Page 103 of Dead Serious with Benefits
“Oops is right,” the plain man said, tossing something to the ground with a clatter. I realized it was a knife. “You won’t be needing that.”
Arlo sighed but said nothing as he was pulled from the room. His hands were free, but clearly he’d had the same thought I did and was keeping in mind the capabilities of the men and their weapons. To say we were outmatched was an understatement. The only thing I could think to do was go through the motions of whatever plan they had and see where it landed us. I could only hope that whatever these men wanted, it wasn’t blood.
We were led back into the dining room, and I grimaced at the sight that awaited us. My mother and father were in chairs in the middle of the room, their hands tied behind them and together. Marcus and Matilda were in a similar position, but a black eye was forming on Marcus’ face, and Matilda had a swollen cheek and split lip.
At the sight of them, Arlo took a step forward, startling even me when he snarled. The masked man jerked him back, away from his parents. It was a noise I had never imagined coming from his lips, and I wondered what kind of violence lay in the deepest part of his heart. That might have come in handy in other circumstances, but here, surrounded by armed men? Not so much.
“Wait,” I said to Arlo. “They’re alive. Stop.”
He glared at me out of the corner of his eye, but he let himself be taken to a chair, his eyes burning as he stared at his parents. Matilda’s broken lip trembled, but there was no mistaking the furious glare she gave the plain man as he approached them. Marcus looked on expressionless, almost bored. My parents appeared untouched, save for a few rips in my father’s clothes, and my mother’s usually flawless hair was snarled and sticking out. They had been rougher with Arlo’s parents for some reason.
“Do you have everyone else?” the plain man asked the masked man. A third man entered the room, and he too wore a mask, but I could see a tattoo peeking out from the eyeholes of the ski mask. I couldn’t be sure, but I thought perhaps I saw scales from the body of a snake in the ink.
“Secured,” Snake said as he jabbed his thumb behind them. “Got them in the cooler.”
“You’ll kill them if you keep them in there for too long,” Arlo said in a thin voice.
“I said the cooler, smart ass.”
“You can still die of exposure from cooler temperatures.”
“Don’t worry about ’em, they aren’t gonna be in there long anyway.”
“Well, that’s ominous,” I said as I glanced between the three. They were the only ones I had seen, and I hoped that was all. More men meant more trouble, but at least I was certain the plain-looking man was in charge of Mask and Snake.
“You’re calm,” Mask muttered.
“I’ve been attacked and kidnapped by three armed men. I’m terrified,” I admitted with a shrug as I was forced to take a seat. “That said, whimpering and crying isn’t my thing. You can thank my mother’s complete lack of empathy and refusal to accept that other people have emotions that should be respected for that. So, you can skip the part where I plead or offer you money. Thisis clearly a targeted attack, but we’re still alive, ergo, you want something. What is it?”
“You’re as arrogant as I thought,” Plain Man said as he got close and scowled in my face. “I shouldn’t be surprised.”
Okay, so that one seemed to know me...or at least thought he did. “Ah, it’s me you have a problem with. And I thought it was my mother; she does have a way of pissing people off. Ask anyone in the room who isn’t one of your friends.”
“I already know the answer to that question, but why don’t you look me in the eye and tell me if you recognize me?” Plain man said, squatting so we were face to face. “Give it a try.”
“How much honesty do you want?”
“All of it.”
“The first time I looked at your face, about five minutes ago, my first thought was that you had the most forgettable face, which would be a problem if I ever needed to identify you later. So I think it’s safe to say I do not recognize you. I don’t think you realize how many people I’ve interacted with in the past week, let alone however long ago it was that you had anything to do with me,” I told him plainly. Probably not the answer he wanted, and definitely not the one I should have given, but my mouth was working semi-independently of the rest of me. I hadn’t been joking when I said I was terrified. I could feel the sweat dripping down my back at the understanding that all this was because of me...for some reason.
“You’re not even going to try?” he asked with a smile that did the opposite of setting me at ease.
I looked him over, wondering what answer I was supposed to give, if there was a correct answer. Was this just a game before he pounced on his food, so to speak, or did he want me to recognize him? My social circle had been in constant rotation for years, with very few people staying for more than half a year. It was easier that way, considering I didn’t have to deal withthe inevitable drama from people being my friend. In the end, people always wanted something; if I let it happen, they kept taking and taking. So, it was better to have ‘friends’ than to have friends.
But what had I done to deserve this? I wasn’t the nicest person, that was for sure, but I had never gone out of my way to hurt or harm people. Or at least, no one who didn’t intentionally put themselves in the line of fire or had already done me harm.
Okay, maybe there was an uncomfortably high chance that I could have hurt someone, and this was revenge. It was rather extreme for revenge, though. I couldn’t imagine what I could have done to invite this much force.
I opened my mouth to tell him no when I heard Arlo suck in a breath. Plain Face and I looked at him, and I could see Arlo’s already light complexion had gone the color of curdled milk. His eyes flicked to Plain Face and then back to me before looking at the floor.
“You know me, though, don’t you?” Plain Face said, his eyes narrowing. “Don’t you?”
I stared at Arlo in confusion. How could he know someone I was supposed to know? Our lives before meeting hadn’t intersected as far as I knew; we ran in different crowds. But the look on Arlo’s face told me that if he didn’t know who Plain Face was, he had a good idea.
“Well?” Plain Face demanded, scowling as he glared at Arlo.
“I don’t know you,” Arlo said slowly, but there was no denying that he had clearly seensomething. “Olivia.”
