Page 18 of Made for Cyn
Even now, I feel a tingly rush, and he’s not even here. Too bad his asshole demeanor leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I wish . . . well, it’s stupid to dream. I just need to get out of this mess with Iris and move on.
My thoughts are interrupted when we pull down a dirt road with potholes the size of Iris’ car, and I glance around. “Where are we?”
“Pit stop.”
“Okay, why?”
“I’m meeting a friend,” she says absently, stopping next to a couple of other cars.
“Here?”
We’ve pulled up under a bridge with a small creek running beneath it, but there’s nothing but dirt, rocks, and weeds to see in any direction.
“Yep, this is where we hang out sometimes. The adults never come looking this way.”
Grabbing her keys, she exits and with no choice but to follow, I walk around the car. She finds a trail through the overgrown grass quickly, which I would have overlooked entirely, and winds around the road, emerging through a set of trees that surrounds one end of the bridge.
When we reach the top, I see it’s a railroad bridge, and I hope it’s now defunct. A few people linger at the top, some sitting and looking over the side, while others sit on the rail ties themselves, unconcerned by the potential hazards.
Iris marches along, equally unconcerned, and I follow behind, tentatively stopping before Oscar, the boy I met at lunch.
“Stay here,” she says.
Staring after her, I spy a guy approaching with a smarmy grin, and my stomach sinks. What is she doing now?
He’s tall, broad, and has tattoos climbing up his neck and down his arms. A mohawk stands an inch above his scalp. I can’t see much more, but I don’t get the sense that he’s a friendly sort of acquaintance.
What the hell?
I drop down beside Oscar uninvited and return his grim smile as he throws a rock over the side. “Do you know who that is?” I whisper.
Oscar shrugs and mutters, “Goes by Razor.”
“Razor,” I chuff.
Giving me a warning look, he says, “Yes, and he’s bad news. Stay away.”
Glancing over his shoulder, I can no longer see Iris because she’s disappeared across the other side. With a sigh, I rub my forehead. “Is anyone not bad news around here?”
Shrugging once more, he doesn’t answer, and we sit in silence for a few minutes before he mutters, “Whatever she’s up to is not going to go down well with Cyn. You need to keep your head down and your mouth shut if you want to avoid the fallout.”
“Indeed. Is that how you avoid the fallout?” Cyn says with a dangerous lilt behind us.
Oscar blanches and gives me a wary look before hunching in on himself. “I’m just staying out of the way, man.”
“Hmm, well, why don’t you let me worry about Rain, and you can remain low,” Cyn says silkily.
Oscar looks positively miserable, and with a pulse of alarm, I turn to glare at Cyn, but it flows right over him as he smirks and holds out his hand.
“Come.”
For a moment, I contemplate saying no, but the warning in his eyes decides for me, and placing my hand in his, I stand. Before I have time to comment, he’s pulling me toward the cars parked down below, and I pass Jig and Bastion standing behind us with matching frowns. I’m not sure which is scarier. Whereas Jig is usually playful, his sinister look is jarring, to say the least. But Bastion? Fuck if he isn’t a beast.
They don’t follow, which ratchets up my paranoia. “Wait—”
“She’ll be fine,” Cyn says gruffly, pulling me down the hill and over to a sparkling black SUV parked in the grass beside Iris’ tired-looking car.
Opening the back door, he holds his hand out, and cautiously I slide inside, watching with wide eyes as he joins me. Once we’re settled, he studies me silently, and with my hands folded in my lap, I wait, shifting uneasily at his unreadable expression.
