Page 136 of Pretty Thing

Kyle: Okay, where and when?

Like candy from a baby.

Eden: Right now, he drank so much that he’s passed out and I can take his car.

Kyle: I can just pick you up.

Eden: No, trust me, I need to do this my way.

Kyle: Will you move in with us if I do this?

You would ask that, you piece of shit. Your friend is in trouble, and you’re worried about getting your dick wet.

Eden: I will.

“Do no such fucking thing,” I mock under my breath as I get changed.

Kyle: Okay, tell me where to meet you. I’m on my way.

Such a gullible idiot.

I quickly send him the location of the provincial park. The lot there has no cameras or lights for miles. After that’s done, I erase the app before placing Eden’s phone on the nightstand beside her, along with a glass of electrolyte water.

Taking all the extra pillows, I put them up against her back to help keep her on her side. I didn’t give her very much, but I don’t want to take the chance. The thought of her choking to death makes me sweat, and I almost change my mind, but this needs to be done. Hopefully she will think I’m with her and just rest.

Giving her one last look, I slip out of the room and loft. It’s time to remove a very large thorn in my side once and for all.

thirty-eight

​. . .​

Felix

And this is why I’ll never get rid of this vehicle and why I stockpile parts. No GPS, no tracking, no bullshit surveillance built into the computer system. Fucking GPS. Don’t car companies realize that some people just need to move around without being noticed?

No one else is here when I park the car at the far end of the lot. Not that I expect anyone to be here in the middle of winter…and in the dead of night. Leaving the car running, as any sane person does, I grab my baseball bat out of the back seat and scout the best place to wait.

That tree over there seems like a prime location. Large enough to keep me from being seen and a clear view.

My cell is at the loft, just to be safe, so I have my old watch. It glows brightly in the dark when I tap the side button. Kyle is due any second.

Sure enough, the sound of tires crunching on snow greets me before the flash of headlights as he pulls into a space.

He parks right beside me and gets out.

“Eden?”

I wait.

“Eden?”

He closes his door, and I peek around the tree to watch him. Cupping his eyes, he tries to look in the passenger window of my car. The heat is off, so there is a thin film of frost making it hard to see.

“Eden, where are you?”

He moves around the front of my car, heading for the driver’s side door. I step out from behind the tree, and it only takes me six strides to catch up to him like a silent shadow. Kyle’s predatory skills are lacking. He doesn’t notice me or hear my boots until it is far too late.

He starts to turn, and I swing the bat like I’m in the major leagues, catching him across the jaw. His head snaps to the side, and his body follows, bouncing off the hood of my car before landing on his back in the snow.