving, reckless driving, I don’t even know.”
Strength (Mark of Nexus #1) Page 15
