Hunting for Honey - THE SPECTER SERIES [book one]

Chapter TWELVE

Honey Sinclaire

Patrick and Jackson close in around you, herding you over to the fire exit as the unsettling realisation hits you that Archer isn't coming with you..
He's just going to leave you with these random strangers..

Trepidation turns to turmoil in your chest and the level of your anxiety reaches it's fever pitch and your feet drag reluctantly.. You're sure you shouldn't be following these men to a second location, but you also get the sense there isn't much of a choice and you'd rather not find out what would happen if you were to resist.. After all, they are armed and you assume dangerous..

Jackson walks ahead of you, pushing through the door first and holding it open just long enough for Patrick to place his hand on it.. He holds it open from behind you motioning with a chivalrous hand and a curt bow you you to go first.. He trails into the stairwell behind, trapping you in the middle..

When you reach the bottom of the stairs, Jackson stops dead, making a quick two-fingered hand gesture that you don't understand... Patrick nods knowingly before Jackson slips out onto the narrow side street that the escape stairwell let's out to..

You feel caught between listening to your head and your heart regarding who you can trust and if you should really be letting strangers make the decisions..
But every option, every avenue seems worst than the last, all of your ideas seem terrible..

Do you go with these guys willingly?
If they were going to kill you, wouldn't they have done it by now?
Or if they don't want to kill you, what the heck do they want?
Do you run?
As soon as you get out onto the street you could take off as fast as your legs will carry you..
The ridiculous plan begins to formulate in your mind as you glance down at Patricks long legs, then at your own..

You'll never outrun him.. There is no way..

"Ugh, I know that look, please don' run, Lass.." Patrick flashes his dimples at you again, "Ya know West'll kill me if I lose ya.."

You cock your head at him in confusion, "Who is West?"

Patrick's eyes shift from yours in awkward realisation and he coughs unconvincingly into his fist, "Uhh.. I mean Archer.."

You let out a scoff and shake your head.. This can't be happening..
Your brain is in overdrive and your body is beginning to feel heavy.. You don't think you can process any new information without having a total meltdown, so instead you rub your throbbing temples and bite out a bitter, dry response, "If he kills you, that's on you."

"Fair enough.." Patrick laughs heartily, "I'm beginnin' te see yer' appeal, Miss Sinclaire.."

Just then, Ford pops his head back through the door to grunt, "We're good to go.."

Sandwiched between the two of them you walk silently to the black SUV parked at the end of the street..

Patrick opens the back door with a playful gesture, and you smile to him thinly as you slip into the cool leather seat, leaning your head back and closing your eyes for a soothing moment. You hear the click of both front doors open and close as the men take their seats, Jackson behind the wheel..

Your thoughts spinnin circles as you come down from your adrenaline high and your heart aches with bitter betrayal.

Looking down at the notebook in your hands you try to imagine what Alex would say about your current predicament.. Would he, like you, wonder just how the heck you have managed to wind up in this mess?.. Probably, but he would at least know what to say.. He'd probably know what to do too.. He always did..

You open the book at random to a page toward the end.. Finding one of the last things Alex had said to you in the week before his death; 'Follow the path written in your stars, nobody else's.'

These words offer such little comfort to you now, because your path has lead you right into a tangled web of lies..
With a sorrowful sigh, you fight back tears, squeezing your eyes closed, the thoughts of Alex.. and Archer.. Or West.. Whatever his god damn name is!

Exhaustion seeps from your muscles to settle into your bones as the swaying bounce of the moving car lulls you into a black out sleep...