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He let go of my hand suddenly and raised his, pointing towards the supposed trail in front of us. The trail I had yet to see. "By all means," he said cheerfully as he waved invitingly towards the darkness in front of us. "After you."
What an A-hole. If he thought I was going first into the woods simply to prove something to him then he had another thing coming. I was at least going to try and talk my way out of it first.
"He might not even be back here," I replied snottily. "What's to say he didn't follow whatever creepiness that lured him out of the house down the driveway, huh? He probably never even came back here. Maybe we should-"
"Fuck it," he muttered under his breath and I was almost positive I wasn't meant to over hear that.
He grabbed ahold of my hand once again and stepped into the darkness. His hand wrapped around mine, added slight pressure, and he gave a tug. I stepped into the darkness with him, and we were side by side once again.
"I don't like this," I said as he took another step forward, and I heard the click of his flashlight as he turned it on.
The light flared bright as he aimed it directly in front of us. He took a step forward, and as he had my hand in his and gave another tug, I was forced to go with him, since I wasn't willing to wrestle my hand free of his.
The trail was just suddenly there in front of us when it hadn't been moments before. The trail was wide enough for the both of us to continue to be side by side and walk down it, and that was the only reason I didn't turn around and head back to the house. That, and I would probably seriously freak myself out if I had to walk all the way around to the front of the house all by my lonesome, while Ty stayed out here and further explored the dark trail.
"I don't like it, either," he admitted quietly. "But you were right earlier in thinking there was something not right with Binx's behavior."
He continued talking to me as he, orwe, walked down the dark trail. I didn't click on my flashlight because I had his to light the way, and would wait until I absolutely needed to turn mine on. At the moment it seemed like overkill, and wasn't necessary.
"And that stuff that's happening while you're sleeping isn't right either. Something is going on, and we need to get to the bottom of it. And we need to find that cat because if he could sense all the way from Dash's room that you were in need of help in your room, then it's good to have him around. And, if he was acting the same way at the front door that he'd been acting the night before, then there must have been something out here that he was trying to get to. But now that I know there's something or someone trying to bypass my spells, I think we all should be more cautious and just a little worried about the unfamiliar. This business with the cat is really bothering me."
From inside my hoodie pocket my phone vibrated and pinged, letting me know I'd received a text message, and I squeezed Ty's hand tightly and jumped. The flashlight I'd pulled out of my pocket and held in my hand even though I hadn't turned it on fell free from my grasp and dropped. It hit the dirt with a clatter, barely missing my foot when it landed.
"Shit," I hissed.
Tyson burst out laughing as he let go of my hand.
I stared down at the unlit flashlight as it rolled around at my feet and listened to the sound of Ty's deep, masculine laughter. It sounded louder out here than I imagined it would have were we inside.
"I heard that," he said when he stopped laughing at me. "You are really growing into that potty mouth. The twins are convinced you only swear when you're really upset about something, but I think you do it all the time when you're all by yourself and there's no one else around to hear you. I'd be willing to bet you swear in your head more than the rest of us do out loud."
Hardy freaking har.
I couldn't argue with him because he wasn't wrong. Tyson knew me just a little too well, it would seem. But, I thought it was cute that my Salt and Pepper twins defended my honor in such a way. They were the sweetest.
I bent down and retrieved the flashlight from the dirt floor of the trail and stood up straight again. I stuffed the flashlight back into my hoodie pocket, and took the cellphone out of the other one.
I tapped my fingertip against the screen and my phone brightened, coming to life for me. I swiped my finger across the screen and a new message alert was lit up bright and waiting for me.
It was from Damien of all people. He never messaged me.
"Do you hear that?" Tyson whispered.
My head snapped up and the phone almost kissed the dirt the way the flashlight had.
"Hear what?" I breathed out in a rush. "What's out here?"
Tyson's head tilted to the side as he listened. His eyes narrowed, and he slowly turned, turning back towards the way we had come. Not wanting to be left out, I turned with him. The backyard was less than fifteen feet away from where we stood, and the cottage was lit up bright in the background like a beacon calling us home.
"What do you hear?" I whispered urgently.
"Car," he whispered back. "Coming down the road. It's probably just Dash coming home, or it could be any of the other guys. We should head back to the house and see who it is before we wander off. If it's one of them and they can't find us, then they will freak. If it's someone else, then we will want to know who, because this is a dead-end road that only leads to the cottage and no one else should be driving down it. We'll want to know if it's someone who isn't one of us, too."
I couldn't help but wonder if maybe Tyson wasn't just a little bit afraid of the dark wilderness as well. I suspected he was, and that was partially why he was so ready to turn tail and head back to the house.
Ty started walking back the way we'd come from and I followed slowly behind him. I was going slowly because I had my phone held up in front of my face so I could see it.
I clicked on the message icon as I trailed behind Tyson.
