Holy shit. This isn’t happening. That bitch.I couldn’t believe Izzy had set me up.
“I got you, sis,” the voice from all my nightmares whispered. “Here, let’s get this on.” He took the skeleton mask and fitted it over my head.
My hand swung out at him, but nothing. I tried to twist, to avoid the mask, but I couldn’t. Hands pinned my arms down, and the material descended down over my face. Carter adjusted it over my eyes, not that it did a whole lot of good. My vision wavered. I was going to pass out.
He secured something on my shoulders, followed by his arm for support. Then the bastard guided me out the door. I understood the masks now. In this guise, Carter and I were undetected, concealed by the Halloween costumes. “Brock is going to kill you,” I mumbled, my lips hardly opening. I was dying to lie down, to close my eyes, but I was terrified of what would happen when I woke, where I’d be.
“I hope so,” he said.
My stomach rolled over on itself. What did that mean? He wanted Brock to find us?
“I need you to stay awake,” he whispered in my ear, jostling me as a gust of cold air washed over me, my feet dragging over the ground. “Just a little bit longer.”
Good luck with that. I was so damn tired and all I wanted to do was sleep. I might have laughed or smiled. Delirium was setting in.
Finally, the drug won. Despite how much I fought to stay lucid, I could no longer fight the power of the liquid Carter had injected in my veins. Darkness swarmed me, heavy and thick like a blanket. Then there was nothing. No party. No Grayson. No Brock.
Chapter Twenty-Four
The process of waking was slow and painful. By the time I was aware of where I was and what was happening, I just wanted to fall back into the blissful darkness of oblivion. My hands were bound in front of me, and when I tried to open my mouth to scream, I couldn’t. Tape covered my lips, and all I could do was make muffled cries. Not that it mattered. Wherever I was, it was dark inside and cramped.
I realized the fucking mask was still over my head. Panic surged through me, and I gagged on it.
I had to get this off me, had to remove the tape before my anxiety became a living thing. Wedging my bound hands up toward my face, I grabbed hold of mask and frantically tugged at it until I was free, no longer suffocating.
Tick. Tick. Tick.
The repetitive noise of something echoed in my ears, and I turned my head, but the ground suddenly was moving underneath me. No. Not ground, for the surface was plush and cool, like leather. I was in a car. And the ticking I heard was the blinker.
My drug-induced cloud of confusion cleared, and I was thrust into reality. Turmoil rolled through me in waves.
Holy shit.
Not only did Carter inject me with drugs, the bastard kidnapped me.
Fuuckkk!
I was at the mercy of a psychopath—and probably a rapist too.
It took some time, my muscles still shaking off the drug in my body, but I managed to sit myself up in the seat. I recognized the inside of his SUV. Though my hands were bound in front of me, I lifted them to mouth, grabbing the corner of the duct tape and ripped it off. My eyes instantly watered from the pain, but I forced myself to breathe through it.
“Carter.” My voice rasped, and I wondered if I had screamed while unconscious. Had he done anything to me? My clothes were still intact under the long black reaper cloak.
From the driver seat, Carter angled his head so he could look at me through the rearview mirror. “Oh, good. You’re awake. I was hoping I didn’t give you too much. That would have put a wrench in my plan.”
Plan?
Carter had a plan.
No, I had a plan. Grayson, Mads, and I did. This wasn’t supposed to be Carter’s show. It was mine.
I met his eyes with a glare. “Untie me, Carter, or I swear to God I will press charges against you.”
He laughed. “Funny. My dad won’t let that happen. Besides, they’d never believe you. Kidnapping my own stepsister is a little farfetched, especially since I have every intention of returning you when I’m finished.”
“Finished with what?” I dared ask, regardless that my heart was fucking about to jump out of my chest.
His lips curled in the mirror. “You’ll see. I don’t want to spoil the surprise.”