Page 54 of Unmask (Crew of Elmwood Public #2)

KAYLOR

T he night air hit me like a slap, cold and biting, but it snapped my nerves into place.

I ran across the lawn, my heart in my throat, wind nipping through the sleeves of my hoodie.

Through the yard, around the gate, and straight into the trees where Carson’s BMW was already idling near the road, headlights off, taillights glowing faint red in the dark.

I climbed into the passenger seat and shut the door quietly behind me, rubbing my hands together to chase the cold that went deeper than the icy temps created by fear and adrenaline.

Carson didn’t say anything at first. He gave me a sidelong look, dark-blue eyes narrowing, like he wanted to ask questions he knew he wouldn’t like the answers to.

But, to his credit, he kept his mouth shut, but his eyes said a thousand words.

He was still pissed at me, yet he showed up for me when I asked.

“Thanks for coming,” I murmured.

Carson’s sandy hair hung longer than usual and didn’t have a stitch of product in it, two things he tended to be meticulous about. His eyes were red from a combination of lack of sleep, stress, tears, and worry. “You said it was about Kenny. And you didn’t give me much of a choice.”

“That’s because I didn’t want you to talk me out of it.”

He rubbed at the back of his neck before glancing at me. “Talk you out of what exactly, Kay?”

I buckled myself in, the leather warm and buttery against my frozen fingers. “You don’t need to know anything else. It’s better that way. Just drive me to the old train yard off Route 19.”

His expression looked as if he wanted to push me into telling him what we were doing in the middle of the night, but in the end, he only nodded and threw his car into gear. “I’m surprised you’re alone. No security? No backup? No reinforcements? You sure about this?”

I stared out the window at the empty road stretching into the dark. “I’ve never been more sure about anything.”

As we drove, Carson kept stealing glances at me, and his energy seemed as restless as mine. Each mile we passed only tightened the knot in my chest. The train yard wasn’t far now. My hands clenched in my lap, nails digging crescents into my palms.

Carson’s fingers wrung the steering wheel as we paused at a stoplight. There were no other cars at the intersection. “I don’t see how this will help Kenny.”

One of my laces on my boots had come undone. I bent to quickly tie it. “Just stay in the car. Wait for me. I’ll only be a few minutes.”

“Maybe I should come with you?—”

“You can’t,” I interrupted, my head whirling in his direction, squashing the idea before he let it take root. “I need to do this. This is something I need to do. This is my fault, Carson, and I need to fix it. Let me fix this.”

“Is that why you asked me instead of him ?” he asked, disgruntledly. “Because you knew he would never let you get out of the car?”

I assumed he meant Kreed. It was no secret Carson wasn’t a fan of any Corvo, but especially Kreed.

“I asked you because you’re my best friend, and I needed you.

” It might not be fair to play with Carson’s emotions, but it was the truth.

Regardless of what he felt for me, I cared about Carson, and I knew he’d never let me down, despite how much I disappointed him or hurt him, even if I never intended to.

He sighed, staring out the front windshield into the night. “I don’t like you going alone. I’m not about to lose both of you.”

His fears were far too valid. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.” I had not one but two crews and the Elite who would potentially move heaven and earth to find me.

“You should’ve told Kreed,” he argued, words I never thought Carson would utter.

“I thought you despised him.”

“Trust me, I do. I’ll never understand what you see in him, but he has the means to do whatever it takes to keep you alive.” Regret lived in his tone, and most of those means he alluded to might be illegal.

“No,” I said quietly. “I couldn’t. He’d try to stop me, and if this goes to hell, I can’t have anyone else getting hurt.”

He clearly didn’t like my very stupid plan.

“Feel free to fill him in once I’m gone,” I joked, trying to ease the tension. My body was wound so damn tight I wasn’t sure I could move out of the car.

Carson frowned. “That’s not funny.” We reached the turnoff onto the gravel road leading to the abandoned yard, and he killed the headlights. The world dimmed around us into nothing but darkness.

“This is good,” I told Carson. “You can drop me off here.” I had to show up alone, which meant this was as far as I’d let Carson come, but I wanted him close enough that when Kenny was set free, he’d be the one to find her.

“You’ve got ten minutes,” he muttered, nothing in his expression happy. “Then I’m calling Kreed if you’re not back.” He made it sound like a threat, which would have made me smile except my mouth muscles lost the ability to curl.

Ten minutes should hopefully be more than enough.

How long did it really take to kidnap one person and release another?

