Lost Heart √

Twenty Seven

Skylar's POV

It was almost concerning--the way Blake so easily picked up one of the tiny rocks from the cemetery ground as we ran and threw it at the camera outside the sexton's office, shattering it all over--the way he caught us a cab and made sure that the driver didn't glance twice at the blood on my clothes and the one on Blake's own hands.

He did it well. It, in return, convinced me that he'd been in this situation before. A lot of times to escape so skillfully.

I didn't say anything, though. All I did was stare down at my hands--the hand that had held a gun just minutes ago--and even though Blake had taken it back from me, I could still feel it. My hands still trembled, I noticed, with the memory of that one gunshot.

"So are we telling him?" Blake broke the silence as he kept his gaze trained on the back of the driver's head. "About the thing we both saw that shall not be named. But only if--" He gave me a pointed glance. "--we both want brother dearest to work himself into a killing frenzy. Do we want that?"

I breathed out through my nose. "What are you talking about?"

He turned his eyes on me. A few blond strands escaped from the hat he'd pulled on at the very last minute before both of us got inside this cab. A hat that I knew he'd stolen from the old lady who'd been selling them on the street a few blocks behind. "Do we tell Caden that his biological mother is dead?"

I looked away and down at my lap.

"We don't." He shrugged. "Got it."

I shook my head. "I don't know. I'll tell him. But...I don't know."

Blake didn't say anything else. I didn't either. Not until the cab pulled to a stop outside a dark looming mansion-like structure--one that I remembered a little belatedly--and we both watched it drive away.

"Why...are we here?" I frowned at Blake who stood beside me and was busy staring down the hidden door a few feet ahead of us. A hidden door that led to the underground cellar he'd been trapped in for the past few weeks. The same door that I'd once upon a time fallen right into. I remembered this place and the woods surrounding this place all too well.

"The things we do for love." He murmured, voice laced with evident disgust, before trudging towards the tall iron gates that fenced around the huge house.

"What was the point of escaping when you knew you'd just come back here?"

He gave me a look. "I'd like to ask myself the same question."

I shook my head as he pushed past the gates, leaves crunching beneath our shoes as he went up to the front door and opened it. I didn't think much of the locks or codes until the alarms started blaring the moment Blake and I stepped past the doors and into a familiar huge lounge.

"Fuck." Blake grimaced and stuck a finger in his ear. "Whoever thought this fucking nuisance of a sound was a good idea is a fucking loser."

I winced at the noise and looked around, my eyes widening when I saw someone familiar coming out of a hallway.

"Caden." I practically felt my shoulders slackening in relief--so much of it.

"Ah," Blake muttered sourly beside me. "Here we go."

•••••

Caden was angry.

No, not just angry. I didn't think that one word was enough to describe the murderous rage on his face when his eyes darted from me to Blake.