“Aw, why not? Wouldn’t she like me?”
“Way too much,” I grumble. I follow him to his Hummer, my heart pounding. I don’t even have to fake this part. I really am the pussy who doesn’t want to face Royal. He doesn’t know what I did, but I know.
While Duke circles around to hop up into the passenger seat as usual, I climb into the back of the Hummer with Baron, but my eyes stay on Royal.
“Hey,” I say, trying to break the painful awkwardness.
He doesn’t turn or even acknowledge me. We take off, and the doors lock automatically, and I immediately I get a weird feeling. I’m sure it’s my guilt, but I’m still on alert, sitting on the edge of my seat and debating whether to bolt at the first stop sign, though that would definitely cue them in to something going on.
We turn onto the road downtown that leads the police station, and I start to relax. I’ve been here enough to know I’m more or less safe inside. But when we reach the lot, Royal presses down on the gas, and we roar past the station. I grab for the door handle, panic slamming into my chest.
“Where are we going?” I ask, yanking on the handle. He put on the fucking child-safe locks.
My heart drums against my ribs. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
“We’re just taking a little road trip,” Duke says, turning around to grin at me. “Everybody likes a road trip, don’t they, Harper?”
I swallow hard, trying not to absolutely lose my shit. Royal runs through an intersection without even looking. A truck barrels straight toward us. I almost scream. The driver blares the horn, slamming on the brakes as the grill looms huge outside my window. We streak past at the last second while they skid out of their lane and into a ditch. Royal doesn’t look.
“You said we were going to talk to the cops,” I say, because I don’t know what to say, what to do, except stall.
“Yeah, see, we already did that,” Baron says, reaching behind the seat and dragging my bag up. He drops it into my lap, but I don’t even notice the heavy books bruising my thighs. The bag topples onto the floorboards. I consider reaching for my knife, but the odds of making it out of the car aren’t great if I cut one of them. Royal will run us into the river and drown us all on purpose. It would be smarter to wait until they stop and then cut and run.
Baron pulls my phone out of his pocket, his thumb stroking the screen. “I was going to give this back, but I might just keep it for a while. It has so much interesting information on it.”
I can’t breathe. I can’t swallow. I can’t even think.
But no. He’s fucking with me. It has a password.
And he’s a master hacker.
I’m so lightheaded I think I’ll pass right the fuck out. “Give me my phone,” I say, my lips stiff.
Baron shrugs and hands it over like it’s nothing. I grip it until my fingers ache, wondering how I could find out what he saw, and whether he’d kill me if I tried to call the cops right now.
“You know what’s fun to do on a road trip?” Duke asks, that obnoxious grin still on his face as he leers at me from the front seat. “Play games.”
Baron stares at me, his eyes lit with the sadistic gleam they get when he’s about to have fun doing something that no one should find enjoyable. “You want to play a game, Harper?”
“No, I don’t want to play a fucking game,” I say quietly as Royal turns onto the ramp to the interstate heading north. “Let me out of the car.”
“Now, where’s the fun in that?” Duke asks. “We’re just getting started.”
“How about twenty questions,” Baron says.
“I’ve got a question,” Royal says, speaking for the first time since I got in the car. His voice is quiet and calm—eerily calm. “Who the fuck is Mr. D?”