Page 61 of Anathema Codex

"We need some supplies if we're going to have a proper road trip," he answers as he pulls into a strip mall with a few larger stores and some smaller food places and other shit crammed in around them. I have no idea what supplies he's referring to, but I'm not really in the mood to harass him into talking to me anymore, so I leave it alone and just take another drag on my cigarette.

When Lakyn pulls into a parking spot, he leans forward, looking up through the windshield for a second, and then takes off again. He meanders around the parking lot a few times before finally parking in the very last row. Shoving the car into park, he turns around to lean on the center console, still wearing that fucking smirk. "Red and I are going to get some supplies, and you're going to pick us up a party favor for the road. I prefer blondes, but feel free to grab whoever you can."

"What?" I stare at him, confused, and he sighs, wiping a hand over his face.

"You"—he points at me, and then mimes his two fingers walking—"are going to walk around this place and find some chick to be our entertainment for the road. Where we're headed it's always a good idea to bring someone along that doesn't matter. Plus, I might get bored. Got it?"

"You want me to kidnap someone?" I don't quite believe that's what he's asking until his grin spreads and he claps his hands together sarcastically.

"Look at that, you figured it out, kid!" Lakyn turns back around and turns the car off, hopping out a second later to twist and stretch his back. I haven't moved though, and I'm not sure how the fuck he expects me to kidnap some chick in the middle of the fucking afternoon in a public place. Shit, I haven'teverkidnapped someone, but I'm pretty sure doing it in crowded, well-lit, public places is just about the dumbest way to go about it.

"I don't think he's kidding," Daphne says and I glare at her.

"Shut up."

She shrugs and opens her door, digging out a pair of sunglasses and a wallet before she shoves her backpack into the floorboard, but just as I think she's about to get out, she pauses and leans back to look at me again. "Just flirt with some girl and invite her to hang out with you. It's not complicated."

"Oh, so you've kidnapped people?" I ask before blowing a cloud of smoke right at her face.

Daphne's nose wrinkles and then she rolls her eyes. "I'm a girl, I don'thaveto kidnap anyone. People just come to me. Damsel in distress and all that shit."

"Right, cause you're so fucking hot that no one can look away."

A loud series of knocks at the window to my left makes me turn my glare on Lakyn through the glass as he messes with his hair in the reflection. Then he opens the door and leans on it, grinning at me like this is the best fucking idea he's ever had. "Going to puss out, kid?"

"No." I brush him aside to get out of the car and stomp my cigarette into the asphalt before holding out my hand. "Give me Willa's keys. I'm not getting left here so that you two can go fuck somewhere."

"Say please," Lakyn says, his voice taking on a quality that I'm sure he thinks is seductive—to guys that like dick anyway. When I don't say anything, or move my hand, he plucks the keys out of his pocket and holds them up, jingling them. "Well, now you have to say pretty please."

"Go to hell," I growl, walking away from him, and he starts laughing.

"That's exactly where we're headed, kid, but you've gotta get the party favor." Lakyn is tossing the keys in the air and catching them now, over and over. I grind my teeth as I try to decide if it's worth the risk leaving Wills' car keys with him.

No. Definitely not.

"I'll go get a goddamn blondeparty favorif you give me the fucking keys."

Lakyn leans forward slightly, cupping his hand beside his ear, and I imagine jabbing Daphne's knife right through his ear and into his brain. It's a nice little fantasy that lets me calm down enough to remember that I'm trying to play the long game with this asshole until I get the chance to end him myself.

"Please," I bite out through clenched teeth and he laughs.

"So fucking close, kid. But you need to listen when I speak or you're going to find yourself roadside sooner rather than later." He jingles the keys again and I force myself to act like I don't give a shit.

Painting a smirk on my face, I shove my hand back through my hair and glance up at the blue sky, makinghimwait for a minute before I finally look at him again. "Sure, Pops.Prettyplease can I have the fucking keys?"

Lakyn doesn't even respond, he just tosses them at my chest, and I manage to catch them, tightening my fist so that the sharp edges dig into my palm as he walks past me toward the cunt that's first on my list to die. Daphne smiles at him, and I'm not sure why I ever thought she was attractive, or innocent. Now that I've been around her, I can see the frayed edges of crazy in her eyes—but neither of them are my problem right now.

"Half an hour, kid!" Lakyn shouts over his shoulder as the two of them head toward one of the big box stores, and I groan as I slam the door of the truck and lock it.

I take out my phone to check the time, and then scan the line of stores and restaurants and shit. All of them probably have cameras, and when I glance up at the light poles, I can see bubbles for cameras closer to the storefronts. It's why Lakyn parked all the fucking way out here. Shaking my head, I pop the back of the SUV and dig through my bag for a baseball cap and my sunglasses. If Lakyn's plan is to screw me over by getting my face plastered all over the goddamn news, he's going to have to do better than that.

He'll have to bury that fucking hatchet in my back himself.

Shit, the hatchet.

I move it into the back of the SUV, lock it up, and then pull the brim of the cap low and head toward the smaller shops and restaurants.

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