How Sinners Fight - Eva Ashwood Page 0,81

just the lighting.

“I was with him upstairs,” he says, a muscle in his cheek jumping as he grits his teeth. I know he hates even thinking about the bargain he made with Cliff once. I hate thinking about it too, no matter what his motivation was.

“But you weren’t found until about five minutes after I left him in that room. So it’s possible he would’ve had just enough time to get to you after we talked.”

Fuck.

I hate this.

I’ve let the mystery of my fall and the missing parts of my memory from that night fade away this semester, brushing it aside as other more pressing issues demanded my attention. But with the new memories swirling in my head, I suddenly feel like I should’ve spent more time trying to coax them out before now. Because if what I’m remembering is right, the danger I face goes far beyond being framed for murder or harassed by other students.

Someone wants me dead.

And they’ve now tried to kill me twice.

“Where’s Max?” Declan asks suddenly, his brows furrowing.

I hold up my phone with a grimace. “I don’t know. I’ve been trying to call her while we’ve been talking, but she’s not picking up.”

Last time I talked to her, she was about to try to go patch things up with Aaron, and I wonder if the radio silence is because that conversation went well or because it went badly. If it went well, maybe she’s still with him. But I figure if it ended badly, she would’ve called me to talk about it.

I’m just about to call her again when my phone buzzes in my hand, startling me. Her name flashes on the screen, and I let out a breath as I swipe to answer.

“Hey, girl.” I lift the phone to my ear. “I want to hear how things went with Aaron. But first—”

“Listen very carefully.”

A chill goes through my body at the sound of the voice on the other end—a voice that certainly doesn’t belong to my friend. It’s deep, grating, and unnatural, like someone is using some kind of voice modulation software.

“I have Max,” the voice says, and my heart drops into my stomach.

22

For half of a second, the whole world seems to freeze.

It feels like I’m floating, like my body isn’t attached to anything anymore. My mind tries to block out the strange, too-deep voice and the dead air that follows. I want to pretend none of it is real, pretend that any second my alarm will start blaring and I’ll realize it was all just a bad dream.

Another one of my fucked up nightmares.

But it’s not.

The caller hasn’t hung up, and when I hear an intake of breath on the other end of the line, instinct kicks in. My impulse to fight surges to the surface, and I grip the phone so tight I’m lucky the screen doesn’t crack. I don’t know what the fuck is going on, but I’m not gonna let anyone hurt my best friend.

“Where the fuck is she?” I demand. “Who are you?”

Whoever it is on the other end of the line, they ignore my questions.

“Meet me alone,” the voice says, giving me a location about twenty miles north of campus in the foothills. “Meet me there and you’ll get Max back.”

With that, there’s a soft click and the phone goes silent. I hit the button to call Max’s phone again, but this time, it only rings once before going to voicemail. It’s off. A noise that’s almost a sob rises in my throat, but I shove it down with a fierce swallow that hurts like hell, looking up at the guys.

“Someone has her. Someone has Max.”

Their faces look about as shocked as I feel.

“What the fuck?” Elias breathes.

My voice rises a little, growing stronger and harsher as reality sets in. “They fucking took her. They took her, and they want me to meet them at the foothills. Alone.”

Fury blurs my thoughts, my mind racing a mile a minute. I try to calm myself with a few steadying breaths, to get my head on straight so I can think properly, but I’m short circuiting on a fucked up mix of fear and anger.

Was it Cliff?

Aaron?

Is Aaron pissed about being used? Did he do something to her in retaliation? Or has he been working with Cliff this whole time?

“I’m going to beat the shit out of whoever it is,” I bite out. “I’m gonna fucking kill them.” My stomach is one giant knot as I push up off