Though I could barely keep my eyes open, I was leaning my head against Hawkins’ shoulder and a gorgeous butter yellow lit up the sky. Hawkins smiled down at me and wrapped his arm around me. The brilliant yellow lit up his face. His blue eyes twinkled as he studied the sky. It left me feeling warm and safe so I closed my eyes again. When I opened them again, the honey skyline disappeared into a dark blackness. When I came around again the airplane was quiet. My eyes whirled from side to side as they tried to focus. I felt Hawkins’ chest rise and fall underneath the side of my face. Lifting my head off his shoulder, I was thanking god that I didn’t drool on him.
“Where are we?” My voice croaked.
“On the ground, we landed a little over fifteen minutes ago.”
“You shouldn’t have let me sleep,” I said sheepishly. My last few memories suddenly came flooding back to the forefront of my mind. “Did I, umm, did I, umm…before I went to sleep?”
“Say my name?” He grinned. “Yes, a few times.”
“Oh, my god.” Groaning, I felt my face burn. “They say that drugs make you do crazy things.”
“Sure, whatever.” His eyes lit up with the power he momentarily felt he had over me. “J.T., J.T.,” he called out while mimicking me.
“You suck!” I smiled while flushing a crimson red.
“That’s not what you said in your sleep.” He continued to torment me as my eyes bulged out. Laughing, he said, “I was just kidding, though you were actually nice for once. Maybe someone should prescribe these pills for you to take regularly.”
“Ha, ha.” Looking around, I rolled my eyes. “Where is Lizzie?”
His hand came up behind me to massage the back of my neck. His thumb rolled in small circles with his fingers pressed up against the other side. It instantly made me relax. My shoulders eased under his touch. He pulled me closer into him until his hot breath was against the side of my hairline. It reminded me of the earlier, pleasing touch when my shoulder was up against his warm body.
“Why don’t we let someone else worry about Lizzie,” he murmured in my ear.
Trying not to think about the meaning of all of this, I eased back into his side. He wrapped an arm around me and I felt like we had been doing this for, well, hours. When it occurred to me that not only did I not know where Lizzie was right now, but I had completely forgotten about Riley.
“Oh, my god” I panicked, wondering how long we had been gone? “Speaking of Lizzie,” I pulled away, “I hope Riley’s okay, I forgot all about him!”
“Riley?” He stiffened beside me.
“I left him back in the field.”
“Okay.”
“What?”
“How do you keep all your guys straight?” He jabbed.
I investigated his face to see if he was serious. “What are you talking about?” I demanded.
“Kosic, Riley,” he listed. “Oh yeah, and what was it, some Kyle guy, too,” he continued as I stared at him in disbelief. “Kosic mentioned him the first night.” He pinched his face up in a judging way. “And then you brought him up again tonight.”
“Wow, you must really think that I get around,” I said, unfastening my seat belt. His face softened with the realization of what he was accusing me of being. “Kyle’s my brother, you dumbass!”
Standing up, I walked away as he cursed. “I’m sorry, Joie. Don’t go.”
“I’ve got to find Riley.”
“Riley’s a big boy, I’m sure he can handle himself.”
“Really? I think you just proved how much
you
know.”
Quickly, I exited the plane and down the steps. I knew that Hawkins was up and out of his seat behind me. Although I didn’t exactly know in what direction to go, I knew that I had to get out of there. Scanning the airport grounds, I felt Hawkins grip the back of my arm.
“Do you even know where you’re going?” he muttered while guiding me in another direction.
“Sorry, last time I parked my jet I forgot to look around,” I hissed.
“Definitely need to get you on some kind of drug plan.” His jaw tensed as he tried to make light of the situation. “Lizzie is waiting for you.”
Up ahead, I could see the black Escalade with its headlights just past the opened security gate.
“Are you going back to the festival?” Hawkins glared down at me.
“Riley,” I repeated.
“Yeah, you mentioned that,” he quipped then exhaled. “I’ll follow behind you guys until you get there.”
He released me and turned to swiftly walk away with a defeated look on his face. I almost ran back to him to explain the situation with Riley, but my pride wouldn’t let me. Walking towards the black Escalade, it was obvious that it needed a bath. It had mud caked around the wheel wells from being in the Bonnaroo fields. Looking down at all that mud made me glad that Riley told us we should just park the van and hike it in.
