Page 114 of Shattered Veil

Zoey’s focus moved from the road to my phone. “You know that they’re together?”

My head fell back to the headrest as I griped, “Is that relevant?”

He dismissively answered, “I walked in on them sucking face.”

She immediately diverted her attention back to the highway, pressing her lips together tightly as if she were forcing herself to remain silent on the matter.

“And yes,” Colton said, “it’s relevant. If someone thinks you know anything or are spreading word around and he’s close to you…”

“If that were the case, why wouldn’t they just take me?”

I heard Zoey blow a rough breath through her nostrils, and we all went quiet for a beat.

“Maybe he was just an easier target?” Colton pondered aloud.

As I considered the thought, I forced myself to swallow through the burn. With me being passed around like precious cargo, James had been the only one of us who was isolated…and he most certainly would have been an easier target.

I murmured, “Maybe.”

Colton grumbled something unintelligible before saying, “I just…I dunno. I don’t know what we’re missing, but it’s something.”

The leather creaked beneath us as both Zoey and I shifted in our seats uncomfortably.

“I can agree with you there,” I replied.

“What, um…what are y’all planning on doing? Talk to the cops?”

I sighed heavily, looking to Zoey for a moment as we exchanged expressions that said, ‘What the hell else are we supposed to do?’

“Yeah?” I returned with an upward inflection. “I mean—yes. Yes, definitely, I just—Luke doesn’t even know yet. I don’t know what to tell the police or where to start.”

Speaking to me rather than Colton, Zoey reminded me, “From an outsider’s perspective, without admitting to a hell of a lot, you’re, erm—”

“A confused, paranoid girlfriend,” Colton cut in. “They’re not exactly gonna send out the SWAT team for that. Ya need your ducks organized. I got it.” I nodded in agreement, though I knew he couldn’t see me, and rather than wait for my response, he asked, “Meet you at 2A or 2B?”

Zoey’s brow furrowed. “What? Why?”

“Heads together for the ducks, right?” he replied, matter of fact. “I already told y’all—in for a penny, in for a pound. And if my gut’s right on this, you may be pointing me in a direction that I really want to go. 2A or 2B?”

“B,” I spoke.

“On my way. See you in a bit.”

Without an ounce of hesitation, the line cut off.

Chapter 21

James

The skin-on-skin noise of a palm hitting my cheek reached my ears in a quick tap-tap-tap-tap. My sight was blurry as I woke, the man before me having no significant features as he continued to usher me awake. My head lolled to the side, and I made no effort to right it in the moment, for my brain was…heavy.

Smacking continued on my face in a repetitive sequence of four, and I couldn’t have been sure if the man had increased the gumption of his slaps or if I had finally begun to feel them as I came to. The left side of my face stung every time his hand met me. I groaned, and as I tried to cringe away from him, I realized that I was sitting in the corner of a small room.

There was little lighting to speak of—only a single overhead that lacked a fixture. The wiring was exposed behind it, and the bulb burned at my eyes. I swallowed through the dryness in my throat. The man’s face was finally in focus as he squatted before me, and I instinctually leaned away from him. I was going to ask where I was—what was going on—what he wanted with me—but I didn’t get a chance to gather my voice before he gritted out:

“Finally.” He stood to his full, lanky stature, and the only thing that I could note about him was that he was dressed in policeman’s garb as he stated, “Stay put.”

There was no need for him to tell me to remain where I was. My attempt to shift my seat by pushing myself up with my hands was hindered, for I was shackled at the wrist, and the cuffs seemed to be attached to something hard and resistant.

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