Page 93 of Vying Girls

‘Because you won’t like what you see when you get up close.’ The warning tone in her voice is enough to make me shiver.

All around us, night is drawing in. Shadows are long, the air taking on a chill.

‘Maybe in your silly brain,’ I reply, cuddling close to her. ‘I might not know your past, Haz, but I knowyou.’

‘Then let that be enough.’

‘It’s not though, and you know it’s not. Otherwise you wouldn’t have brought me here.’

‘I told you—’

‘Yeah, Damien. Blah, blah, blah. You must think I’m stupid.’

‘Wish you were sometimes.’

I smile, my heart literally overflowing despite her gruffness. Because who else has been where I am, cuddled in this lap,prying information from her, gently, carefully, like a tooth extraction, because they care for her that much?

Something tells me nobody, because this whole time we’ve been waiting for each other. I can feel it, this warm energy cording from my heart to hers and back again. With anyone else, I’d be scared to push like this. Scared they’d get angry and call it quits with me. I don’t worry about that with Haz. Sure, my thoughts might insist otherwise, but my intuition, my truth, knows I’m safe.

I lean forward and softly kiss her lips. ‘Let me know you.’

Haz

She wants to know me? Alrighty. I shoot to my feet, hauling her up with me. Fucking bring it.

I march her back towards the house, dropping her near the front gate. She stumbles on the grass, struggling up the slight incline.

I get the garage open and push her towards the car in there. ‘Get in.’

‘Where are we going?’ she asks, waiting for me to unlock the doors.

I slam into the driving seat and throttle the engine. ‘To where it all fucking ended.’

Night falls as I whip the car around the estate, through the village, and onto the narrow, winding forest roads. Pine trees crowd us from both sides, reminding me of Hazelhurst, something that brought me comfort when I started there. With the window open, the air in the car smells damp, an indicator of the reservoirs dotted in the area.

I take solace in the cold wind in my hair, cooling the fever Tilda’s whipped up in me. She eyes me with trepidation, probably wanting to tell me off for driving so recklessly on these kinds of roads. After all, it was what finished them off in the end.

But she doesn’t say anything, no, because she’sgaggingto know me. Doesn’t care if it opens old wounds. I could bleed out and she’d be on her knees lapping it up, just happy she finally got a taste.

I stop the car with a jerk barely twenty minutes later. Tilda grunts with the force, hand flying out to steady herself. She follows me with her eyes as I get out the car and step up to theNo Accessgate on our left.

This used to be a through road but after one too many accidents, they shut it for good. It’s local legend now, with hordes of spirits said to haunt the winding pass, marked on maps since Roman times. If they had to die, makes sense it would be on this road.

I lift the gate with little trouble, eyeing the dark, desolate road beyond, something cold lodging in my heart. I glance back to Tilda who watches with shadowed eyes. Fuck’s sake, I don’t want to be here. Why did she have topush?

Pissed off, I get back into the car and launch it down the unlit road. It might as well be midnight now, the sun long set beyond the trees. To our right is the vast stretch of the reservoir, the water coloured black by the dense trees lining it.

‘Where are we going?’ Tilda utters again, her voice meek.

I don’t reply. We’re nearly there. This will work better with a little show and tell.

I keep an eye on the window to my left, slowing down so I don’t miss it. Been years since I’ve been here, for a panicky moment I’m sure I’ve past it. Then I spot the dented sign pole, right above Tilda’s head like it’s staked her.

I pull up the handbrake and stare at it, aware of Tilda trying to catch my eyes.

I unclip her seatbelt. ‘Get out.’

She folds her arms as she looks around. She’s only in a thin top, no time to grab a coat. I resist the urge to bring her into my body heat. She fucking wanted this.