Page 114 of ILY
“If it’s another tooth or hand, I will riot,” I murmur, rushing forward. “I mean it. I will literally set fire to this whole place and watch it burn and sleep in a tent on the ashes.” Thorne follows me as I rush toward him, his feet clipping my heels.
Michael seems undeterred by our rapid approach, which is not a good sign. When he doesn’t run, it means something is about to happen.
He stares at us with his big black eyes, his long teeth holding something green and white.
“Is that…money?” Thorne asks, grabbing my arm and pulling me to a stop.
My mouth drops open as I realize he’s right. It’s cash. “What the fuck?”
Suddenly, Michael turns and scurries away, but I can’t seem to unstick my feet from the ground to follow him. Money? Where the fuck is he getting money? I sure as shit don’t have any.
Michael stops when I do, then waves his little arm and waits for us to follow. This little fucker knows something. This is way too weird not to investigate.
My body unfreezes just as Thorne tugs on my wrist, and we follow, zigzagging around the fence that leads to the orchard, and stop at the base of one of the trees.
He disappears into a small hole, and Thorne and I just stare at it.
“What do we do?” I ask. “What if it’s another body?”
Thorne shakes his head, his face somber but his eyes alight. “I don’t think it’s a body. I’m getting the fucking shovel, and we’re going to dig.”
I’m an expert at shovels and digging holes by now.
My shoulders and arms ache as we delve down deep into the ground, the trees watching us as we work. Thankfully, the sky is overcast, and it’s autumn, so the heat from the sun isn’t burning through my skin.
My shovel eventually hits something, and a clang moves up my arm, radiating through my neck and teeth. “Shit!”
Thorne moves to my side and takes his pick, bending down and scraping at whatever I hit.
I tap him, and he looks over his shoulder at me. “Is it a coffin? Please tell me it’s not a coffin.”
He chuckles. “It’s not a coffin. It’s not big enough. But it is a box.”
“Can you get it out?”
He eyes it for a second, then drops down to his knees and grunts as he begins to pry it from the dirt. It feels like forever goes by, and I’m halfway to suggesting that we call those guys with the backhoe again when he lets out a small cry and heaves backward and out of the hole.
In his hands is a large wooden chest of some sort. There’s a hole in the top just big enough for a groundhog to fit inside.
“Oh, thank god.” It really isn’t a coffin. Or if it is, it wouldn’t be for a human. A groundhog, maybe, I think with the smallest smirk, though I really don’t have any bloodlust regarding Michael anymore.
“How did the guys miss this?” he murmurs as he turns it from side to side. It’s shut tight with a lock, but the thing is old and rusted, so it shouldn’t take much force to break.
And my boyfriend is very, very strong.
“I’m sure Michael led them astray,” I murmur as he examines the seal.
Thorne glances at me with a laugh, then sets the chest down, and something inside makes noise.
“It’s rattling,” I tell him since it’s obvious he can’t hear the sound.
We stare at it, and then Thorne shrugs and takes his pick, slamming it down twice on the lock. It gives way and falls to the ground, and I nudge it with my foot.
I start to feel panicked all over again. My aunt was someone I never knew. Someone no one knew. This could be anything. “I don’t want to look while you open it, okay? If there’s a head in there, I may die.”
He palms my cheek and steps in my line of vision, blocking my view of the chest. I don’t know if he’s worried or indulging me.
He drags two fingers softly down my eyelids. “Close your eyes, baby,” he says softly. When I obey, he rewards me with a long, indulgent kiss that makes me forget everything, just for a second. When he pulls away, I take a deep breath and listen as he steps back toward the box and leaves me floating in the void.
