“Where are we going?” she asked.
“Home.” He smiled. “I need to demonstrate to my mother’s replacement what will happen if she tries to leave me.”
He was going to kill her and Zeke in front of Callie. The steering wheel grew slick beneath her palms.
Think, Westcott. Don’t let this pansy-ass loser get into your head. Think!
“You didn’t keep your promise, Alan.”
“What do you mean?”
“You promised me a loss for a loss. By my calculation, that’s one for one. Not two for one.” She nodded toward Zeke, who remained utterly still, though his chest seemed to expand on deeper breaths. “Why did you attack him?”
He shrugged. “My father lost his wife. Seemed only right that you should lose your lover.”
“He’s not—”
“He is! Don’t effing lie to me.” He tapped the barrel of the gun against his temple. “I have eyes. I see. I know. First, at the hotel, then at your house, then at the park, before that other guy showed up, then at the water park. The two of you can’t keep your hands off each other.”
The mind focused on the strangest things when under extreme pressure. Liv didn’t give thought to the eeriness of him watching her and Zeke making out and it didn’t surprise her that he, in his new disguise, had watched them storm into the water park, into the chaos he’d created.
No, what her mind fixated on was his use of the word “effing.” Had he grown up in a 1950s-style household where it was frowned upon to curse in front of one’s parents, even as an adult? Or had the family’s religious beliefs forbidden such lingo?
Evidently, he’d dropped out of Sunday school before they got to the honor thy mother bit. And let’s not forget do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
“What was that for?” he asked.
“What are you talking about?”
“You snorted.”
“I was contemplating how some men have selective religion like they have selective hearing. It’s annoying.”
She knew the moment she had pushed him too far. Felt it, actually, in the form of a teeth-rattling impact of the pistol grip glancing off the side of her head.
Not because he reined in his anger at the last second, but because Zeke’s arm slashed out to block the blow. It still hurt like hell, and she lost control of the steering wheel for a second.
The jostling vehicle threw Alan off balance enough for Zeke to whip around and cram his fist into the other guy’s nose. Blood spurted.
“You broke my effing nose!”
He fired the gun. The world shattered around them.