Frigid (24 page)

“Well, well, what do we have here?”

The voice sounded familiar, but I was too panicked to give it much thought, especially when the guy with the baseball bat appeared in front of us. That meant the knife wielding dude was the one holding me. Terror dug in with razor-sharp claws.

“Whoa, man, what are you doing?” Bat Guy demanded.

Knife Guy kept walking backward, alongside the SUV, completely undeterred by my struggling. “What? We’re just going to have a little fun. Nothing serious.”

My heart thumped against my ribs. This couldn’t be happening. Horror hit me and I twisted my head, trying to dislodge his hand. Every safety video the campus police had forced us to watch warned not to let someone get you in a car or out of sight. And we were already enough out of sight, considering where we were. This wasn’t good. Oh God, this wasn’t good at all.

“This wasn’t part of the plan,” Bat Guy said, and he dropped the bat. It clanged off the cement as he held his hands up. A different kind of panic punctuated his voice. “You said we were just going to screw with the tires. I’m not—”

“Shut up! Jesus.” Knife Guy wretched my head back against his chest and needles of pain shot down my neck. “Don’t be a pussy. We aren’t going to do anything serious.”

I pleaded with Bat Guy with my eyes. He didn’t seem like he wanted to be part of this, whatever this was. He was my only hope.

“Serious?” He gestured with his hands at us, but refused to meet my stare. “What the fuck do you think this is? What are you planning to do to her? This is fucked up.”

“Man, come on.” Knife Guy shifted. “Just open the fucking door, you pansy-ass. We’re just going to scare her. That’s all.”

My heart stuttered and my eyes were wide, filling with tears.
This isn’t happening
. Those words were on repeat. I couldn’t process how my morning had started one way, so full of hope and love, and had gone to Shittyville in a nanosecond.

Bat Guy cursed under his breath as he moved around my flailing legs and opened the door to the basement. My stomach dropped. As I was carried through the opening of the basement, I froze up for a second. The rush of dread was paralyzing. It sank down deep, threatening to drown me.

The familiar landscape of the covered pool tables, the air hockey table, and the picture of Kyler as a small boy with his father snapped me into action.

Twisting my head sharply, I dislodged his hand far enough that I was able to bite down on his fingers. Clamping my teeth onto his skin, I pressed down until I felt his skin pop and a metallic taste exploded in my mouth.

Knife Guy howled and yanked his hand away. His grip on my waist loosened enough that I tore myself free. He blocked the only exit from here, and while every horror movie in the world replayed in my head, I had no other choice but to run farther into the house.

I ran faster than I’d ever had. The soles of my boots were damp and slick from the outside as they slipped over the wood floors. I entered the stairwell at breakneck speed. A weight hit me in the back, throwing me down on the stairs. I caught myself before I face-planted the steps.

“You little bitch,” he grunted, grabbing a fistful of hair as his knees pressed into my hips. He yanked my head back and a wave of sharp pain rolled down my spine as he pulled me up. Twisting onto my side I kicked out, catching him in the shin.

I didn’t see the blow until it landed. Pain burst across my face, hot and stinging. Crying out, I clawed at the hand in my hair.

“What are you doing?” the other guy yelled. “Holy fuck, are you out of your mind?”

Knife Guy ignored him, dragging me up the stairs. My scalp was on fire as we hit the living room and my gaze landed on the bed Kyler and I had built. It was messy from what we’d done that morning and seeing that right at the moment caused nausea to rise in my gut.

This isn’t happening
.

“I fucking hate stuck-up bitches like you,” Knife Guy said, pushing me forward.

I stumbled and lost my balance, falling to my knees near the coffee table. Desperation clouded my senses. Full-blown panic set in. “Why?” I winced as my lip pulled. “Why are you doing this?”

“Why?” he mimicked my voice. “You little shits come up here every year and think you own this place, acting like you’re better than us. You’re not. You aren’t anything.”

I blinked against the tears filling my eyes. A cord of familiarity rang inside me.

He dragged me past the coffee table, toward the blankets. “And that fucker Kyler? He thinks he’s the shit, right? Thinking he can boss me around.”

It hit me then, and for a second I couldn’t move as realization sunk in. I knew who it was behind the mask. I almost blurted it out, but clamped my jaw shut. If he thought I didn’t know he was Zach, then I probably had a better chance of walking away from this. At least, I hoped I did, and I clung onto that.

