“Probably ’cause he knows we were having more fun than if you had stayed home with him to watch C-SPAN or something. What do lawyers do for fun anyway? Chess? Backgammon? Dog shows?”
I rolled my eyes, and we walked towards the strip of concrete in front of the motel doors. Each room had a wooden chair near its door, and a few ashtrays were scattered around to compel smokers not to break the no-smoking rule. Judging by the burn marks in our carpet, I was guessing it didn’t work all that often.
“He’s trying to get your brother out of jail. Could you at least pretend to play nice? You guys don’t need to be best friends, but things would go a lot more smoothly if you weren’t a dick to him.”
“I can’t help it.” He popped a fry in his mouth and chewed it slowly before speaking again. “I don’t trust a man who has a girl like you and doesn’t get jealous. It means he doesn’t appreciate what he stands to lose.”
Wilder didn’t bother to wait for me to say anything, which was good because I couldn’t say anything. He grabbed his own room key out of my hand, gave a nod and walked to his door. Before he popped inside he called back, “Come see me. We’ll work out what to do next.”
God, I hoped he was talking about clearing his brother’s name.
Chapter Twenty-One
Wet hair brushed my cheek, and I batted it away, curling my arm over my face so I could ignore the interruption to my sleep.
Warm droplets splattered on my arm, followed by the cold brush of fingers over my shoulder and down to my elbow. Every inch the fingers traversed, goose bumps rose to follow.
Wake up. Wake up. Wakeupwakeupwakeup. The nagging voice of reason in my head was screaming at me. Something was wrong, very wrong, and yet my sleep-addled brain wanted nothing to do with logic.
“Dry off in the bathroom, Cash.” I squished my face into the pillow. Why was he coming in here and dripping all over me post-shower, anyway? Rude.
Nails, too sharp to be Cash’s, dug into the meat of my arm. I went from zero to wide awake in a split second, sitting bolt upright in bed. The room was dark, darker than it should be even in the thick of night. I blinked, hoping I could chase the blackness back, but I would have been better off having my eyes closed still.
“Cash?”
The hands were gone from my skin, but the dampness of whatever had been dripping on me remained. I touched my fingers to my cheek, and they came away wet. When I sniffed them, I recoiled.
Blood.
“Cash.”
An eerie croaking sound, like a frog but deeper and slower, came from mere inches in front of me. I recoiled into my pillow, scuttling back so I was up against the headboard.
The space in bed beside me was empty. I was alone here with whatever this was, no trace of Cash to give me comfort.
“Wilder.” I hoped he might hear from the next room. If Cash wasn’t here, I wanted someone to help me. I didn’t care who it was.
“No, baby, no no no.” The voice was rough, like a zipper being pulled apart forcefully, metal teeth gnashing. It was harsh and raspy and sent chills through me that made me question my mortality. In those few words I felt hope drain out of my body, as if a phrase alone could compel me to give up on everything.
Anyone standing on a ledge would be talked in jumping without a second thought. That was how much it evoked a dreary despair, making me cold down to my bones.
“Go away,” I pleaded.
“Don’t you missssssss me?” Fingers brushed my face again, and I sucked in another breath, resisting the urge to scream. Tears of panic welled in my eyes, and it was taking all of my willpower not to lose my mind right then.
The voice was female and sounded like my own, or Secret’s, if I was listening to us through a blender. When it dawned on me whose voice it was, I let out a mewl of fear.
“Mom?”
“Ahh, you remember, you remember. You all forget so easily. Your sister.” A snarling noise of disgust followed the mention of Secret. “Your brother. Your father.”
My eyes widened. My father? This was hardly the ideal time to start begging for details, since I wasn’t entirely sure she was real. I might be losing my damned mind, and