Total pages in book: 139
Estimated words: 135378 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 677(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 451(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 135378 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 677(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 451(@300wpm)
This is a creepy cabin in the woods.
This is definitely a place for torture or murdering someone where no one can hear them scream. Not a place for romance.
“Please don’t kill me.”
“I’m not here to kill you. As far as I know anyway. If I am here to kill you, it won’t be before you’ve seen Silvan and had a chance to plead your case. The guy’s fucking obsessed with you, so I like your chances.” He puts the car in park, then kills the engine.
“We’re getting out here? At the creepy murder cabin?”
“That’s our destination,” he confirms.
“Maybe you didn’t hear me. I don’t want to be murdered. I RSVP’d for staying alive. You can take me back to the main house.”
Amusement tugs at his lips. I think it’s genuine, but he’s getting out of the car, so I can’t see his eyes to be sure.
His murdery dead eyes.
I pout. “I don’t want to get murdered by him.”
He opens my door a couple of seconds later. He doesn’t have my weekend bag, which further worries me. If I’m staying in this horror movie cabin with Silvan, he should be bringing my things. Silvan told me to remember to bring my books so I could do homework, which strongly suggested I would make it home alive, but Silvan would definitely think about small details like that. If he planned to murder someone but didn’t want them to know yet, he would definitely tell them something like that to keep them from getting suspicious.
He’s so smart. I really like that about him. Why didn’t I tell him that?
He probably wouldn’t have let his friend murder me if I told him that.
He’s not going to let this guy kill you, Sophie. Calm down.
But it’s hard because the guy implied he wasn’t 100 percent sure he wasn’t here to kill me, and again, he is not getting my bag out of his trunk. Is he just going to take my stuff? Is he going to put rocks in my bag and toss it in the river where they’ll dump my body later? Maybe have a nice bonfire with it so there isn’t so much evidence?
This sucks.
Once he’s freed me from the handcuffs, I grab my purse. He grabs my arm and hauls me out of the car.
I want to tell him I can get out of the car myself, but it sounds like something a “troublemaker” might say. He doesn’t let go once I’m out anyway, so I don’t think he’d care. He still looks bored to death by me. He’s probably just afraid if he lets me go, I’ll make a mad dash into the woods, and he’ll have to hunt me down.
Yikes. That’s a terrifying enough thought that I wouldn’t do it even if I didn’t think I’d surely get lost in the forest and die of hypothermia.
Every scenario seems to end really badly for me. I hate it here.
I’m going to be so mad if I played by all his rules and still end up floating down the Merrimack, but I’m holding on to hope this cabin is lit up because Silvan is inside. If Silvan is inside, I’ll be okay. I can convince him not to hurt me even if he wants to right now. We have a system. I’m excellent at bargaining with him. I like to think he wouldn’t go to this much effort, including his scary friend in the whole thing, just to put me in a position where I have to plead for his mercy again, but it’s not outside the realm of possibility.
I’ll let him win, too. I’ll do anything he wants me to do. As long as I escape this night without being murdered, I’m calling it a win for me.
Joker hauls me up the porch steps—I should really get his name—and raps on the wood door.
Hope blossoms in my chest. He’s knocking. That means…
A burst of warmth hits us from the heated cabin when the door opens. My knees nearly buckle, but it’s not because of the heat.
Silvan.
Joker propels me toward him, and I open my arms, throwing myself against him and wrapping my arms around his neck.
“Whoa,” he says, chuckling at the enthusiasm of my greeting.
“I’m so happy to see you.”
“I’m happy to see you, too,” he says, but I can hear the surprise in his voice. “This is a nice surprise.”
Amusement warming his otherwise cool voice, Joker says, “You’re welcome.”
“What is this guy’s name?” I murmur against Silvan’s shoulder.
“Dare.”
How fitting.
“I keep calling him Joker, and he’s scary enough without his sole identity in my head being a Batman villain.”
“You sound grumpy.”
“I thought your friend was going to kill me!”
Silvan leans back. I’m not ready to quit the hug, but I lean back so I can meet his gaze. “Why?” he asks.
My eyes widen. “That stupid phone call! It was a fake phone call. I didn’t really call anybody. I was going to tell you as soon as you brought it up, but then you never did, so I thought it wasn’t a spy pen after all. I was just testing it out to see if you were spying on me, Silvan, I wasn’t really sneaking out to meet anybody, especially him. Never him. Ew, ew, ew. Ew forever.”