Page 175 of Devil's Bargain

“One.”

“You stand no fucking chance! He’s a powerful man and you’re nothing but poor kids from the wrong side of town with alcoholic parents and no future prospects!”

“Two.”

“Okay, okay, okay! He’s a lawyer. Mr. Mitchell. The quarterback’s father! What’s his name? Rick. You know him!” His voice is desperate. Pleading.

Steph smiles. “Three.”

I stare in disbelief as she pulls the knife out. Blood squirts from his thigh, and silence settles like a heavy blanket over the clearing.

“Oh my god!” I whisper, pressing my hands over my mouth as he collapses to the ground. His body jerks once. Twice. Three times.

“He’s dead!” Dallas breathes next to me.

His vacant eyes stare at the sky above as raindrops pool in his eyes.

Steph gets to her feet and wipes the knife on her ripped black jeans. “We have a name. Let’s get our girl back!”

Josh tears his gaze away from the body. “What do we do with him?”

Steph looks down as if only just remembering that she’s killed a man. “Oh, well. We’re in the middle of nowhere. Drag him deeper into the woods and let the animals take care of him.”

Ben shakes his head. “We need to singe his fingers and remove his teeth.”

I bork, staring at Ben in disbelief. “Are you for fucking real?”

He furrows his brows. “You don’t want him to be identified by dental records, do you?”

I open and close my mouth while Matt shakes his head. “Did you not hear what he said? The business he was involved in is bigger than anything we can imagine. This is Hedgewood. The powerful people in this town don’t want a scandal like this to become common knowledge. If she’s with Rick’s dad—he’s one of the most powerful men in this town. He’s not going to want his secret to come out. This asshole’s death will be swept under the carpet.”

“We can always pull out his teeth to be on the safe side.” Josh shrugs, his hands in his pockets.

I shiver. My soaking wet clothes stick to my skin.

“Do you have pliers?” Ben asks, packing down the baseball bat.

“Yes. I always carry pliers around with me.”

Ben chuckles, rising to his feet, the duffel bag slung over his shoulder. “Then how do you suggest we pull them?”

“Dude, you suggested it!”

Ben opens the trunk and puts the duffel bag inside. “Let’s go with Steph’s idea.” Closing the trunk, he walks back over to the body and crouches down.

I stand motionless while watching him pat Scott down and pull a wallet from his pocket. My feet stay glued to the ground. The rain has picked up, lashing at my face until it stings.

“I don’t think we need to worry,” Ben says as he puts the wallet back inside the blood-stained pocket. “Scott isn’t his real name. He’s gone by a fake name this whole time.”

Steph walks over to her car and roots through her glove box.

“Are you okay?” Dallas asks me.

I tear my gaze away from the man’s lifeless eyes. “No…”

She hugs me again, whispering against my ear, “He wouldn’t have told us the truth otherwise.”

“We could have taken him to the hospital.”

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