Page 172 of Devil's Bargain

“I don’t get it.”

“He lied?” Dallas asks, echoing my thoughts. “But why?”

Ben meets her gaze, his eyes darkening. “I guess we’re about to find out.”

* * *

I look around at the tall trees. Ben took a left down a dirt track and continued driving until he pulled over by the roadside at this clearing.

“We should leave him in Ben’s trunk overnight. Let him sweat it,” Josh says as he exits Steph’s car. The sheets of rain are visible in the headlights.

“I’m not freezing my ass off all night!” Steph replies, dropping a duffel bag on the ground.

Ben leans back on the trunk of his car, his arms crossed. The screaming inside has quieted down to the occasional thump.

I blink through the rain on my lashes. We’re all soaked through, but no one cares. The drizzle when we left school has turned into a heavy downpour with no sign of easing up anytime soon.

“Let’s get this show on the road,” Matt says, motioning for Ben to lift his ass off the trunk.

Ben’s keys in the lock renew the noisy activity from Scott.

“I’ll kill you all!” he shouts as Ben lifts the trunk and grabs him by his collar.

“Get the fuck out!”

Scott is dragged out and dumped unceremoniously on the muddy grass. We’re parked just off a dirt track on the outskirts of Hedgewood.

The headlights of Steph’s car flood through our legs as Scott blinks against the heavy rain.

“I suggest you start talking unless you want to make this more painful than it has to be?” I sneer.

He attempts to get to his feet, but Ben boots him in the side.

“Stay down!”

“Where is she?” Matt growls impatiently.

Scott laughs, rainwater dripping off his wet lips. “You drove me all the way out here to ask me where your friend is?”

Ben kicks him again, and this time Scott groans, clutching his midriff.

“What are you going to do? Kill me?” His laughter turns manic. “You can’t do that because then you’ll never find her.”

Matt breaks away from the circle and starts pacing, his hands clasped behind his head. “Unless you want to fucking die, you better talk!”

Scott coughs on the ground and pushes up to his knees. “How well do you know your friend?”

I stiffen.

“Did she tell you that she whored herself out for money?”

Ben kicks him a third time, sending him sprawling on the ground. “SHUT UP!”

“Ouch, fuck!” Scott groans in pain, but it soon turns into laughter. It’s a sound that makes the hairs on my neck stand up. “Don’t like the truth? Your friend likes to be humiliated! Slap her face, and she purrs like a cat. Strangle her with your belt, and she’ll crawl on her knees for more!”

Matt strides up to him and fists his collar. “Where the fuck is she?”

“We used to take turns with her. She’d fuck Jared first and then come crawling to me, begging for more!”

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