Make You Beg

“Son of a bitch!” Monroe spins around and punches a locker. He turns back to him, grabs his shirt, and yanks him off the wall. “I’m going to fucking kill him!” he growls.

Get in line.

“But I always found it odd that she waited three hours,” he rushes out.

I arch a brow. “Three hours for what, Derek?”

Monroe shoves him away. “From the time she took the pill and got up, it was around three hours before the cops arrived at Death Valley. Henley always made it sound like it was an immediate thing. She walked away from the table, went up to the chapel, saw it, and called the police.”

“So you’re saying there’s time missing.” I make sure I understand. “But Scout had two fights that night,” I say because I was the one who got them for him. I always thought it was weird that he and I left after the second one, and Henley wasn’t with him. I even asked him where she was when we were walking to our cars, and he told me she had gone home with Jamie because she had had too much to drink. I believed every fucking word. Then the next day, I got a call informing me Dax had been arrested.

“What the fuck was Henley doing during that time?” Rellik asks.

Good question.

“Who else was there with them that night?” Dax asks him.

He frowns. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“I was there,” I answer. But I wasn’t with them during that time. I was at Graveyard with Matthew watching the fights.

“No.” Monroe shakes his head at me. Then looks at Derek. “Henley told me the other day that someone else was with me,” Monroe spits out.

“What?” Me and Rellik both question.

Motherfucker! Why didn’t she ever tell me this? I know why. Because I wouldn’t have believed her. Not at first. But … the thought hits me that she told me Steve was still alive and I asked if she was on something, which proves I wouldn’t have believed a word she said.

“He placed a hand over her mouth, pinned her arms down to her side, and forced her to watch. And when I asked why she didn’t tell the police, she said it was because she barely heard his voice and she never saw his face.”

What the fuck, little doll?

“I don’t know.” He shakes his head. “But—”

“Steve,” I say, cutting everyone off. My mind finally putting the pieces together. Fuck, I’ve been so goddamn blind.

“What?” Dax asks.

“Steve.” I snap my fingers, my mind working on overdrive. “He and Nicholas drugged her in the chapel. She hallucinated just like the night she saw Scout with Brenda. It has to be connected. Steve knew what the drug would do, and they decided to use it on her after what we did to Nicholas in here.” Lacey told me there was another guy. I thought it was a Founder. That maybe we weren’t moving fast enough for them, and they decided to take matters into their own hands. But it was Steve and Scout.

“Yeah, but you killed them,” Rellik adds.

“What?” Derek shrieks.

We all ignore him. “No, Steve is still alive.”

“But how?” Dax asks.

“I don’t know …” I pause and let out a rough laugh that holds no humor. “Scout. I killed Nicholas. Broke his neck.” Derek swallows. “But Scout took care of Steve. He choked him, I thought to death, but it was obviously an elaborate show to make me think he did.” I look up at Monroe. “That’s why he wanted to dispose of the bodies because he fucking knew Steve wasn’t dead.” I don’t know why I didn’t think of this before. I’ve been trying to figure out how Steve ended up at her father’s house and how he knew where she was. I throw my head back and run a hand down my face. “Scout has been telling us this entire fucking time that he’s had eyes on her. Steve was that person.” Son of a bitch! I never questioned who it was because it really didn’t matter. Now it does!

“Did you sell to Steve?” I demand, stepping into Derek. I’m not sure just how accessible LSD is to get, but if Derek has it, then the word is around school about it.

“No.” He shakes his head. “But I did sell to Scout.”

“When?” the three of us snap.

He flinches at our tone. “The day before Halloween. He said he had a couple of fights at Death Valley and wanted to party afterward. That’s what I wanted to talk to you about yesterday …”

“Jesus,” Monroe hisses. “He set all of this up.”

“But he was so mad at Nicholas for wanting her. Why would he set it up for him and Steve to drug her?” Rellik wonders, bringing up a valid point.

I run my hands through my hair and turn, giving them my back. Of course, I had Scout’s phone while he was fighting. He had a message, but he had changed his passcode. Then when I got up to the chapel, Nicholas had been taking pictures. I bet my life; he was texting them to Scout. Fuck, for all I know, that’s why Scout was letting his opponent kick his ass. To cause a distraction knowing the guys had her upstairs. But once he was done and Lacey told him what was going on, he had to come upstairs and pretend that he cared what happened to her.