Page 107 of If You Dare

Last time Trey had me cornered, I didn’t dare fight back. But this time, I’ll go down swinging.

He’s not going to intimidate me or terrorize me anymore. That chapter is over. I don’t deserve any of this, and I’m not putting up with it for another second.

I know I can’t take down five huge hockey players single-handedly, especially not without a weapon, but I’ll be damned if I go down without a fight.

“Wes doesn’t want to see you,” Trey snarls, the mask distorting his words even as he leans closer so we’re eye level. “When are you gonna get that through your thick head?”

I claw at Trey’s arms, but he doesn’t budge. “Let me go, Trey.”

He snorts, and the guys behind him chuckle. “We don’t follow your orders,” he tells me. “You follow ours, sweetheart.”

“No, Idon’t.” I spit at him and it splatters across his mask.

A horrifying smile crawls across his face through the cluster of holes in his mask. “So she finally wants to play.” His finger travels down my cheek, every cell in my body recoiling. “We have plans for you, pretty girl. You’re coming with us.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you.”

He drops his arm from my throat, and my hands instinctively fly to my neck. “You will if you want to save your friend.”

My stomach turns to lead.

Aneesa. Trey did something to Aneesa. “What are you talking about?”

“Don’t want another roommate’s blood on your hands, do you?” He slaps his palms above my head and leans in, hot breath curling across my cheeks from the tiny holes in his mask. “The first one might not look like an accident anymore.”

“You’re lying.” But the words tremble. I wouldn’t put it past Trey to do something to Aneesa to get to me.

I haven’t seen Aneesa since this morning. Who knows where they took her.

He can do whatever he wants to me. But I can’t let him lay a finger on her.

Trey laughs. “Would I lie to you, sweetheart?” His hand slithers around my hip. “Wasn’t exactly hard to find her.”

I can’t let anything bad happen to her because of me. I won’t.

“So what’s it going to be? You coming with us willingly? Explain to your friend why she’s there.” He leans in, mouth curdled like rotten milk. “Or are we dragging you?”

Fear like I’ve never felt grips my throat and crushes my windpipe. But I lift my chin and meet Trey’s malevolent stare through the holes in his mask. “Let’s go.”

* * *

In the car,they hold me in place and blindfold me. Once we lurch to a halt, three different pairs of hands drag me out of the car so hard, my shoulder nearly pops out of its socket. Too many to fight them off or tear at my blindfold.

I scream and someone claps a hand over my mouth while the rest of them tug me into a building, our shoes echoing, dust filling my nose. I have no idea where we are.

I manage to shake off the hand. “Aneesa!”

But her voice doesn’t come. Did they gag her? Put her in another room?

Is it already too late to save her?

“Where is she?”

Someone pulls my blindfold off right before they shove me to the ground.

Trey looms over me, a hideous smile beneath his mask. The other Devils hold their hockey sticks like bats. “You’re just as stupid as your little boyfriend.”

She’s not here. He manipulated me into coming here of my own free will. He’s the worst monster I’ve ever met, but at least she’s safe. He would’ve brought me here either way—quietly or kicking and screaming.

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