Kill Switch (Devil's Night 3)

Winter snorted, and I just fixed a snarl on my face as I stood up. “Just get me out of here,” I told them. “And don’t tell anybody about this, for Christ’s sake.”

The girls laughed and led the way through the panel in the wall where Banks and I grew up shimmying down beams of wood to get around the house in secret, either for fun or for pranks.

Rika and Alex went first, then Winter and then me. We made our way down between the walls, vaguely hearing voices on the other side as we descended floors, and now I kind of understood why the girls were sent. This was a lot tighter space now that I was grown. We went slowly and quietly, since everyone whom we didn’t want to find us was only a piece of wood and a layer of wallpaper away.

Landing at the bottom, I stepped through the hole in the rocks which made up the walls of the cellar and summoned every muscle and ounce of determination I had to get Winter out of here, so I could push forward and make it to the car.

I heard a phone vibrate, and Rika’s face lit up as she looked at a text.

“Okay, now,” she said, glancing at us.

What?

I didn’t have time to ask, though, because she ran up the steps and pushed through the cellar doors, Alex, Winter, and I quickly following.

She jumped into the passenger seat of a black SUV parked right there for us, while Alex opened the rear door and dove in, Winter and I doing the same.

Alex sat in a seat, while Winter and I fell into the rear bench seat way in the back.

I didn’t have time to see who was driving, but I crashed down, falling back into Winter as she slumped back, too, wrapping her arms around me.

“Go, go, go,” I heard Rika tell whoever. “I’ll text Banks and tell them to get out of there.”

Whoever was driving shot backward instead of forward toward the gate, and I held on as the car bounced over the ground and veered left to right, probably to avoid trees. We must be going out the back way.

Winter’s chest rose and fell behind me, but she held me tightly, like she wouldn’t let anything hurt me.

I closed my eyes, listening to the terrain under us, hearing what she was hearing to know when it was finally safe.

The car rocked over the bumpy land, leaves kicked up under the tires, but I didn’t hear any other engines following, shouts, or alarms. So far, we’d gotten out undetected.

I didn’t know what Banks was doing or agreeing to in order to distract my father, but I wanted her out of there now.

And Winter should never have come, either. It was insane to think we were going to get out of this alive.

Why did she even come?

She was pissing me off. Screaming at me one minute, all over me the next, running away this morning, and now she was here. Was she going to decide she needed more space tomorrow?

We pulled onto a paved road, swinging around, and driving forward, and I started to breathe a little easier as the car grew quiet and the engine hummed.

“You left me,” I said, her chin tucked on my shoulder as she held me from behind. “Everyone is always doing that.”

“I needed to think.”

“Think,” I repeated, shaking my head. “Fuck you, baby. It was perfect last night. There were no problems.”

I reached behind, ruffling her hair.

“You’re going to do it again,” I said, dropping my hand. “You should’ve just left me there. Why didn’t you?”

She was quiet, nudging her cheek into mine as she found her words. “Because I was afraid of life without the hope of you to look forward to.”

I fell silent, understanding instantly what she meant. Looking back, I’d always felt the same way. Whether or not we were together, I wanted her, and I’d always want her.

“We can’t hide forever, though, Damon,” she said. “Not in our mazes, our fountains, our treehouses… We live in the world with other people, and I want to respect myself. I just…I needed to think.”

“You want them to respect you,” I retorted.