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While he spewed his vitriol, I seized his wrist in both hands and twisted.
Ben yelled, and the athamé slipped out of his grasp, clattering to the ground.
With my thumbs pressing on the back of his hand, I jammed him into a wrist lock. Ben fell to his knees, trying to wriggle his hand out of my grasp.
I held firm and pressed a little harder. Ben yelped again.
“Okay, okay! Stop!” he gasped.
“You need to calm down,” I said. “I won’t hurt you.”
“You’re hurting me right now!”
“Don’t be such a baby. This is just a control method.”
“You’re an Arrowood. Don’t pretend you wouldn’t stick that athamé between my ribs if you had the chance,” Ben spat.
His words bled into me like a paralytic poison.
How many times had my family members also said that about the Everharts?
“I don’t want to stick you with anything,” I said. “You were threatening me and I disarmed you. We’re even now, okay?” I said.
“We’re only even if you don’t break my wrist,” Ben said through gritted teeth.
Ugh. Had the guy never been in a proper scrap before in his life?
I released one of my hands from his wrist and picked up the athamé, tossing it among the garbage bags before releasing him entirely and stepping back.
Ben groaned as he stood, trying to rub the grubby stains off his jeans with his sleeve.
Hah. Served him right.
“You going to pay for this dry cleaning?” he snapped.
“I wouldn’t count on it,” I said. “Now, before you go off on one, just listen to me. I know our families are technically at war, but this situation calls for a bit of collaboration, don’t you think?”
“If you want to share information with me, you’ll tell me who saw Tyler get killed,” Ben said.
I shook my head. “That’s the one thing I can’t tell you. If I could, I’d have told the police already. But I want to find out who did this, too.”
“Why?” Ben shoved his hands into his pockets.
I eyed them suspiciously. Hopefully, he didn’t have any other weapons stashed on him anywhere.
“Why wouldn’t I? I care he died and that his killer is out there somewhere. And Tyler wasn’t one to get into trouble, right? What if the murderer strikes again?”
“Huh… hadn’t thought of that.”
I tried so hard not to roll my eyes that I nearly pulled a muscle.
Of course. Trust an Everhart to only worry about the vengeance and nothing more.
“Why don’t you tell me what you believe happened to Tyler? Who would have wanted to hurt him?” I asked.
Ben glared at me, but behind his tough facade, I could almost see the cogs turning.
“Tyler said he needed to talk to me about something important the day before he died,” he said. “He said he thought his mum was in danger. I don’t think it’s a coincidence.”
