Page 110 of Heathens

“What do you– Your car’s parked out front, and you’re always here!”

There’s panic in his eyes, and he keeps glancing back behind him. “Look, it’s bad, man. I’ve been trying to find you for hours.”

“What are you talking about?” Dom asks.

“It’s Theo, Dom. He’s… he’s dead.”

For a moment, Dominic looks completely broken, his entire body shattered by the shock, but in a flash he’s returned to a more stony disposition, grabbing Luke by the jacket.

“When? Where?”

“Rene’s house in the mountains. I saw some guys tossing the body into a car just outside of your building after they got him. Tailed them until they hit the highway. There’s nothing else out that way, it’s gotta be where they went.”

Dominic draws himself up to full height, his jaw clenched tight, as he wordlessly makes his way toward the front. My heart is in my throat as I trail behind him. This isn’t even about the formula anymore.

I have to wonder if it was really ever more than an excuse.

DOMINIC

Santa Cruz Mountains

There’salumpinmy throat, choking me as I try not to scream, and focus instead on white-knuckling the steering wheel. Luke’s car trails behind us as we drive further into the mountains. He was a little reluctant at first, terrified to end up just like Theo, but he knows better than most how hard it is to turn me down when I’m set on something.

My grief has teeth, and I can feel the sharp and jagged edges as it tears away at me. It’s gnawing at the back of my neck, like a hungry beast that just won’t go away. I reach back and claw at the skin, hoping there’s simply something physically wrong with me, but the sensation only grows more intense.

“You didn’t have to come,” Sofie breaks the silence from the other seat, looking over her shoulder at Ruby.

“Babe, I’m the one with a bag full of weapons and ammo. You’re going to need all the help you can get.”

Sofie shifts in her seat, glancing sidelong at me for only a moment before turning to stare out the window. She didn’t know Theo. I can’t expect her to understand what I’m feeling. I keep hoping she’ll try to comfort me, to show me the tiniest bit of tenderness, but it’s too much to ask. I burned that bridge with a single match, along with all the kerosene in the city.

All I can really hope for now is revenge.

Every passing minute is agonizing, double-long as our cars crawl toward the villa. Ruby sighs in the back. The sound of her loading a gun bullet by bullet is chipping away at my patience. Sofie’s jaw twitches, her eyes intense and focused on the road ahead, each quiet breath another needle in my sense of calm.

I’m gripping the steering wheel so hard I can feel it bend.

I clear my throat.

“Ruby, did you happen to see Theo the other night?”

The memory of his final job hit me suddenly. I wonder if she was the last person who saw him before he died. Maybe she saw who took him.

“Duncan, I have no fucking clue who any of your goons are. How should I know if any of them were at the club?”

“You’d have known. He was supposed to tell you about Sofie.”

He never even made it. They probably found him on his way to the club, chased him down. Luke said he saw them stuff him into a trunk outside the tower. He was probably trying to get in while I was busy with Sofie. Fuck, I could have saved him.

My foot presses on the gas, as if by instinct, as Rene’s mansion rises into view. Not a single window is illuminated, the dark of the night consuming everything beyond our headlights.

Maybe they weren’t expecting a full-on attack. Maybe we got the jump on Rene after all.

All at once I hear engines revving, and the windshield explodes, glass raining down on us as gunshots ring out ahead. The car fishtails and we nearly careen into a tree.

Maybe not.

Ruby and Sofie are both fine, but my relief is short-lived as something smashes into the side of the car, pushing us back onto the road. I look back just in time to spot Luke slip by us; the gunshots slowing to nothing as he makes his way to the house. It only takes me a moment to realize what’s going on. Our car smokes, sitting in Rene Deschamps’ long driveway, illuminated by the headlights of three vehicles as Luke joins them as their fourth. A vaguely familiar voice rings out across the open air.

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