Page 123 of Wicked Games

I rush to him, falling to my knees. “Caleb, wake up.”

His eyes flutter open.

For a long moment, I question whether he recognizes me. He blinks slowly, squinting, then touches the back of his head. “Little lamb. What are you doing here?”

“Coming to rescue you, of course.”

His fingers come away wet with blood. “What day is it?”

“What?”

“The day—or night, judging from the dark room behind you.”

“Glad you’re with it enough to notice it’s dark out,” I grumble. “It’s Tuesday evening. I got worried when you didn’t show up last night after your family dinner.”

He smiles. “Just wanted to see how long it took you to notice.”

“You’re really going to dissect the time it took me to find you?”

He shrugs and climbs to his feet. He staggers a bit, catching himself on the wall. I grab on to his waist, steadying him. He’sbleeding. From his head. And he’s watching me like he’s worried aboutme.

He rubs his thumb between my brows.

“What are you doing?”

“Trying to erase your concern.”

I scoff. “I found you on the floor in a dark room. I’m not supposed to be concerned?”

He shrugs. “Nope. I’m fine.”

After a little wobble, he straightens and manages to walk without falling over. He leads me out of the room, into a hallway that cuts straight to the kitchen. He locates a bag of frozen veggies from the freezer and puts it to the back of his head, winking at me. “Let’s get out of here before my uncle decides it’s time for round two.”

“Eli is wandering around upstairs,” I tell him.

He pauses. “Is he now?”

“Nope!” Eli calls. He propels Riley in front of him into the kitchen. “Your aunt and uncle just got home. Aren’t you glad I moved your car, Ri?”

She tries to scowl, but the fear bleeds through.

“We need to leave right now,” Caleb barks. He leads us out the back door and around the corner of the house, to the side of the garage.

The vertical opening is loud from our position, and we wait until it’s silent for us to make a break for it. We hurry along the tall shrubs dividing the property from their neighbors, and I take a moment to cast a silent thank you that Eli moved Riley’s car. We slip past the slowly closing gate and onto the sidewalk.

Around the corner, we pile into Riley’s car. Eli in the driver’s seat, the keys in his hand, Riley beside him in the front, and Caleb and me in the back.

All of us let out relieved sighs. I lean into Caleb’s side, wrapping my arms around him.

“Didn’t take you very long at all,” he muses. “Eli?”

He glances back at us. “Well, we all know what happened last time…”

I shudder.

“I told him to shove it,” Caleb informs us. “And then he hit me with something… I don’t know. I was on my way out the door. He didn’t like that very much.”

We’re on the road, but I still push up onto my knees and move the frozen vegetable bag out of the way. He leans forward slightly, letting me inspect his scalp. There’s an inch-long gash of oozing blood just above where his neck meets his skull.

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