Page 34 of Temptation
I slowly turned around toward the line of houses on the other side of the street, then toward the supermarket whose parking lot I was using, but I couldn’t see a single person. A couple crossed the street with a stroller, but they weren’t paying attention to me.
What the fuck was going on?
* * *
Nervous energy lickedmy bones as I drove down the gravelly road, leading toward Kane’s weekend house. Or well, what was left of it. I didn’t know this part of the town, and I cursed myself and Rowan, as well, a million times for not leaving earlier, or for not setting this meeting earlier.
Pitch black forest surrounded me from both sides as I drove, and even the headlights from my car weren’t helping to see through the descending fog and the darkness of the forest. If they were building houses in this area, why the fuck didn’t they invest in streetlamps?
It would’ve been a helluva lot easier driving down this road—or was it up this road? I didn’t even know anymore.
I followed the road shown on Maps as per Rowan’s instructions, and if I didn’t know better, I would think that they were about to kill me in the middle of the forest. Considering that no one ever went into the mountains during the wintertime, it would be highly possible. My gut churned at all the possibilities on how this night could turn out, but I stuffed it down, trying to think positive.
Well, as positive as I could be.
I almost missed the turn. If you didn’t know where you needed to look, you would’ve never found it. On the road leading toward Emercroft Lake, a small path stood on the right side of the road—no signage, nothing at all, just a shrouded area.
If this road continued going like this, my car would need to go to the shop first thing in the morning. Halfway down the road, I was pretty sure that I lost my carburetor, but I kept going. Bumps, holes in the road, and I had a feeling that nobody really cared about this area anymore, which was quite surprising, considering that it led toward the property of the St. Clair’s.
My knuckles turned white as I gripped the steering wheel, leaning toward it so that I could see better, when finally, a small clearing started appearing.
As I drove closer, I realized that it wasn’t a clearing, but a river that I could see in the distance. It sparkled underneath the full moon shining above Winworth, and it was fascinating that you couldn’t see the town from here. We were deep into the forest. The only thing you could see were the mountain peaks and the river running toward Winworth.
I slowed down, careful with the unknown road in front of me, when the light not too far away came into my sight. It took me a moment to realize that it wasn’t the light, but a fire—a small bonfire. I couldn’t see anybody around it, but then again, even if a white rabbit ran in front of my car, I wouldn’t be able to see it tonight.
I had no idea how long I drove since I left my house, but when I saw two parked cars on the clearing not too far away from where I was, I pushed on the gas, and skidded to a stop next to the black Mercedes G Wagon. Turning off the engine, I took the jacket I brought, from the passenger seat, and opened the door.
I shivered underneath the harsh bite of incoming winter and put the jacket on. If I could help it, I wouldn’t get sick. Not now. Wouldn’t it be ironic? Young vigilante killed by the flu.
Yeah, it would be hilarious.
My feet ate the distance to where the cars were parked, and I gripped the handle of the small pocketknife I carried, scanning my surroundings. I was giving them a chance to prove me wrong, to show me that we wanted the same thing, but that still didn’t mean that I trusted them with my life.
We all had to prove ourselves before we got to that point, and until that happened, I had to be safe. Besides, I had a feeling that if something happened to me, Indigo would bring me back from the dead just to kill me himself.
I narrowed my eyes on the bonfire and stopped in my tracks when a shadow of a figure appeared in front of it.
“Dude, I was about to send the cavalry after you,” Kane said, hugging his body. “What took you so long?”
My shoulders relaxed, and I eased the grip on the pocketknife in my hand, folding it and placing it back into the pocket of my jacket.
“Well, if this place wasn’t quite literally in the middle of nowhere, I would’ve been here on time,” I answered and crossed the distance between us. “I think I saw a unicorn on the way here.”
Kane started laughing, but I stayed stoic, guilt eating at my insides for what I said back in the catacombs.
“Look, Kane—”
“No,” he stopped me. “Don’t say it.”
“But—”
“No,” he argued. “You’re going to apologize, and then I’m going to apologize, when in reality, neither one of us has to apologize. Both of us were right and wrong.”
“But you don’t even know what I was about to say.” I grinned.
“Oh.” He stumbled backward. “I thought.” He cleared his throat. “I thought you were going to—”
“I’m messing with you, man.” I laughed. “I was going to apologize because I shouldn’t have said that. I don’t really know you guys, and you don’t really know me. We know things about each other, but we don’t know everything. Making assumptions based on appearances is a shitty thing to do. So, even if you don’t want me to, I would still like to say I’m sorry for what I said. It was uncalled for, and I shouldn’t have done it.”
