Total pages in book: 156
Estimated words: 157140 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 786(@200wpm)___ 629(@250wpm)___ 524(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 157140 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 786(@200wpm)___ 629(@250wpm)___ 524(@300wpm)
“You keep staring at my hands and the necklace... I’m not in the driver’s seat, but if you don’t watch the road, we could have an accident.”
With a nasty curl of his lip, he stomps the gas, flying into heavy sheets of rain. His eyes land on my hands again, anchored on that turtle.
“I know how to drive, Eliza. Relax,” he growls.
Oh, okay. I’ll just lie back and start Googling funeral arrangements while he rams us head-on into a truck.
I take a deep breath, trying my best not to explode.
“Please tell me what’s going on? Troy, I’m serious.”
He answers with another dull chuckle that sounds like there’s nobody home behind the silver spark in his eyes. “You want to know? Fuck it. First, what did Cole tell you about Aster’s suicide?”
Huh?
“Not much. He just told me he didn’t have all the details. Her death was strange and untimely, he said.”
Blinding headlights flash in my eyes. A long, blaring honk from a passing truck cuts through the storm.
For a second, I’m about to scream, but it whips past.
A red car swerves ahead just behind it and goes skidding off the road, sending a wave of water spraying across our windshield. The lights skim diagonally over Troy’s wild-eyed snarl.
“Oh my God,” I whisper, gripping my thigh.
“Dickheads! They should pay more attention to the storm, right?” His voice is pure ice.
You were probably in their lane, jackass.
“We should stop. What if they’re hurt?” I venture, latching on to any small reason to get away from this madness.
I’ll take my chances getting drenched.
But he’s not stopping. The car speeds up, lurching ahead faster.
“Troy!”
“Not our problem. You’ve got a flight to catch and I’m not going to make you late.” The worst part is, he almost sounds normal now.
Jesus, what have I gotten myself into?
“Troy, it doesn’t matter. I can always take a later plane. They...they slid off the road. They could be hurt, and I think it might be because—”
He snorts loudly, sending me a caustic look. “Don’t be so dramatic. There’s plenty of traffic around, and someone else will call it in. They’ll just have to wait for a tow truck, that’s all.”
I hope he’s right.
I hope something stops him before we’re a lot less lucky than the spinout car.
And his eyes are on my hand again. I know it before I even look.
“Troy, please,” I whisper. “You need to watch the road.”
“You know what I don’t need?” he asks quietly.
“What?”
“Directions from a twenty-something who thinks she’s hot shit because she slept with the CEO and got a job she didn’t deserve.”
My breath cuts off and my face goes hot.
He laughs again, and I finally notice how cruel that loud, obnoxious laugh of his sounds.
“You’re not going to try to deny it, huh? Or does my driving freak you out that much?”
I glance over, trying not to glare. “I had the job first. Long before Cole and I ever...”
“Ever what?” he urges.
“Jesus. I didn’t do anything underhanded to get the job. I already had it. Not that it’s any of your business,” I add, probably against my better judgment.
Again, that horrible grinding laugh echoes through the car. “Good for you! What did he say about me?”
I stare at him. “What do you mean?”
“Cole. Old friend, old buddy, old bossman. What the fuck did he say about me, Eliza?”
Just when I didn’t think the eerie glint in his eyes could get crazier...
“Not much, honestly. Before Hawaii, he never mentioned you much at all.”
You’re not that important, prick.
“Did he ever mention me when he talked about Aster?”
I blink slowly.
What is he talking about?
“No. But why would he? Everyone says she was sick and killed herself. No big mystery.”
“I was there that week,” he says, his voice dropping an octave to this soft, restless rumble. “I thought my name would come up.”
“He might have told me you were there when it happened. I don’t remember.” I don’t have to lie about that. I’m sure this road trip with a psycho is doing wonders for my memory.
“E-liz-ah,” he sings my name in three eerie syllables. “Think harder. I need you to remember what your boyfriend said about me.”
I eye him for a minute, not wanting to, pushing down the lump of ice in my throat.
“Troy, you know how Cole is. He cares about two things: Wired Cup and himself. And yeah, to be fair, he cares about Destiny, too. He barely ever mentioned you. I’m really not sure what you’re looking for.”
When I shake my head, it feels so light it could float away.
He inhales sharply, squeezing the steering wheel a few times, pumping blood in and out of his fingers.
“What?” I force out when I can’t take the killing silence. “Troy, what is it you’re so worried about?”
“Right now, you, Miss Eliza. You really shouldn’t bullshit a master bullshitter.”