“Come on, dude. This is enough,” Bat Guy said from somewhere behind us. “She’s scared, okay? We need to get out of here. You fucked with their stuff enough already. This has gone too far.”

“Too far?” Zach hissed in my ear, and I shuddered in revulsion. “Like it wasn’t too far when Kyler fucked my girlfriend? Or the fact that he’s with her right now?”

Holy shit—did he mean
Sasha?
Kyler had mentioned that there’d had been something between Zach and Sasha, but Kyler had said nothing had happened between him and Sasha. I suddenly got the animosity between the two at the bar.

He’d lied to me, actually lied to me. And now Kyler was with her and I was with Zach. How unbelievably fucking twisted,

Kyler
had
slept with Zach’s girlfriend, once upon a time.

The rusty knife that had been planted in my heart when I’d heard where Kyler was twisted deeper, and then broke off. I was in this situation because of Kyler and his inability to keep his dick in his pants. Plain and simple. The emotional pain slicing through me was just as potent as my stinging lip and aching muscles, and the bruises on the inside would take a hell of a lot longer to fade than the ones that no doubt blotted my skin. The hurting went to a whole new level, cutting in so far I knew there was no chance of repairing this.

That is, if I actually made it out of here alive.

I struggled to get control of my breathing to think around the soul-shattering hurt and panic. “I’m sorry,” I mumbled. My lower lip was numb, causing me to stumble over my words. “I’m sorry that he slept with your girlfriend. I’m so—”

“You’re
sorry?” Zach laughed harshly as he shoved me forward. “That little bastard should be sorry.”

Okay. Obviously sympathizing with the psycho wasn’t going to work. Scrambling off my knees, I spun around, aiming for the doorway to the foyer. I could get out the front door, and then what? Run like hell.

I made it halfway across the room before he got hold of my jacket. In a frantic attempt at escape, I tore the zipper down and slipped out of it. I’d almost made it to the door when he tackled me from behind. I hit the floor hard. My cry was lost in Bat Guy’s shouts. Zach roughly flipped me onto my back and the terror amplified, bursting through me. I swung at him, my knuckles glancing his jaw. He caught my hands, easily pinning them beside my head.

“God, you’re fucking feisty for a midget, aren’t you?” Zach laughed, and through the slits of the ski mask, his eyes held a scary gleam to them. “You and Kyler are just friends, huh? Fuck-buddies by the look of it. Yeah, I saw you two in front of the window. Would’ve got you out of the bar sooner if I’d known you were just another one of Kyler’s whores.”

Just another one of Kyler’s whores
.

Rage swamped me, a fiery burn that slithered through my veins like poison. I bucked my hips, trying to throw him. “Get off me!”

“Hey!” Bat Guy shouted, his voice a high-pitch squeal. “This is going too far! I didn’t sign up for this shit! Fucking with the house is one thing, but this? Hell no. I’m not a part of this.”

“Whatever,” Zach growled. “Get the fuck out, then.”

Breathing heavy, my eyes locked with Zach’s. How far was he going to take this? Obviously, what was happening wasn’t a part of any plan. Bat Guy was way too freaked out for that to be the case. They must’ve been watching. Saw Kyler leave, and then me. They probably hadn’t expected me to show up in the middle of them vandalizing Kyler’s car. But now? My brain couldn’t go where this kind of stuff ended. This couldn’t be happening to me.

A door slammed shut somewhere in the house, and the last of my hope dwindled. Bat Guy was gone. I was alone with Zach, and revenge glittered in his stare.

Coasting over the snow, I cursed under my breath. Way too much time had passed since I’d left for the lodge. Syd probably thought Bigfoot or something had eaten me. I hadn’t intended on taking so long. Good news was that I learned that progress had already been made on the town’s roads, and the main ones were clear enough for slow traffic.

Man, my head was still spinning from what’d happened when Sasha had strolled into the lodge. It solidified two age-old sayings—the past always comes back to bite you in the ass, and no good deed goes unpunished.

Jesus. H. Christ.

All I wanted to do was gather Syd up and get as far away from here as possible. Coasting to a stop beside the other snowmobile, I frowned. What the hell was that doing out? Had Syd gone somewhere and come back?

Irritation bit deep as I turned the engine off. Goddamn it, would she ever listen to me? The last thing I wanted was her running around by herself, especially after what I’d learned from Sasha.

