Page 105 of Unmask
“Don’t be ridiculous. I’m responsible for Kenny being kidnapped. It’s my fault, Car.”
He shook his head. “You’re not the only one to blame.”
I stilled. “What do you mean?”
Carson ran both hands through his hair, his features stressed. “I was pissed. Seeing you with him…livingwith him. Withthem. Hooking up with…him. It was like watching a car crash I couldn’t stop. You were spiraling.”
I blinked, confused. “Carson?—”
“You didn’t seem to care, Kaylor! The guy kidnapped you, and you…God, you were still looking at him like he hung the damn moon.”
My stomach dropped, a sick wave of realization starting to take shape.
“I was trying to protect you,” he continued. “Iamprotecting you. Or at least…I thought I was. Rusty promised he’d get you away from the Corvos for good. Said he could help and keep you safe from them.”
The words struck like bullets. Cold. Unforgiving. I shook my head, denial rising like bile. “Holy fuck.” My voice cracked. “This isn’t happening.”
He reached for my arm. “Kay?—”
“You didn’t.” I yanked my arm back as if his touch burned. “Carson, tell me you fucking didn’t helphim.” Suddenly, that doubt I had about who Rusty was as a person became less muddled.
His silence said everything.
I laughed. Bitter. Disbelieving. “Are you kidding me right now? You’re supposed to be my best friend. You’re supposed to trust me.”
“I didn’t know what he was planning, not exactly. I thought he just wanted to get you out. Away from them. Away fromhim.” Even now, after what he did, he had venom in his tone when he spoke about Kreed.
“You mean Kreed,” I snapped. “Say his damn name. You can’t even do that, can you?”
Carson’s jaw clenched, his eyes rimmed with guilt and a darker emotion. “Everyone knows what kind of guy he is. He’s an asshole. He’s dangerous. He was taking advantage of you, and I couldn’t just watch it happen. I’ve loved you forever. I was waiting for you to realize it too, but then everything went to hell.”
I stared at him, numb and hollowed out. “So you thought Rusty was the solution? Who are you to interfere? How is what you did any different than what Kreed and his brothers did? Why, because you love me?”
“I was trying to save you,” he murmured weakly, his eyes begging me to understand.
“No,” I whispered, fury threading through the tears stinging my eyes. “You weren’t saving me. You were trying to control me. Just like everyone else.”
The engine ticked in the silence that followed. I looked back at the train yard. Chains, shadows, and fate waited for me on the other side of the fence, but what gutted me more was that the boy who used to ride bikes with me down Shady Court…just handed me over to the wolves.
I’d been so worried and focused on Kreed that I never for a second thought that Carson would be the one who hurt me the most. Kreed’s betrayal pierced my heart, but Carson’s…it cut deeper.
“Fuck,” I muttered. “I can’t deal with this right now. Because of what you did, I have to save our friend. You have no idea what you’ve done.”
“Don’t go,” he begged. “I’ll go instead. This is my fuck-up. I’ll fix it.”
“How? They don’t want you, Carson. It’s me. And you just handed me to them on a silver platter with a big fat bow.”
His head hit the back of the seat seconds before his hands slapped against the steering wheel, making me jump. “I fucked up.”
“Yeah, you did.” I glanced at the clock, seeing I only had a few minutes. “I need to go.”
“Kay, I?—”
“Don’t, Carson. Just don’t. Save it for when I get it out of this mess, and you better hope I do.” I stepped out into the cold andslammed the door behind me, the crunch of gravel under my boots sounding like gunshots in the quiet.
The old train yard loomed ahead like a graveyard in the night, rusted tracks gleaming in the moonlight. My breath fogged in the air as I moved forward, one step at a time. Steel skeletons of old boxcars lined the tracks, reminding me of forgotten tombstones, their paint flaked and faded, their wheels locked in place by years of rust. The silence here was unnatural. So still it rang in my ears. No wind. No animals. Not even the creak of metal. Just me and the sound of my own heartbeat thudding in my chest.
This was it.
