Page 20 of Anathema Codex

"What the hell are you doing?"

Sighing heavily, he looks over at her and pats the passenger seat. "I already told you that was your last chance, Willa, but I'm graciously giving you one more. Get in the fucking car or I'm leaving you here."

The pretty blonde looks like she might be about to cry, but she clenches her jaw and opens the door to climb in. Her ass is barely in the seat when Aftyn floors it, slamming the door shut from the force. She's fuming as she yanks on her seatbelt a few times before it finally gives and lets her buckle.

"Oh, Wills. I'm so glad you decided to join us. It just wouldn't have been the same without you," Aftyn says, and his voice is like a knife through silk.

"Tell me where Dex is. Right now." She's feisty, and I'm enjoying the little show from the backseat when those blue eyes suddenly look at me in the rear-view and I school my expression into wide-eyed interest.

"You're being rude, Wills. We have a guest. Her name is—" Aftyn glances at me in the mirror again.

"Daphne," I fill in, and he laughs.

"Daphne.She's cute, don't you think?" He seems to be enjoying himself greatly as the SUV picks up speed, weaving in and out of the slower moving cars on the highway without a single click of a blinker.

"I swear, Aftyn. If you hurt Dexter, I—"

"You'llwhat?" he asks, taking his eyes off the road to stare right at the blonde, and the smirk on his full lips seems like it was meant for his face.

"Pay attention to the fucking road!" she shouts, but he doesn't look away from her.

"I want to hear what you'll do to me. Want to tie me up and punish me? Treat me like a naughty boy?" Aftyn clicks his teeth together in a mock bite. "I might like that."

The blonde bites down on her lower lip, looking between him and the road ahead, and when she finally speaks again her voice is a lot calmer. "I just want to know what you did to Dexter."

"I don't want to talk about him anymore. It's boring," Aftyn replies, waving a hand at her as he faces the road and swerves around a car ahead, speeding up again as he glances at me in the rear-view. "Daphne, why is a pretty little thing like you out hitchhiking?"

"Just trying to get to some family out West," I answer, keeping my voice quiet as I pick one of the lies out of my hat of bullshit. "I appreciate you offering me a ride."

"Yeah, well, don't expect it to last long," the blonde bitch says, and Aftyn laughs again.

"Damn, Wills, look at you! Showing your claws already. What did she do to piss you off?"

"Apparently she took Dex's space in the backseat just because you liked the way she looked." Willa glares at me in the side-view mirror, a haughty sneer twisting her lips. "And she doesn't seem like much to look at."

"I don't know, she's got a certain innocence about her that I don't think you've had since you were a toddler." Aftyn grins, and Willa huffs, sinking down in the passenger seat as she starts tapping away on her cellphone. "What do you say, Daphne? Up for a road trip?"

"Sounds fun," I smile back at him in the mirror, and he holds my gaze for longer this time. I'm not sure what it is about him, but I'm intrigued.

"Damn straight it sounds fun!" he shouts, rolling down the window to shout into the whipping wind, and I laugh at his antics, mostly just to piss off the bitch in the passenger seat that's doing nothing but scowling at both of us.

I'm not sure who Aftyn is, but he isn't some asshole with white knight syndrome looking to rescue the damsel. If anything, he looks a lot more like the wolf stalking little red in the forest. Unfortunately for him, I've never minded cutting my way out of a wolf when they get too close.

If he tries something, he'll learn that I'm sugar and spice and not very nice, and I'll happily leave him and his girlfriend in a ditch and drive their shiny SUV until it runs out of gas.

Vroom vroom. Road trip time.

FOURTEEN

Rest Area Leftovers

WILLA

I don’t trust the girl in the backseat. Not just because she’s the reason that Dexter is gone now, but because she caught Aftyn’s attention somehow.

Normally that’s easy enough to do. All it takes is his goddamn hormones going into overdrive when he sees something that’s prettier than he is, though I don’t think that was the case here.

Aftyn has always been calculated and crafty when he picks who he hangs around with, and this new girl is no exception.

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