Fucking Zach—fucking redneck, backwoods asshole—had been behind the shit going on at the house. Apparently, he’d busted out a couple of her windows too. That little punk still couldn’t get past the fact Sasha had moved on. You’d think by the way Zach acted over a year later that Sasha had the golden vagina or something. Shit.

It took everything in my power not to find my way to where Zach lived and beat the living shit out of him. His screwed-up obsession with Sasha could’ve gotten Syd hurt—or worse.

It would’ve been your fault
, whispered an insidious voice.

Fuck. That was true.

Whipping my helmet off, I hopped off the snowmobile just as someone came running out from under the half-closed garage door.

First thought: What the fuck?

Second thought: Fucker was wearing a ski mask and was coming out of my house, where Syd was? Oh hell-to-the-motherfucking no.

Throwing the helmet down, I caught the son of a bitch around the waist as he tried to dart around the house. I took him down in the snow, planting my knee in the dude’s stomach.

“Who the fuck are you?” I demanded, gripping the guy by the shoulders. “Answer me!”

The man held up his hands. “I don’t have nothing to do with this. I swear. He said he just wanted to fuck with the house and your car. That was—”

Grabbing hold of the edges of the ski mask, I yanked it up over the fucker’s head. It was one of Zach’s cronies. He’d been at the bar a few nights back. Without even thinking twice, I slammed my fist into the guy’s face. “Where is he?”

The guy looked like he was about to piss himself as he jerked his chin toward the garage. His bloody lips trembled.

“I’m sorry. It wasn’t supposed to go this far, but Zach, man, he hates you for that shit with Sasha. He’s inside, man.”

I went stock-still for a second. It was like the world had just fucking crashed on top of me. Fear exploded in the back of my throat and it tasted like I’d swallowed a mouthful of blood.

Springing off the douche, I tore through the snow and skidded across the cement. I hit the side of my SUV and rebounded. My head shut down as I flew through the open door, my eyes scanning the room for Syd.

Footfalls thudded upstairs and a cry rang out, stopping my heart. Shit, that sounded like Syd. Oh, my God, that sounded like her. My hands were already forming fists and pure rage boiled my blood, turning to ice at the sound of a fucking gunshot from above. Oh, God—Syd. If she was hurt, I swore to fucking God, I’d kill the bastard. There’d be no stopping me.

Racing around the pool table, I made a beeline for the stairwell as feet pounded over the floor above and down the stairs. A second later, another fucker in a ski mask rushed out of the dark stairwell, drawing up short when he saw me. I knew it was Zach. It was his build. Half of his face showed through the torn, lower half of the ski mask. My gaze dropped to his hands. There was blood all over them.

I fucking lost it.

Launching myself across the room, I slammed into Zack and took him down. Punk-ass swung on me, but I dodged the strike. Grabbing the collar of his sweater, I pulled him up by one hand. My arm swung back and shot forward, connecting with his jaw. Once. Twice. Three times. He didn’t get one punch in. Fuck, no. The blows blurred into blood, split skin, and flares of dull pain. It wasn’t enough. I wanted to pummel him into an early grave, but when Zach’s head flopped back on his neck, I dropped him on the floor and forced myself to stand.

My hands were shaking, knuckles busted and raw.

Taking the next breath was hard, but not as hard as it was to step back from Zach. The only thing that made me do it was that I needed to get to Syd.
Gunshot—oh, God
. If she was hurt or…I would never forgive myself. It was as simple as that. I shouldn’t have left her here alone.

As I stepped over Zach, he rolled onto his side, moaning. I resisted the urge to kick him upside the head. Racing up the stairs, my heart was throwing itself against my ribs. “Syd!” I thought I yelled, but I choked on her name, choked on the possibility of what could’ve happened to her.

Barreling through the half-closed door, I skidded to a halt when I saw her.

She was sitting on the edge of the coffee table, staring at the dying fire, her arms wrapped around her waist. Dark hair fell forward, shielding her face. My stepdad’s shotgun lay across her knees.

“Sydney?”

I walked around, easing my hands open. Stopping in front of her, I knelt and felt my heart crack. Splinter. The collar around her neck was torn, the skin along her chin red and blotchy. Her lower lip was split and an angry red. Fury slammed into me with sickening force. I wanted to go back downstairs and beat Zach into a nice little head injury.