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He makes an amused sound, and I imagine he’s smirking. “Fine. Tell Jaz I say hi.”
My ears perk up as a thump sounds from her room. I move past the couch, throwing my keys on the coffee table. “Actually, I think she’s up. I’ll tell her right now.”
I hold the phone between my shoulder and my ear again to push her door open when everything starts to slip. I save the two coffees but lose my phone. “Shit,” I curse as it hits the carpet.
“There she is,” a dark voice says.
I nearly jump out of my shoes. I squeeze the cups of coffee so hard, the tops pop open. “Christ,” I mutter, about to give Jared a piece of my mind when I glance up. My heart jumps into my throat. I skid to a stop as icy dread fills the pit of my stomach. Jaz is tied to the bed, and Jared sits at her desk chair, a knife in his hand.
I blink. “What the fuck?”
The Jared before me is nothing like the guy my best friend first met. The shadows around his eyes I noticed at the fights are deeper, huge dark caves circling black eyes. He holds his finger over his mouth. “Shhh.” Scowling, he peers over at Jaz. I follow his angry stare, my heart nearly ripping in half. My best friend in the whole world’s wrists are bound tightly to the bedposts by two strips of fabric. Her pale cheek is pushed into a pillow, scraggly hair spider-webbing over her face and mouth. My gaze works lower, and I spot a circle of crimson staining her shirt.
I scream, dropping the two coffees as my hand flies up to cover my mouth. “Jaz!”
I try to run to her, but Jared steps in my way. “You took way too long to get here,” he tsks. “I don’t know if she’s going to live now.”
My gaze rakes down her again. Her pale skin is ghostly white. Her legs open oddly, pulled up but also attached to the foot of the bed by the same bright blue cloths. “What did you do?” I stammer.
His maniacal laugh chills me to the bone. “What did I do? Let’s talk about what you did,” he counters. He pushes my shoulders slightly, and I stumble back a step. “Do you know how hurt she was when you completely abandoned her after the Ring that night and started staying with those two trainers? I kept telling her you weren’t a good friend. She didn’t want to hear it. She always gave you excuses. You were just too damn sad. You were dealing with too much stuff,” he mimics, pressing his lips together. “Can I just tell you howfucking annoyingit was that with Cole and Finn gone youstillwent over to that house instead of staying here?” He lets out a roar of frustration and pulls the knife up to stare at the red-stained tip. “Or else it would’ve been you in this bed.”
He switches his dark eyes to me, and I back into her dresser. “Jared…? What the fuck are you saying?”
“I’m saying,” he growls. “That I’m herefor you. Your friend’s a nice girl, but I was supposed to get to know every little thing about you.”
I tamper down the fear clawing up my throat. “W-why?” My gaze travels back to my unmoving bestie, and Jared screams at me to look at him. I comply, swallowing.
He waves his hand around. “Because Dean asked me to. That’s why.”
“Who the fuck is Dean?” I reach up onto the dresser, searching for something—anything—and my hand clasps around Jaz’s perfume bottle. It’s heavy glass, so I grip it tightly, holding it so that the pointy bottom sticks out of my fist.
“Your brother didn’t look for me,” Jared continues like we’re just having a Sunday chat about recipes. His voice alternates between the same tenor I’m used to hearing from him and a sort of deranged voiceover. “I was the one person he didn’t see coming.” He chuckles, and I take small steps, trying to get as far away from him as I can without cluing him in to what I’m doing. “My cousin Dean left the threat so the Dragons would find it. He thought he would spook the leader, maybe make him leave the Heights for good. I kept telling him it wasn’t going to work, but he didn’t listen.”
I blink at him, still edging away as he nears. “Your cousin is the one who threatened me. Why?”
“Gang related bullshit. I was only doing what he asked, but now that he’s dead,” he snarls. “It’s a different story.” He doesn’t give me any indication as to what he’s about to do until he lunges for me. I lift the perfume bottle too late but somehow still manage to smash it against his temple. He cries out, fingers reaching up the side of his face where broken glass is embedded in his skin.
I try to slip past him, but he charges me again, tackling me against the dresser. The wood bites into my back, and he quickly knocks my feet out from under me. I fall to the ground, a surge of pain flaring in my elbow. He forces my shoulders to the carpet by banding his forearm across my clavicle. I push and kick with everything I have, finally connecting with something, but his grip never loosens.
A slicing pain rips through the side of my calf, and I cry out. His answering sinister smile tells me he cut me with the blade in his hand. I flail and break free long enough to crawl to the doorway, but he’s on me again, yanking me back. “Your brother killed him. Dean. I didn’t care about getting dragged into his shit before, but I care now.”
He flips me back over and kneels on my thigh. Warm wetness trickles down my leg. I spot the knife discarded under the bed still wet with my blood. It’s still within his reach. All he has to do is lean back, and since he has me trapped here, I don’t want to think about the damage he could do. I stare into his crazed eyes. Seeing this version of Jared, I can’t imagine how I ever thought he was good looking, pushing Jaz to pursue him when he came into the bank. I thought it was fate. “Don’t hurt me,” I whimper.
Jared throws his head back and cackles. My heart ricochets against my ribcage. His utter lack of humanity tightens my chest. “Do you think your brother listened when Dean said that?” He leans his entire weight into my thigh, and a searing pain lances from that spot. He notices me hissing and smiles. “Hurts, doesn’t it? Your boyfriend showed me this pressure point. I thought it fitting to use on you.”
“Fuck you.” I scream in frustration. “You really think this is going to work? Cole’s going to hunt you down and kill you.”
Jared lifts his hands out wide, still using his weight to keep me incapacitated. “Looking forward to it. I hope I can get some shots in myself.”
I laugh, leaning up to put as much feeling into my voice as I can. “You won’t even see it coming unless he wants you to.”
A dark smile curves his lips. “But where is he now, Leenie? Not here to save you. He’ll know what it’s like to have someone taken away from him now.”
I shake my head. This guy knows nothing about what my brother’s been through. He’s lost people before. It hardened him into the person he is today.
Fuck. I can’t let this fucker get me. He already lost me once.
I bring my free leg up and kick out, sending him off kilter enough so I can slip out from underneath him. I spot my phone on the floor next to the door as I turn on all fours to scamper away. My hands sink into the coffee-stained wet spots on our already disgusting rug.