Page 221 of Vile Boys

But after what happened … I probably deserve it. And knowing Lana and just how fiery she is, she’d probably kill me herself if she knew the truth.

I shiver in place at the thought. “You know what? I think you need some ice cream to cheer you up.”

Anything to take her mind off this.

“Ice cream?” she repeats.

I get up and drag her to the door. “Yeah, let’s go. Before you turn into a pile of mush.”

The ice creamwe get is delicious, and I bought her the flavors she loves the most.

I want to make it up to her, but I don’t know how.

I don’t even know how to come clean. How to say the words.

So I just chat and eat the ice cream, searching for the right words to bring her the news. But after a while, Lana’s eyes drift to a van near the park we’re having our little treat in. Something about the way her hawk eyes settle on it makes me pause.

“Hi, ladies,” someone behind us says.

We both turn our heads, but the sound of something clicking makes my heart stop.

“Don’t turn. Don’t make a sound.”

A man hiding his face behind a hoodie and a mask has pointed a gun at her head.

But I definitely recognize the symbol on his mask.

The Bones Brotherhood.

“Lana …” I whisper, ice cream dripping down my hand.

She shushes me.

“That’s right, you’re gonna be real quiet, and you’re gonna get up and walk to that van,” the guy behind her growls.

“And what if I don’t?” she says.

We can’t win from a gun … and especially not one owned by a Bones Brotherhood guy.

Slowly, the man hovers the gun to my head instead, and I quake in place. “You really wanna try me out?”

Tears form in my eyes, and one of them trickles down my face at the thought of facing death again.

“Move,” the man says.

Have they come for me?

We get up, and Lana immediately grabs my hand. “It’s gonna be okay.”

It won’t be.

They know I killed Wayne Ferry with Ares, and now they want revenge.

The ice cream drops from my hand as we slowly make our way to the gate toward the approaching van. Two guys wearing a hat and fake hair grab us by the arms and drag us inside.

And I nearly choke on my own saliva as the shadows swallow me whole.

I’m terrified.

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