"Don't talk to me."
"Um, okay..." I feel my smile stretch as I pull out her ring and stare at it for a moment before I hold it up. "I just thought you might like your ring back."
"What?" she snaps, twisting around in the seat to stare at the little shiny circle for a moment before she sneers and grabs it. "You fucking pickpocket! What, did you take this off me while I was sleeping?"
"Actually, I found it back in the forest by—"
"This bitch is a fucking thief, Aftyn," Willa snarls, finally speaking to her counterpart again. "I don't know why the hell you picked her up, but you need to just finish whatever you've got planned and get rid of her."
"Stop telling me what to do, Willa." His tone is low, dark, and his grip on the steering wheel is just a little too tight.
"What's the plan then?" she snaps, waving a hand at me in the backseat as I fiddle with the knife I picked up at the same time as her ring. "Either you're going to fuck her, immediately get bored, and drop her on the side of the road, or you're going to kill her like you killed Dexter. I don't give a fuck which one, just do it already!"
Aftyn killed Dexter? Interesting.
"Right now I want to leave both of you by the side of the goddamn road!" Aftyn shouts. Clenching his jaw, he yanks the cigarettes from the visor and bites the end of one to take it out of the pack. A second later he's lighting it and putting the pack away again while Willa fumes in the passenger seat.
"Jesus Christ, just find a place to pull off and I'll do it. There's gotta be some empty place around here," Willa says, and I decide that the direct death threat is just a little too far for the pretty little princess.
Pulling the knife they used on the guy from my bag, I lean forward and reach over the back of the passenger seat to quickly grab a fistful of her hair in my left hand, placing the blade against her throat with my right. "Oh, Willa... didn't your mother ever teach you not to pick up hitchhikers?"
When she lets out a little gasp and goes completely still, I get that tingly rush in my skin that feels like being truly alive. It's like the world gets color in it again, and I'm itching to pull the knife back and slice her throat open... but not yet.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" Aftyn groans, a cloud of smoke swirling in and out of the car before the window finally sucks it all out, and I let my smile stretch as he doesn't lift a single finger to help the bitch.
"Did you hear me, Willa?"
"Yeah, I fucking heard you," she snaps, and I twist my fist in her hair just to remind her of the situation.
"Well, there's a reason you're not supposed to pick up hitchhikers. You never which ones are dangerous... but you know what's been cracking me up for the last twelve hours?" I ask, letting out the laugh I can feel bubbling up in my chest.
"What?" Willa asks, but her voice is flat, annoyed, and I can tell she doesn'treallywant to know what I've been thinking about. No, she wants to kill me. Unfortunately for her, she's in the front fucking seat and I've got a knife to her goddamn throat, so I get to tell her anyway.
"I've been thinking about the absolute fucking odds of both of you being killers, on this little road trip even though you clearly don't like each other—and then you pickmeup?" I shake my head a little as I glance over at Aftyn whose eyes are drifting casually between me, Willa, and the road. "I mean, if you were just looking for someone to toy with and kill, you probably ran into a lot of people before you stumbled on me at that rest stop. Unless, Willa's right and you were just looking for an easy fuck, Aftyn?"
He takes a long drag on his cigarette, letting it out in a cloud as he stares straight ahead. "All I want right now is the both of you to shut up so I can get where I'm going."
"Aftyn," Willa growls. "Fucking do something."
"I told you to handle it, Wills, but you were too pissed at me to take my advice." Aftyn flicks his cigarette against the window edge. "She's your problem right now, not mine. All she wants from me is my dick."
"I've got other things on my mind right now, actually," I reply, bringing the blade closer to her throat. "You know, I'm not a very talkative person usually. I like to watch people, wait for them to show me who they really are... but you two seemed so boring and shallow at first. Then I found the little mess you left behind in the woods, and I found your ring beside this pretty blade here, and I actually felt a little excited."
"Why? Did you think we'd suddenly be besties if you told us you've killed someone?" Willa scoffs. "This isn't a fucking secret club,Daphne. I don't give a shit if you're Manson's long lost kid, you're still annoying as fuck and Aftyn should have left you in the gutter with the trash where you belong."
"I'm curious... did you think that little rant would hurt my feelings?" I ask, grinning as I listen to how fast she's breathing. Her words are all cocky, but she's scared. "I don't want to be your friend, Willa. Honestly, I don't give a fuck about either of you. You've brought me closer to California, which I've always wanted to see, so I appreciate that, but the only real reason I've stayed in your fucking car is because after I saw what the two of you were capable of... I thought you might actually be interesting."
"Do I have to listen to this?" Willa asks, and then I feel her jerk when the knife nicks her as the SUV bounces over a bump in the road. "You fucking cut me!"
"See,thisis what I mean. You two have the potential to be so interesting. So much better than the average boring idiot, and instead you have these petty little fights and pissing contests with each other. You're so concerned about how you're perceived by each other, and everyone else, that you haven't even tried to figure out who you're actually capable of becoming."
"Why would I give a fuck what you have to say?" Willa wraps her fingers around my wrist, just below the hand holding the knife, and I laugh.
"If you think holding my wrist is going to stop this knife from slicing your throat open, you've obviously not played with knives very often."
"I think you're a fucking pussy," she snarls. "You want to find out who the badder bitch is? Then don't be the kind of cunt that kills someone when they can't do shit about it. But, you probably never do that, do you? You're opportunistic and you take cheap shots like this bullshit move because you'd never win in a fair fight."
"I know that you're just trying to save your life, Willa..." I whisper, debating over whether or not I should just slice her throat and end it now.