Secret (Elemental 4)

“Fine, fine. I’m going.”

He followed her, taking a draw from his cigarette, clearly planning to make sure she exited his property. When she reached the sidewalk running beside the 7-Eleven, she whirled, ready to lay into him for being an ass**le.

But here the light found his features. It was Tyler, the guy from Nick’s driveway. She thought of Nick’s revelations and knew she should be afraid of Tyler, but her life was overflowing with cruel people, and she didn’t carry that much adrenaline around with her.

“It’s you,” she spat.

“It’s you.” He put the cigarette to his lips and inhaled again.

“Where’s your boyfriend?”

“He’s picking me up. He’ll be here any minute.” Just because she wasn’t afraid didn’t mean she was stupid.

“He was picking you up behind the 7-Eleven?”

Okay, maybe she was stupid. She gestured at the darkened storefronts lining the rest of the strip mall. “Why don’t you go back where you came from?”

“What are you doing out here, really?”

“None of your business.”

His eyes narrowed. “What happened to your face? Did that Merrick prick knock you around?”

He didn’t sound concerned, but he didn’t sound like an affir-mative answer would surprise him, either. “No. And don’t call him that.”

He huffed, blowing smoke through his nose. “You girls are all the same. You think those idiots are amazing and perfect and special. Well, you know what? They’re not.”

“I’m sorry, Prince Charming. Clearly not everyone is up to your standards.” She stepped up and ripped the cigarette out of his mouth, intending to break it in half.

But it flared and burned to ash in her hand. Quinn shrieked and dropped it.

Tyler smirked. “You don’t know what you’re messing with, baby girl. With me or them.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“I just wanted to talk to them, and you saw how that jerkoff treated me.”

“Yeah, and you were such a gentleman.” She swung a hand to shove him away.

He was too quick and grabbed her wrist. “Trust me, they’ve pushed me way past being a gentleman. Maybe I should get some answers from you.”

God, he was strong. She regretted trying to hit him. Her arm burned like he was pressing the cigarette between his hand and her skin. Quinn was gasping before she could stop it. Part of her wished she’d stayed in the apartment and tried her odds against her brother.

“Go ahead,” Tyler said. “Scream. I’ll tell them I caught you trying to break in.”

“Let me go,” she whimpered. The pain was immobilizing. He was pulling tears out of her, and she wanted to kill him for that.

“Let me go.”

“You think this is bad?” he said. “This is nothing. Just wait until you spend more time with them. Wait until you see what they do to you. They are killers. ”

Sweat bloomed on her forehead. “Okay. I get it. Lemme go.

Please.”

“I want to know what’s going on. You hear me? I want to know what really happened at that carnival, and I want to know what happened to the Guide that came to town to take care of it. You tell them I want answers. Got it?”

“Got it,” she whispered. The grip on her arm was the only thing holding her on her feet. She was going to pee her pants in a second.