“Hey.” I nodded to Lizzie and Cyrus once I entered the SUV. My body slouched down and I rested my head on the window. “You can take us back to the venue. All I want to do is get Riley and get the hell out of here.” I exhaled into the window.
Cyrus leaned over the wheel while starting up the vehicle as Lizzie sniffed. OMG! She better not be pouting because I was alone with Hawkins on the airplane. She knew that I hated to fly. For once in her life, she didn’t get her way and she was making a scene. Well, I was not going to cater to it and just rolled my eyes when I heard her sniffle again.
Cyrus reversed the SUV and turned it around. Glancing over my shoulder, I noticed that we looked like a presidential motorcade. If Hawkins hadn’t pissed me off, I could have just gotten a ride with him and then been spared Lizzie’s tantrum.
As we merged onto the highway, Lizzie continued to whimper. After a few minutes, guilt started tearing at my conscious and as weakness set in, I looked up at her. She was staring at Cyrus like he was the boogie man. Looking over at Cyrus, I could see through the rearview mirror that his narrowed clutched eyes were racing back in forth between Lizzie and the side mirror. He was sweating, too. Not just a little perspiration, but beads of sweat were running down his face as if he had physically exerted himself. A sickening feeling was building in my stomach again, but I didn’t want to overreact so I lied. “Hawkins plans on meeting up with us back at the venue.”
Cyrus’s eyes jumped to the rearview mirror in shock and then scrutiny. “I thought you were getting Riley and getting the hell out of here.” His voice was sick and menacing.
“I said that because Lizzie was crying over Hawkins, but obviously, she’s really upset so I thought I’d let her know.” I was proud of myself for how quickly that lie came out and it probably would have worked if I hadn’t said it like I knew it was a lie.
“Why don’t you keep an eye on their SUV to make sure that they stay with us,” he suggested.
Glancing over my shoulder, I watched the SUVs follow us. There was a bump in the road and a roll of duct tape bounced off the back door. Who the hell keeps a roll of duct tape in the back of their car?
Whack!
Heat stung my face, causing me to fall back against the seat. Cyrus had backhanded me with the side of a gun. Due to the awkward positioning of Cyrus behind the driver’s wheel, I missed the full brunt of the hit. Laying there, I pretended to be knocked out. Lizzie whimpered from up front again.
“Shut the hell up!” he roared at her. “This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. This wasn’t how,” he muttered to himself. Blood was trickling down my face. Slowly, I reached my hand out for the door as we drove past the parked cars in the field. As soon as he tapped on the brakes I was going to make a run for it. Then I could get Hawkins to help me with Lizzie. The Escalade shook when we hit another bump, and I felt something smack into my foot from under the seat. Glancing down, I realized it was a flashlight. Needing any weapon I could find, I lifted my foot to step on it and keep it in place. Cyrus turned as he braced the back of Lizzie’s seat with a .42 caliber in his hand. “Pull off,” he pleaded over his shoulder to Hawkins and the rest of the SUVs following him. “Pull off.”
“That’s it,” he sang.
Oh no, don’t leave us! I thought as we drove closer to the venue’s entrance. There was no one to help us if I jumped out now.
“Good,” he purred.
Feeling a flash of horror inside me, I almost panicked. Cyrus slowed the Escalade down to a crawling pace. As he turned back around it was then that I saw the neck tattoo peek over the white collar of his shirt and black leather jacket. Stifling a scream, I was paralyzed with fear. There along Cyrus’s neck was a sharp, darkened scythe; the Grimm Reaper’s weapon of choice.
“No one is going to save you two now,” he said and I thought it was
now
or never. He started to move his arm back to the front as I quickly grabbed onto his hand and wrestled for the gun. He slammed on the brakes while popping up in his seat to fight me. With my one hand wrestling for the gun, I picked up the flashlight with my other and whacked it over his head. He dropped the gun, recoiling from the blow. Jumping up, I smacked him hard again causing him to slouch over and pass out. His foot slid off the brake, but thanks to the level surface the SUV was now moving slowly. Frantically, I searched for the gun along the floor but it had slid under Lizzie’s seat.
“Joie, get me out!” Lizzie screamed.
