Page 48 of Broken Minds

He motioned with the barrel of the gun toward the younger man. “Get over here, and your boss gets to keep the top of his head.”

The man scurried over to join them, sending nervous glances my way.

“Turn out your pockets,” Hayden instructed. “Leave any cell phones here.”

They both dug into their pockets, and two cell phones were thrown onto the desk.

“What are you going to do with us?” asked the older man, his voice quavering.

“Is that a supply closet?” Hayden nodded toward an adjoining door.

“Yeah.”

“You got the key?”

He scrabbled around on the desk. “Uh, yeah. It’s here somewhere.” He swiped it off a hook. “Here.”

He threw the key to Hayden, who snatched it out of the air with his left hand. “Now get in there,” Hayden instructed both men.

“I’m really sorry,” the younger man said to me, locking my gaze with his. He was apologizing for not being able to help me.

“No, I’m sorry,” I replied, feeling horrible for getting him in this situation in the first place. I knew how to handle Hayden. I should never have gotten anyone else involved.

“Shut up and get inside,” Hayden interrupted.

Both men hurried into the store cupboard, most likely happy to have a wooden door between them and the gun. Hayden slammed it shut behind them and used the key to lock it. I stood, trembling, as he turned to me, his expression thunderous.

“What the fuck are you playing at?”

“I’m sorry.” My voice was a squeak.

“That’s not fucking good enough. You said you’d help me. I promised you I’d let you go once it was done, and that still isn’t good enough for you. Now you’ve forced me to do this.”

He waved the gun, and I flinched.

He saw my reaction and shook his head. “Jesus fucking Christ. Get outside and get in the car. Don’t do anything that’s going to make me want to shoot you.”

How could I explain it to him? How could I tell him that part of me wanting to get away wasn’t just to save me?

I’d wanted to save him, too.

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