Page 30 of Dark Seduction

“I wouldn’t miss it, Prez.”

“See that you don’t,” he gruffly answers before he slips from his place on the wall and heads back towards the front end of the office. A sigh of relief releases from my lungs. I’d never been under scrutiny by Judge before, and after that, I don’t think I want to be again. He’s a terrifying old bastard. My phone vibrates in my pocket.

Peering down, I see a text from Mack.

You coming?

I fire a text back.

Got stopped by Judge. Jumping in the shower.

Jogging to the shower room, I strip, jumping under the water only long enough to get the layers of sweat and grease off of me. I dry off, feeling the cool air against my damp skin. I couldn’t help but feel refreshed. I quickly dry off and re-dress using a spare set of clothes that I keep in my locker. Grabbing my cut, keys, and phone, I’m out the door a few minutes later. Water still drips from my damp hair, the coolness a welcome sensation as the humid air clings to me like a wet blanket. A horn honks from across the street where Burnt and Mack sit waiting in her car. I jog across the sticky black top, and slide in the back seat.

“Where to?” I ask.

“You’ll see,” Burnt smiles.

“You know, when you smile like that, it creeps me out, asshole.”

“This smile?” The bastard does it again. The corners of his mouth curve into a Cheshire Cat like smile. “Don’t worry, V. I promise you’ll like where we’re going.”

I peer up to the rearview mirror where Mack is grinning. I lean back into the seat, my mind racing with many possibilities. Mack has always been one to keep secrets, but this time it feels different. The way she’s acting, the way she’s grinning...it’s almost as if she’s hiding something enormous from me.

“I take it, you know.”

She simply shrugs. Her hand falls to the gearshift. “All she knows is the address. I want to show you both something.” Mack pulls away from the garage, and heads north to the highway. We drive, listening to music that Burnt is DJ-ing from the passenger seat. An odd mix of hip hop, 2000s pop, and heavy metal. The longer we drive, the farther we get from civilization. The city fades away until nothing, but trees and open plains stretch as far as the eye can see.

Mack exits the highway on an empty off ramp. Not even a gas station or Waffle House is here, and that says something. “Dude, where the hell are we?”

Burnt waves me off. He’s too engrossed in picking his next song. The GPS on Mack’s phone issues an order to turn on an old dirt road. Dust kicking up all around us like a dust devil. The road, if that’s what you can even call it, is bumpy. I nearly hit my head twice on the roof of Mack’s car before an entrance with an old wooden sign that lays broken comes into view ahead.

“Not to sound like a broken record, but where the hell are we? I feel you’re driving me to my death.”

Burnt grins that fucking smile again. His eyes were not even lifting to meet my gaze. “Maybe I am.”

BURNT

“Where are we?”V asks from the back seat as Mack pulls her car up to an open spot.

“Camp Harmony,” I answer back. I peer out the front window. It had certainly seen better days, but it still felt like home. “Come on,” I beckon them both before sliding through the passenger side door. The sound of Mack and V closing their door echoes off the tall trees surrounding us.

“It’s beautiful,” Mack remarks.

“It looks like the place he’d take us to hide my body,” V mutters.

“You know, I thought the same thing about you when you dragged me along to Vanilla Villa.”

Mack spins on her heels, a quizzical look on her face. “Wait, what?”

“Oh yeah,” V smiles. “This one thought I was leading him to his death. Bitched about it the entire time until we got inside. That’s when he changed his tune.”

“You know what? Fine. I thought you were going to kill me, but seriously, Mack. You saw the place. He knew what it was. I didn’t.”

“Seems to me it’s a good thing you followed him,” she smiles. A blue jay swoops down. Its shrill call startling all three of us. “How did you find out about this place, Burnt?”

I sigh. “I attended a foster kid camp here.”

V’s head snaps to me. “Foster care?”

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