Royal doesn’t answer. I figured this was where he brought his hookups, but that can’t be it. The others wouldn’t care if he parked us in a make-out spot. They made it pretty clear they’re down to fuck me.
“Do you come here a lot?” Baron asks.
“No,” Royal snaps. “I’ll turn around past the bridge. Calm your tits.”
The big car lumbers up onto the bridge, and for a long, tense moment, the only sound is the tires on the wooden boards of the bridge. On the other side, the tires sink into the wet shoulder as he starts to swing the car around. I can see deep ruts further down the bank, grown over with grass now, like someone in a truck went off-roading here a while back.
“Do you come here… Ever?” Baron presses.
“No,” Royal snaps. “Do you?”
“But dude,” Duke says quietly. “Why would you even come here by accident?”
“I made a wrong fucking turn, and I wasn’t paying attention because some bitch was running her mouth,” Royals says through clenched teeth. “Now I told you to fucking drop it.”
No one speaks while he rights the car and slams on the gas, the Rover lurching forward and roaring across the bridge so fast it makes the whole structure tremble. The silence is heavy and grey, like an Arkansas winter.
I remember someone telling me they pushed Mabel Darling off a bridge. I remember someone saying she jumped. Colt didn’t say there was a bridge. He said she went into the river, and Royal pulled her out. Was it here? Is that why they don’t want him returning?
I also remember the story about their sister being swept away in a flood, but that can’t be this place. There was no bridge in that story. And Royal wouldn’t bring me to the spot where his sister drowned when he wanted to hook up. Even he’s not that sick.
When we’re back on the other side of the bridge, the side towards Faulkner, the twins let out a breath, though they don’t speak.
Just when I think Royal’s going to keep going like this never happened, he taps the brake. The driver’s side wheels sink into the shoulder as he pulls off the road.
“Stay in the car,” he says, shutting off the engine.
“What are you doing?” Duke asks.
“Just stay in the fucking car,” Royal says, and he gets out and slams the door.
“Where’s he going?” Duke asks, twisting around as Royal walks behind the car. For a second, I think he’s going to do something revealing, some kind of penance. But he circles around and yanks open my door.
“Come on,” he says, his jaw tight, his words clipped.
I glance at the twins, but they look more confused than I am. I was guessing they were going to hurt me here. Why else take me all the way out of town, where there are no witnesses?
I just have to stay alive. If they leave me stranded out here, I can walk back. I’ve only been out here once, in the dark, and I may not know the roads, but I know Faulkner lies to the south. I could find my way