Page 22 of Poisoning Ivy
His smirk is back in an instant as he tips his head at the car. "Prove it, Bambi. Get in the car."
My eyes trail to the door that Monty left open when he slipped out of the backseat, to the two guys leaning against it, as amused as Killian with his antics, and then back to the boy in front of me. Except Killian looks more man than the boy I've grown accustomed to dodging around here.
"Where are you going?"
My heart thunders in my chest, knowing that getting in the car with them would be stupid. But I'm more afraid of what Uncle Vitoli will do to me if he finds I snuck out than I am of whatever these guys have planned. I've summered in this town for years, ten of which I've known these three guys.
They're loud and rowdy, and they like to tease me mercilessly, but they're not a threat. At least, not enough of a threat to stop me from getting into the car.
Monty whoops excitedly as I slide into the backseat, giving Killian a look that says,your move.
When he sinks behind the wheel, I realize just how big he's really gotten. I guess I grew too, so the difference in his size hadn't seemed as acute when I stood by him. But now, seeing him folded behind the steering wheel of the Impala, I realize he takes up a lot of space.
A shiver runs through me, but I hold it tight, refusing to show that the gun sitting on the dashboard just gave me pause. Guns are common around here. There’s all sorts of things you need to protect yourself from in the woods—bears, coyotes. It’s not lost on me that these guyscouldbe the most dangerous thing out here.
"I'm impressed, Poison." Monty says, winking in my direction. "You've got balls."
"Balls?" I laugh as Killian reverses back the way we came, taking us down the hill backwards. My throat feels thick, and my stomach is jittery, but I refuse to let them see that they scare me.
"Getting in a car alone with three men?" Theo explains. "Not the smartest thing you could do."
"No.” I swallow. “The smartest thing I could do is take that gun on the dashboard there and blow my brains across your backseat. You'd be stuck with me forever that way."
"Fuck." Monty whispers, and when I turn to him, his onyx eyes are wide. "That's dark."
I huff out a laugh and lean back, relaxing against the seat.
"You have a death wish, Bambi?" Killian's voice is thick, and when I flick my eyes up to his green ones in the rearview mirror, he's watching me intently.
"No." I shrug. "But I'm not scared of you."
"You should be." Theo says, digging around in the glove compartment for something before straightening up with a plastic baggie in his hand. I think it's supposed to be a stupid scare tactic, but then he continues. "Killian's a real psychopath."
"That so?" I muse.
"Yep." Monty agrees. "He has a thing for blood."
Me too.
I almost say it, but I bite it back and roll my eyes instead, the way I'd planned to a minute earlier.
"Pick your poison, Ivy." Theo says, turning to grin at me as he holds the little plastic baggie up between us. It's full of pills—far too many of them to pass as a raid on their mothers' antidepressants.
"What are they?"
"Think of them like Skittles." Monty says, winking. "Pick one and taste the rainbow."
"Is that what Theo tells you when he asks you to suck his dick?"
That gets a surprisingly loud laugh out of Theo, who claps the dashboard with amusement.
When Killian turns to glare at him, he just shrugs. "Come on; that was good. Our little Ivy is getting so witty."
"Pick one..." Killian says, sounding bored. "Or you can have the weed."
I don't want to have to smoke anything, but I don't hate the idea of getting high. The alcohol didn't get much chance to numb me yet, but I bet something else will.
"Fine."