Cyrus moaned as he started to come around so I stopped looking for the gun and jumped out of the SUV. Thankfully the Escalade had come to a stop allowing me to get out and race up to the passenger’s side door. Cyrus was fully conscious now so I grabbed onto Lizzie’s waist. Cyrus fought me for her, but Lizzie was leaning with all her weight and pushed her long legs against him. Cyrus was afraid of losing Lizzie and hit the gas causing her to be jerked from my grasp.
BAM!
The SUV slammed backwards and I ducked out of the way of the door because it had collided hard into the back of a black Rav4. Cyrus and Lizzie jerked forward as the airbags exploded. It immobilized him long enough for me to pull Lizzie free and onto the soft ground.
Though her hands were bound behind her back with duct tape, there wasn’t any time to free her. I quickly helped her to her feet so we could run down a line of cars away from the Escalade. There was loud shouting coming from a group of fans in front of the SUV and more people started to gather around the car wreck. Lizzie and I ducked behind a truck while I worked on freeing her wrists. Although I loosened the tape, Cyrus had wrapped it so tightly that I couldn’t get it off with just my hands. Before I could finish, the Escalade reversed and swerved down our lane. Lizzie panicked and took off with her hands still tucked behind her back. There was no other choice but to leave the hiding spot and chase after her.
We were running through parked lanes of cars so Cyrus had to stop and get out to chase us on foot. I finally caught up with Lizzie, when I heard the zing of a bullet ricochet off a nearby silver Acclaim. We hunched down and ran through the next lane of parked cars. Before Lizzie crossed another lane, I quickly pulled her behind a small line of Winnebagos. Lizzie’s hands now easily slipped out of the slimy duct tape due to all the sweat from running. Lizzie tried the side door to one of the campers while I tried the other, but they were both locked. I quickly halted before coming around the rear of a camper. My arm jetted out instinctively to stop Lizzie when I saw Cyrus looking back and forth in the middle of the next lane. We quietly retreated back between the bulky Winnebagos. Inching around the front of the camper, I spotted a pickup truck two spaces down.
“The pickup truck,” I whispered and led her over to the back of it. I was thankful that the campers blocked our view from Cyrus. The truck was one of those beasts that were raised high off the ground and could pull a bunch of crap like they do in the commercials. I jumped up in the back, but it was so high off the ground that I was having a hard time pulling Lizzie up, who although taller than me, didn’t seem to have any upper body strength to pull herself up. It was the first time in the girl’s life that Lizzie felt like a summa wrestler as I tried to pull her up again and into the bed of the truck.
“Girls,” Cyrus called out in a low, sickly voice. “You can’t hide for long.” Judging by his voice, I knew that he was on the other side of the camper. Lizzie stumbled back again to the ground.
“I know you can’t be far,” he sang.
Panic crossed her face. Shaking the stiffness out of my arms, I slowly nodded for her to try again. Lizzie stepped up one more time and I finally pulled her over the back of the truck. Grimacing when the truck bounced a fraction, we quietly laid down in the truck’s bed. We could hear him grunting and I realized that he was searching for our feet under the vehicles.
“Come out, come out, where ever you are,” he called out eerily. My stomach dropped at the nearness of his voice. He was wheezing as he came closer to the truck. Lizzie stiffened beside me. Realizing that he would have to jump up to see us, I said a short prayer as the distant cry of police sirens came closer.
“Where are you? You little brats,” he growled when suddenly Cyrus’s fingers wrapped around the edge of the truck. He was trying to get a foot on the tire, but he kept sliding off. Lizzie and I grabbed each other’s hands. She swallowed hard as I prepared to punch Cyrus right in the face. My heart was racing inside of my chest. I knew that it wouldn’t be enough to stop him.
“There’s the guy who was driving the SUV and took off!” a guy shouted three rows down by the parked Escalade. Cyrus quickly tightened his grip on his gun and shot a bullet at the overzealous crowd. Then he took off running.
“Oh, shit!” a guy shouted. “He’s got a gun! Someone get the cops!” he added while retreating.
We listened, but didn’t hear anything for the next several minutes. The sound of police sirens could be heard in the distance. Just then a group of concert goers rushed past the truck.
“WHAOO,” a guy howled.