Page 99 of Wonder

Red snaps her fingers. I tense as two other men move up beside Buck, grabbing his arms. He doesn’t struggle as they throw him down beside the kneeling man.

The man looks up. Blue eyes, hazy with alcohol - or something stronger - meet mine.

Red taps her fingers on the arm of her chair. “I’ve been asked for a favor from a friend.”

I wait, my hands behind my back even as dread curls around my throat, tightening like a noose.

She stares at Buck, her lip curling before she moves onto the man. “Now then, Adam. Your nameisAdam, correct?”

He blinks. Slowly. Nods.

Definitely on something.

Red eyes him, something close to temptation flitting across her face. As if she’s sizing him up as a new accessory. “I’m going to give you a choice, Adam.”

She flicks her hand, and a tray is brought forward. That noose around my neck tightens as I take the contents in.

The syringe. The black tar. A spoon. A lighter.

Red smiles at Adam as I look over at Buck. “Because I’m feeling generous this evening, I’m going to let you pick. Who gets the shot? You, or the man beside you? You’ve already sampled thegoods, so to speak.”

It will kill whoever takes it. A dose this high is more than enough to kill a grown man. And if he’s taken something else…

Buck closes his eyes. I catch a single word on his lips.

Please.

Adam wets his lips. Still coherent enough to understand, although the words come slowly. “Why?”

Red shrugs. “Because it amuses me, and Buck is beginning to bore me. But if you’re asking why you’rehere, the answer is that you’ve managed to make some of my friends rather angry, I’m afraid.”

She leans forward, eyes gleaming. “I must confess that I thought it might be more difficult to get you here. I didn’t realize how…simple, your tastes are. Tell me. Does your club know about your little side hobby? Those marks in your arm certainly tell a story. You belong to the Hearts, no?”

His lips press together. He doesn’t say anything.

Red sits back, satisfaction in every movement. “So you may choose. Yourself, or the man beside you. One lives. One dies.”

Adam turns his head, staring at Buck.

Buck doesn’t look up from the floor.

Red is tired of Buck. I knew it, warned him about it, but he refused to listen to me. This is just a little entertainment for her. She doesn’t care if he lives or dies.

But whoever this Adam is – he’s going to die tonight, whatever he chooses. Through the drugs, or through a bullet in his skull.

He won’t be walking back out of these doors.

I wonder if he realizes it, too.

“Red.” She twists, brows flicking up as I say her name. The words feel like sawdust in my mouth, but I force them out anyway. “Don’t do this.”

She grins, delighted with my words. “How unusual for you to speak up, my love. Will you miss your little friend?”

Yes.The air in my throat cuts off entirely. “Please.”

She only shrugs, that poisonous smile on her lips. “Not my decision, I’m afraid.”

I close my eyes. They’re both going to die.