Page 82 of Our Lips Are Sealed
The corners of Samuel’s mouth twisted into a vicious smile. “You’ll never know.”
Toby chuckled and stroked Evie’s cheekbone with the gun. “I won’t lie. It hurt like hell watching you fuck her.”
“It’s also going to hurt like hell when I kill you.”
Evie kicked her leg back, striking Toby’s shin. “How were you watching us?”
The hand on her shoulder relaxed, traveling lower to graze the side of her breast. “The night you caught me in your room was only because I allowed it. A stupid move, but I was high from moving about Haven so freely earlier in the night,” Toby told her. “Normally, I have to hide in the attic or closets when I visit, like I did the other night when Samuel snuck into your room.”
“You always were good at hiding,” Samuel commented off-handedly. “But I guess when you’re a sick freak, it’s second nature to conceal what you are.”
The tip of Toby’s tongue flicked over her skin, and Evie couldn’t help but gag, choking on her disgust. “What does she taste like?” he asked Samuel, working his tongue in circles on her collarbone. “Is it as sweet as I imagine it is?”
Samuel hadn’t so much as glanced her way since coming around the bend, but was now staring, the fear and rage in him fusing to form something lethal. He gripped the fence, poised and ready. “Put your fucking tongue back in your mouth, Tobias, before I cut it out.”
“Oh hell, Samuel. Stop pretending to be the hero,” Toby taunted. “You’re not the type.”
The gun returned to her throat, pressing deep enough to have tears forming in Evie’s eyes. Unexpectedly, Toby swung around, forcing her to shuffle walk in Annabeth’s direction.
“Is that what you think you are?” Samuel pursued them along the fence line, menace radiating from every pore. “A hero?”
On the ground, Jamison let out a bitter laugh. “Oh yeah, he does. You should have heard him talking earlier.”
Toby kicked dirt in her face as they passed. “Jesus, you’re such a pain in the ass,” he screamed at Jamison, shooting more debris her way with a second kick. “Why can’t you be good like our Annabeth?”
Jamison sputtered, covering her face. Toby continued berating her, and while he wasn’t paying attention, Evie saw Cohen switching positions out the corner of her eye. He was creeping closer to a break in the barrier on the rear end of the graveyard fence. Samuel must have noticed too and changed directions, easing back towards the arch.
Done with Jamison, Toby turned his focus to Annabeth. “Stand up, sweetheart.”
Pushing up from the ground slowly, Annabeth stood on wobbly legs. As she rose, Toby murmured to her how beautiful she had become in his absence and how much he was looking forward to watching her play.
Annabeth’s slim body shook horribly, forcing her to double over without support.
Toby shushed her, stiffly patting her back. “I know you’re excited, but don’t worry. We’ll start soon.”
The damage this was doing to Annabeth might be irreversible. Evie elbowed him. “Leave her alone. You have me.”
“Annabeth is an easy target,” Samuel said, staying where he was. “Or does scaring a woman who hasn’t stepped outside in almost two decades make you feel like a winner, Toby?”
Growling low in his throat, Toby nodded. “You’re right. She is a little too easy to terrify,” he replied. “But I bet a frightened Jamison would be an amazing thing to see. Maybe I should start with her?”
Samuel sneered at him, shaking his head. “You’re not going to start anything. This stupid fucking thing you’ve concocted isn’t going to happen because you and I both know that if you wanted to make it hurt, you would begin with Evie.”
Evie’s eyes went wide. While she trusted him completely, she had no idea what in the hell Samuel was up to with that statement. Challenging Toby wasn’t in her best interest, especially when it came from him. The boys had always been rivals growing up, with Samuel coming out the victor every time.
“It’s good to see how certain things never change.” Toby sighed hard enough to blow strands of her hair into her eyes. “I guess we’ll forever be able to count on Samuel always being too clever for his own good.”
“I’m afraid so,” Samuel replied. “At least when it comes to you and your bullshit.”
Toby rubbed his jaw along the side of Evie’s head. Something was about to happen, and her heart picked up its pace, hammering uncontrollably. “Toby, please don’t.”
“Samuel understands I can’t hurt you.” Holding the gun steady on her, his other hand shot out to jerk Annabeth to him by the nape of her neck. “But Annabeth is a different story.”
Without warning, Toby tossed Evie aside, seizing a screaming Annabeth. “Now, we’re ready to have some fun!”
Disoriented, Evie stumbled, tripping over her own feet. She fell forward and, unable to catch herself in time, struck a broken tombstone on the way down. The sharp marble bashed against her forehead, the sound of the hit resonating through her skull. She landed helplessly on the ground, rolling on the incline to come to rest near Toby’s collection of tools.
Blinding pain seized every nerve, with a shocked quiet accompanying her fall. Evie struggled to rise, but her numb body simply lay on the grass soaked with dew, pathetically defenseless.
