As I scroll through her messages, my heart knocks hard against my chest. The cryptic texts sent to my phone aren’t here. “You deleted them.”
“Deleted what?”
“The fucking texts you sent me, you cunt,” I shout.
“Shit,” Addison hisses, frantically pushing her hands into her hair.
The message she sent to Sully earlier this evening is even erased, proving she’s been covering her tracks. “How were you planning to get rid of me?”
“It’s not what you think…” She takes a step back. “You’re confused.”
“Really? Because what I think is you plotted this whole thing with a boy that you don’t even care about. You used him in order to threaten me away so you could have Carter. That’s pretty selfish.”
She realizes her blunder, and holds up her hands. “I don’t know what Sully told you, but none of this was my idea,” she says, her voice raw. “Carter had this plan to blackmail you—”
I inch toward her, the blade aimed at her heart, and tilt my head. “Shut your lying whore mouth.”
“I swear, I’m not lying. I tried to talk Carter out of it. I didn’t want any of this.”
“What did you want?”
Her eyes dart to the left, then back at me. She seems to consider trying to run before she decides there’s nowhere to run to. “I just wanted you to leave,” she says. “I wanted you to get the hell away from Carter.”
And there it is finally. The truth. “I appreciate your honesty, Addison. Now—” I nod toward the pass “—it’s time.”
“Time for what?”
I lift my chin. “To accept the dare.”
She glances behind her and swears. “No way.”
I stick the tip of the knife into her neck, and she swallows. “I dare you to cross the pass, Addison. Isn’t that how the game is played?”
“Oh, my god. You’re absolutely demented. No one has ever made it across.”
“Then you’ll be the first,” I say, then I chuck her phone out into the darkness of the abyss. “You’re only as strong as your will to survive, to protect those you love. So, how much do you love Carter, Addison?”
Her eyes glisten with tears, and for one second, I do feel bad for her.
“I love him more than you could ever imagine with your fucked up brain,” she says.
Well, now I don’t feel bad in the least. I jab the knife against her jugular. “Here’s how the game works. If you make it all the way across the pass, I’ll leave Black Mountain. I’ll never see Carter or you again.”
Her eyes close in relief.
“But,” I say, pulling the blade away, “if I make it across, then you have to disappear.”
She shakes her head, eyes squinted in disbelief. “How am I supposed to do that? I’m only seventeen!”
I flick my gaze to the cliff and beyond, to the darkness of the abyss right below us. Comprehension washes over her features in dread. “Oh, fuck this—” She rams into me, trying to knock me out of the way, but I snag her hair and yank her head back.
Enfolding my arm around her shoulders, I drag the knife up to her neck. “I’m not giving you a choice, Addison. Either cross the pass, or I’ll throw you down the fucking ravine right now.”
Her sob echos across the rift, and it sounds like acceptance.
I push her away from me, and she stumbles. She doesn’t try to run again. She’s smart enough to know when to stop fighting.
“Why are you doing this?” she asks.