Charles clenched his jaw, and a quiet growl reverberated in his throat. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, Cody.”
“Marcus won’t be very happy if she declines,” Cody said in a playfully warning voice. He turned to me, smiled, and hooked his arm out. “Care to join us?”
It didn’t sound like a request.
“No thank you,” I said, inching closer to Charles. “I’m only here to spend time with my friends.”
“Marcus is your friend.” His smile twitched on one side. “But if you are certain?”
The more he pushed the issue, the more certain I became.
Charles pulled me back a step. “We’ll be in shortly. Tell Marcus to order us a few drinks.”
Like hell.
I opened my mouth to speak, but Charles gave me a measured glare. He offered the man a tight-lipped smile. “He’d want you to deliver that message, wouldn’t he?”
Cody studied Charles for a long moment before disappearing inside.
“We need to go.” Charles’ voice sounded more demanding now. “You’re putting us both in danger.”
“We were just dancing,” I said. “And Ivory—”
“She’ll meet us.”
“No.” I shifted away. I’d read things like this in the paper; it never ended well.
“You’re in no place to argue. Unless you want to visit Marcus’ table,” he said, as though it were an accusation. His eyes narrowed. “Perhaps you do not understand the extent of what you’ve gotten yourself into.”
Another seductive whisper prodded at my mind: Come back inside.
Was that the same voice I’d heard earlier? It was more demanding now.
“You need to come with me,” Charles said. “Now.”
If I had to choose between an unknown voice and the man standing before me, my choice was clear.
The air reeked of pine and rotted wood. I squinted into the forest’s darkness. A spider web created a lacy barrier between two claw-marked trees, remnants of an afternoon shower beading along the silk strands and glittering in the moonlight. A glowing fog shifted over the forest floor.
Charles grasped my hand and plowed forward. My arm stretched until my feet finally got the message to move, and I stumbled after. In a miserable attempt to keep my balance, I reached with my free hand for every tree I passed. Tree bark chafed my fingers, but the cold and confusion numbed the pain.
“Move,” he said over his shoulder.
I pointed to the strappy black heels. “You try walking in these. And for what? I don’t even know why I’m following you!”
My cell phone chimed in my purse. A new text message from Ivory.
Meet you two soon. Go to the Shell station.
One of my heels sunk into mud, and thanks to the firm grip Charles kept on my hand and the way he continued onward without consideration, I nearly fell over while trying to pull free.
“Where’s your car?” I asked.
“Not in the parking lot.”
Boy, that was helpful. “I asked where it is, not where it isn’t.”
He huffed sharply. “I don’t park in the lot. Sometimes they block people in. Now would you please—”
“Block people in? Why the hell would they do that? Is Ivory going to get stuck?”
He stopped, and I bumped into him. “They’ll be searching for you, not her. She’ll be fine.” He rubbed his forehead. “Can we hold off on the questions? We need to find the main road.”
“Don’t have to be so snappy,” I said. If anyone had the right to be annoyed, it was me. His words sunk in. “Wait. They’re searching for me?”
He kicked some forest underbrush out of our path. “Don’t play stupid. I don’t even know why I’m helping you.”
“Don’t get shitty with me. You’re the one who asked me to dance and then shoved me out the club two minutes later.”
He growled under his breath. “Walk faster and keep quiet.”
Maybe I should’ve gone back. I didn’t need help from some nut-job who thought he was doing me a favor. “Why are we going through the woods?”
He lowered his voice. “Listen.”
Branches cracked somewhere behind us. Adrenaline flushed the alcohol from my system. I felt as though a veil had been lifted from my eyes and cotton extracted from my ears.
My breathing quickened, and Charles jolted forward. “Run.”
His urgency propelled me, but I couldn’t keep his pace. I wasn’t even sure why we were running, though I feared stopping to find out. One of my heels snapped, and a few steps later, the strap on the other heel popped.
As I continued forward, my shoes tumbled off, and the ground scraped the soles of my feet. Small pebbles and dried pine needles entrenched inside the small wounds, and pain shot up my legs. Branches whipped against my shoulders and stomach. I inhaled one sharp breath of icy air after another, my chest aching with cold.
The path abruptly ended. A tangle of brush and entwined trees blocked our way.
“I thought you came in this way?”
“Thought this path would be faster,” he replied between efforts to rip the branches away.
I pulled him from the natural barrier. “Follow me.”
“We can’t run toward them, Sophia.”