Page 115 of The Friend Scheme
So freaking bad.
“How about we go on a date, then?” he asks. “I have something in mind, actually.”
“Do you, now?”
He nods and then kisses me in the middle of my forehead. “Next time we hang out, it’ll be a date, if that’s okay with you?”
“It’s more than okay,” I say. “It’s, like… so exciting.”
“I’m glad you think that.”
He puts his hand on my face, and rubs my cheek with his thumb. I need to shave, because it feels a little prickly.
“What made you decide?” he asks.
“I guess… I can’t help myself around you.”
“I can’t help myself around you, either.”
It feels so perfect. Maybe too perfect.
What about the Friend Scheme? And why we met in the first place?
What if he’s still manipulating me?
It’s as if he knows what I’m thinking, because he leans down and kisses me hard.
My doubts fade away.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
I’m in a shipping container, shirtless, cuffed to a metal chair.
It’s cold. My arms and legs are bound to it with thick leather straps, so I can’t really move. I pull against my bonds, but they’re too tight.
I can’t move. I’m helpless. Utterly at the mercy of…
Vince.
He’s standing in front of me, with a too-big grin on his face. He’s holding his switchblade, and he keeps opening and closing it. The container is dark, so the paleness of his skin really stands out.
He’s my uncle.
And he’s about to torture me.
I doubt he’s going to show me any mercy. Actually, he might even be more vicious with me, because I betrayed my family.
Hisfamily.
I need to outsmart him. What he wants is for me to give up Jason. To tell him his identity, and for me to tell him everything we’ve been doing. I can’t do that, though. I know what’ll happen if I do.
He’ll kill me, and then Jason.
“I won’t talk,” I say, trying to sound as stoic as I can. I splay my hands, as they’re starting to cramp.
“You will,” he says as he circles me. “Everyone knows how weak you are, Little Matty.”
“That’s just a rumor. You’ll see.”
