Honey Lips | ✓

Chapter Twenty Three

“I thought you were dead.” Ivy raised her gaze from her hands and stared defiantly at him through the rearview mirror where he met her eyes and chuckled darkly.

She had been paying close attention to their surroundings but was unable to make out landmarks in the inky darkness. They were in the farmland valley, that much she knew. Except, hundreds of farms were dotted all around Blueberry and the neighbouring towns. It could take thirty minutes or hours to reach the destination Dixon was taking her to.

And what he'd do to her once they got there...she didn't allow her mind to wander further. Instead, Ivy accepted that her attempt at keeping track of the area around her was fruitless, she inspected her nails in the dim orange light the radio of the truck gave off. She looked away when she saw dark flecks, flecks she knew without a doubt was blood.

Dixon clicked his tongue. “Thought, thought this and thought that. I thought you'd be there when I woke up in the hospital with a broken collar bone yet here we are.”

Ivy narrowed her eyes, the Dixon she knew was never like this. Even when he had shown her his worst possible side, he still upkept a charming and untouchable attitude. He'd beat her because of things she did that angered him but never did it seem to affect him as much as this has.

There was a nerve and she would strike it.

For a moment she found herself at a loss for words and then she remembered just who she was. Just who she had been working towards becoming in the past few years. She laughed and allowed her sarcasm to take over. “Oh, you poor baby. It's almost like...you weren't the one that caused the accident and caused yourself all that pain you had to endure all by yourself.”

His grip on the wheel tightened, a vein jumped out on his neck. Good. Riling him up would tire him out and an exhausted Dixon would give her more of an advantage when she would attempt her escape.

Ivy continued before he could utter a word. She rolled her eyes. “Please, spare me the whole talk, 'it was all my fault, if I hadn't ran away you wouldn't have caused the accident blah blah blah.”

Dixon smirked at her through the rearview, the orange glow casted a deathly look about him. She fought a shiver and the car fell silent. Outside, flat fields surrounded them. If there was a farmhouse nearby she couldn't see it.

“You're wondering how I'm here. Why I'm not in prison or dead right now. Come on, ask me.” A single tree passed them, on the right side of the road. Immediately, Ivy mentally marked it.

She crossed her arms, returning her gaze to him once more. It would be suspicious if she kept staring out the window, Dixon was a smart guy, unfortunately. Her chin lifted, she said. “You're going to tell me anyway because you want to gloat.”

"You ran away during one of the two times my heart stopped, you were right to think I was dead. Even I admit that I'm supposed to be dead but not even Satan wanted me in his kingdom so here I am."

Ivy would have been lying if she said she didn't feel a sliver of fear hearing that sentence. She swallowed and kept in her composure. “Still, Kendra—”

"Ah, Kendra. Lovely Kendra." The car took a left turn, “Knowing you — the old you, I'm looking forward to getting to know this new sharp tongued one — you went to the nearest payphone, the one near the hospital right? You left an anonymous tip for the police because you wanted the 'ordeal' behind you and didn't want to be traced.”

Ivy's wall of stone slipped, her mouth fell open. “How— how did you know?”

A shuffle of leather rustled as he shrugged. “I just do. Let me just tell you sweet, that payphone wasn't working. The police never got your lovely tip. You were so caught up in trying to get away from the city you hated so much that you didn't even notice the phone was out of order.”