“Where are we going?” I ask.
“To get some breakfast. I’m starving.”
******
A letter on the roadside cafe is burned out. Instead of reading ‘Dine Here Now’ it’s ‘Di e Here Now’.
Perfect.
Kieron hops from the truck and opens my door. When he holds out his hand to mine, it’s covered in deep scratches. “What happened?” I ask.
He glances down as if he hadn’t noticed the wounds before. “Oh, nothing,” he says and shrugs. “Neighbor has a frisky cat.”
One that’s part lion?
The waitress sits us at a cracked Formica table with sticky seats. I ignore the menu in front of me, but Kieron studies it briefly before ordering a monster pancake platter. How can he possibly be hungry now?
I order tea and sip it slowly, aware that he’s staring at me. I glance at him, trying to read his face. He looks tired. Confused. Stunned.
“I still can’t believe they’re dead,” I murmur. “Who could have done that? Why?”
He shakes his head and fiddles with his silverware. “I dunno. Pretty scary stuff.”
“I wonder who the girl is…Corrine said they didn’t know.”
Kieron nods. “Kind of hard when there’s no head—’’
I gasp and feel sick. “What? She didn’t say anything about that—” Trembling, I put down my mug, splashing tea on the table.
Kieron looks pained. “Sorry…I thought you heard. Everyone was talking about it…I didn’t mean to upset you.”
I shake my head and wipe away the tear streaming down my cheek. Even though I didn’t really talk to anyone at Dove Creek High other than Corrine, Emme, Skye, and now, Kieron, the thought of any of my classmates—even jerks like Cade Johnston and Lee Marvis—suffering so horribly, chills me to the bone.
It’s just like what happened with…
The waitress returns with Kieron’s food, and he hungrily dives in. I shake my head to clear the haunting memories, wondering again how he can possibly eat at a time like this.
He glances up to see me staring. “Sorry,” he says between bites, “I didn’t have a chance to eat breakfast, and I’m famished. Worked up quite an appetite last night…” He suddenly stops and looks at me, almost guiltily…as if he’s said something he shouldn’t have.
My eyes narrow with suspicion. Something isn’t right here. Under the restaurant’s unforgiving fluorescent lights, I see how tired he looks, like he hadn’t gotten a wink of sleep last night. Still devastatingly gorgeous, there are dark circles beneath his eyes that weren’t there before. Light stubble on his cheeks suggests he didn’t bother to shave. Deep welts on his hands that definitely did not come from some ornery house-cat. And in the midst of finding out three of our classmates have been brutally murdered on school campus, he decides he needs to devour a hearty breakfast.
And the way he keeps looking at me…almost knowing, yet distrustful. My stomach flutters uncomfortably.
“I—I think I need to go home,” I say. “Tatiana will have heard what happened by now, and I’m sure she’s worried.”
He stares at me for a while, then nods. “Sure, just let me finish up here real quick and I’ll drive you home.”
I shift in my seat, absently fiddling with my napkin while he eats in silence. Something isn’t right with him, but I can’t quite put my finger on it. And until I can, I think it’s best to keep my guard up.
After he pays the waitress, we head back to the truck. I can feel his tension almost as much as my own. He angles out of the parking lot, but instead of taking the road back to school and my cabin, he turns in the opposite direction, heading away.
“What? Where are you going?” I gasp, reflexively reaching for the door handle. My stomach lurches, and I feel my heart racing. But what am I going to do, jump out of a moving truck?
Kieron stares straight ahead, his eyes focused on the road. “Liora, I think you and I both know we need to talk.” His voice is even, firm.
“About what? Kieron, I told you I want to go home…where are you taking me?” No, no. This is impossible. I’m not being kidnapped, am I? Oh, this is too much. I knew he was too good to be true. Lucky, please wake up and kick his ass. You have my blessing.
Kieron glances over at me, lets out a deep sigh, and immediately pulls over to the side of the road. The second the truck stops, I push open the door and make a break for it.
“Liora, wait!”
An eighteen-wheeler flies by and I jump back, right into Kieron’s arms. “Let me go,” I shout, struggling against his firm grip.