I nodded, hand already on the door. “Thank you, Carson. Seriously. I mean it.” I took one long glance at my best friend, swallowing back the lump of emotion in my throat.

I’d see him again. I refused to believe otherwise.

Taking a deep breath, I gathered my last tendrils of courage and started to open the door. My hand was on the handle, my fingers trembling.

“Don’t,” Carson said, his voice cracking as it broke the silence. “Kaylor, don’t go.”

I turned to him slowly, blinking under the streetlight. “I don’t have a choice.”

“Yes, you do. You always do.” Unsnapping his seat belt, he shifted in his seat toward me. “This is my fault.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. I’m responsible for Kenny being kidnapped. It’s my fault, Car.”

He shook his head. “You’re not the only one to blame.”

I stilled. “What do you mean?”

Carson ran both hands through his hair, his features stressed. “I was pissed. Seeing you with him… living with him. With them . Hooking up with…him. It was like watching a car crash I couldn’t stop. You were spiraling.”

I blinked, confused. “Carson?—”

“You didn’t seem to care, Kaylor! The guy kidnapped you, and you…God, you were still looking at him like he hung the damn moon.”

My stomach dropped, a sick wave of realization starting to take shape.

“I was trying to protect you,” he continued. “I am protecting you. Or at least…I thought I was. Rusty promised he’d get you away from the Corvos for good. Said he could help and keep you safe from them.”

The words struck like bullets. Cold. Unforgiving. I shook my head, denial rising like bile. “Holy fuck.” My voice cracked. “This isn’t happening.”

He reached for my arm. “Kay?—”

“You didn’t.” I yanked my arm back as if his touch burned. “Carson, tell me you fucking didn’t help him .” Suddenly, that doubt I had about who Rusty was as a person became less muddled.

His silence said everything.

I laughed. Bitter. Disbelieving. “Are you kidding me right now? You’re supposed to be my best friend. You’re supposed to trust me.”

“I didn’t know what he was planning, not exactly. I thought he just wanted to get you out. Away from them. Away from him .” Even now, after what he did, he had venom in his tone when he spoke about Kreed.

“You mean Kreed,” I snapped. “Say his damn name. You can’t even do that, can you?”

Carson’s jaw clenched, his eyes rimmed with guilt and a darker emotion.

“Everyone knows what kind of guy he is. He’s an asshole.

He’s dangerous. He was taking advantage of you, and I couldn’t just watch it happen.

I’ve loved you forever. I was waiting for you to realize it too, but then everything went to hell. ”

I stared at him, numb and hollowed out. “So you thought Rusty was the solution? Who are you to interfere? How is what you did any different than what Kreed and his brothers did? Why, because you love me?”

“I was trying to save you,” he murmured weakly, his eyes begging me to understand.

“No,” I whispered, fury threading through the tears stinging my eyes. “You weren’t saving me. You were trying to control me. Just like everyone else.”

The engine ticked in the silence that followed. I looked back at the train yard. Chains, shadows, and fate waited for me on the other side of the fence, but what gutted me more was that the boy who used to ride bikes with me down Shady Court…just handed me over to the wolves.

I’d been so worried and focused on Kreed that I never for a second thought that Carson would be the one who hurt me the most. Kreed’s betrayal pierced my heart, but Carson’s…it cut deeper.

“Fuck,” I muttered. “I can’t deal with this right now. Because of what you did, I have to save our friend. You have no idea what you’ve done.”

“Don’t go,” he begged. “I’ll go instead. This is my fuck-up. I’ll fix it.”

“How? They don’t want you, Carson. It’s me. And you just handed me to them on a silver platter with a big fat bow.”

His head hit the back of the seat seconds before his hands slapped against the steering wheel, making me jump. “I fucked up.”

“Yeah, you did.” I glanced at the clock, seeing I only had a few minutes. “I need to go.”

“Kay, I?—”

“Don’t, Carson. Just don’t. Save it for when I get it out of this mess, and you better hope I do.” I stepped out into the cold and slammed the door behind me, the crunch of gravel under my boots sounding like gunshots in the quiet.

The old train yard loomed ahead like a graveyard in the night, rusted tracks gleaming in the moonlight.

My breath fogged in the air as I moved forward, one step at a time.

Steel skeletons of old boxcars lined the tracks, reminding me of forgotten tombstones, their paint flaked and faded, their wheels locked in place by years of rust. The silence here was unnatural.

So still it rang in my ears. No wind. No animals.

Not even the creak of metal. Just me and the sound of my own heartbeat thudding in my chest.

This was it.