But a slim hand caught her arm—not hard, but firmly enough that she had to stop.
Becca threw her head up. “Lilah.”
Lilah didn’t look like the kind of girl you’d want to screw with. She had a few inches on Becca, and her smoking habit had drawn premature lines around her mouth, leaving her cheeks drawn and her eyes hard. Her hair was curly, and long, but the edges frizzed along her shoulders. Combined with the tight black tank top and low-slung jeans she wore, it made her look like a biker chick.
Maybe she was.
Becca drew back. “Leave me alone. I’ll call the manager.”
“And tell him what? That I’m standing here?”
Flustered, Becca glanced around. She wasn’t afraid of Lilah—yet—but Tyler could be here. Or Seth. She didn’t see anyone, but that didn’t mean anything. “Look. I don’t know why you guys keep hassling me—”
“Hassling you.” Lilah’s eyes narrowed.
“Just what do you think you’re doing right now?” Becca hissed.
Lilah leaned against one of the shelving units, her expression almost incredulous. “Look, chick, I just came here to warn you.”
Becca pushed past her. “I think I got enough warning on my front door. Thanks.”
“Tyler told me about you,” Lilah called. “That you said you weren’t one of them.”
Becca stopped and turned. “I’m not.”
“He doesn’t believe you,” Lilah continued. “But I think I do.”
Becca studied her. Had she misinterpreted this whole interaction? Was Lilah truly offering a warning, instead of threats? “This thing between you guys and the Merrick brothers—I don’t want to be a part of it. I’m not what ... what you are.”
Lilah shrugged. “If you’re not, then you’ll be fine.” She stepped closer, and her voice dropped. “If you are, you’ll be killed, too.”
Oh, so they were back to threats. Becca shrugged her bag onto her shoulder and turned away. “Fine. Then leave me alone, and let the Guides do their job.”
“See,” said Lilah, “that’s what makes me believe you. You honestly don’t have any idea what you’re talking about.”
Becca spun, hearing the disdain in the other girl’s voice. “I know that you guys all keep talking about Chris and his brothers like they’re dangerous. But I saw what Tyler and Seth did to Chris. Then they came after me here, at my job, and they would have hurt me if another customer hadn’t come along. Tyler was shooting at me Friday night. With a gun. That’s attempted murder. What’s the worst thing Chris and his brothers have ever done to you?”
“You know they killed Tyler’s sister?”
Hearing it from Lilah gave it a distinctly different spin from the way Chris had said it. But still, despite Michael’s temper, she couldn’t imagine him killing someone. “I know she drowned, in the quarry.”
Lilah stepped close again, and now her eyes were angry. It made her look fierce. “She was my friend. You know she drowned right after that oldest one started hassling her at her summer job? Who do you think chased her into the quarry in the first place?”
Enough pain crept into her voice that Becca had to swallow. “It was an accident,” she said.
“You sure?”
No. She wasn’t. And Becca couldn’t lie to Lilah, especially in the face of such honest pain.
She remembered holding Chris’s hand, feeling the water pull her down, turning her world into nothing but darkness and suffocation.
Lilah moved even closer. “Let’s give them the benefit of the doubt on that one—even though they don’t deserve it. Did you know their parents killed Seth’s parents?”
Becca shook her head.
“Yeah,” said Lilah. “After Michael killed Emily. We just wanted them to leave.” She kept going. “Did they tell you this isn’t the first time we’ve called the Guides to take care of them?”
Becca had to clear her throat. “Chris said you threatened to. Back then. That his parents made a deal—”