Page 50 of Her Crew

“I saw the picture, kid. You nestled between him and Tye. Seemed like something to me.”

“Picture?”

“Don’t play fucking dumb.”

I’m not playing dumb. Have Alec and Tye been taking pictures? Why would they do that?

“Then why aren’t they here too? Why aren’t you getting rid of them as well? I didn’t fuck myself.”

“Alec and Tye are my heavy hitters. Once the little—well, big—-distraction is out of the way, I’m confident they’ll get back to their old selves, making sales like they used to. I’m cutting the fat, so to speak.”

If he’s going to kill me, does he have to take a stab at my weight first?

Talking is getting me nowhere, so I sit back as the silence settles between us again. Minutes later, he turns onto a bumpy dirt road. Yup, he’s taking me to the middle of nowhere to kill me. It was fun while it lasted, I guess.

Stacks drives for what feels like forever. The back roads twist and turn through the woods. I try to track the turns as he makes them, but I quickly lose my way. If he doesn’t kill me, it won’t matter. I’ll never escape this labyrinthine forest.

He shuts off the engine, cloaking the van’s interior in dark silence. The van door rips open, and Stacks snatches me out. He throws my backpack at my feet.

“Don’t ever come near my crew again, kid. If you do, there won’t be anything left for the cops to find.”

With that ominous threat lingering, he gets in the driver’s seat and speeds off. The headlights disappear, and I’m left alone in the pitch-black wilderness.

We passed a sign for a national forest several miles back, so that must be where I am now. My legs feel weighted as fear soaks my body. The strange noises don’t exactly help, either. Insects sing and a bird calls in the distance, followed by the yip of something with teeth.

Fuck, I’m scared.

Genuinely fucking terrified.

So I do what any stupid, young girl would do. I run from the noises.

Branches whip my legs and rip my leggings. My skin swells with welts, and the air sears the raw areas. Crickets and frogs chirp, their sounds hardly covering every ragged breath leaving my mouth. When I finally come to a stop, I’m more lost than I was when I started running, but at least I’m away from whatever animal made that sound. It’s better to be lost than eaten, I guess.

Exhausted, I plop down on a fallen tree and clutch my backpack to my chest. How the hell will Alec ever find me out here?

Or worse, what if he never tries to find me at all?

Chapter 28

Alec

The keys jingle in my pocket as I fish around to pull them out. I unlock the door and head inside, and the quiet strikes me as odd the moment I walk in. I call out for Tegan, but silence is my only reply. My heart thunders in my chest as the warm, squeezing feeling of panic begins to rise. Just as I turn for the doorknob, I spot the pad of paper sitting on the chipped desk.

My heartbeat doesn’t steady as I read the words. Pup went to meet up with Tye? I told her to stay here, and besides, neither of them would disrespect the rules of our arrangement by playing without me. Something about this doesn’t feel right.

I don’t have time to consider it as the scent of warm vanilla wafts up to my nose. I smell like fucking Delia. Even that minimal amount of contact was enough to stain me with her scent. I look back at the bathroom. I should wash the stench of my ex off first. Tegan has no reason to feel insecure, but her insecurities will eat her alive anyway if she catches a whiff of that bitch.

I strip and get in the shower, which is actually warm at this motel. Hot, even. I stay beneath the showerhead until my skin begins to redden. The shampoo has an offensive floral scent, but I still lather my hair. It’s better than Delia’s stink. As I’m sudsing up, I hear my phone go off. Just a single ding. When I go to pull the curtain, shampoo drips down my forehead and assaults my eyes.

“Fuck,” I hiss as I drown myself beneath the showerhead again, letting the water run past my clenched eyes.

The burning goes away, and at this point, I might as well finish my shower. After I’ve sufficiently scrubbed myself clean, I turn off the water, grab a towel, and step out. Water drips onto the stained tile floor. I drag the towel over my skin before rubbing it through my hair. With one hand still holding the cotton against my scalp, I grab my phone off the counter and squint as the backlight blinds me.

My mouth drops open the moment I read the text.

Delia just wanted to let me know she sent the photo to Stacks before I even got to her room. If I had fucked her, it would have been for nothing. Tegan was in danger the moment she hit send.

A ball of spit chokes me as I try to swallow. I had planned to run my clothes through the wash, but fuck the smell. I don’t have time to dig through my bag to find something else, either, so I pull the clothes over my body and hurry out the door.