Something Wilder(72)

Biceps used his gun to gesture to his friend. “Jay,” he said. “Get their bags.”

“Looks like you’re bleeding, Jay,” she said, taking no small amount of pride that at least she and Leo hadn’t made it easy for them to follow. “Take a little spill?”

He glared and yanked her pack off her back so hard she stumbled forward, catching herself right before she hit the ground. Leo angrily charged, shoving Jay back, and in the commotion, she reached around for— Cool metal pressed to her forehead.

“I wouldn’t do that,” Biceps said.

Jay jerked her back to her feet while Biceps pulled Terry’s gun from her waistband. Fuck.

Leo’s eyes went wide. “You had that in your pants this whole time?”

“Not the whole time,” she said.

Jay made quick work of searching her pockets while Biceps went through their bags, carelessly tossing whatever didn’t interest him to the ground.

“Let me guess,” Lily said through gritted teeth as Jay took a liberal handful of her ass while digging into her back pockets. “Friends of Terry’s? He left us days ago, you know.”

“Yeah.” Jay moved on to Leo, patting him down.

“Do you know where he went?” she asked, playing dumb. “We woke up, and he was gone.”

Ignoring this, Jay lifted his chin to his friend. “Kevin. Find it yet?”

Biceps—Kevin—pulled Duke’s journal from her bag and held it up victoriously. “Yup.” He flipped through the pages before tucking it into his back pocket and nodding to the stump. “Three B-e-s-e, so helpful. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Leo cleared his throat. “But I hate to break it to you: the code is a red herring.”

Lily tried to keep her expression neutral.

Jay frowned, stepping closer. “Excuse me?”

“The code on this stump,” Leo said. “You think it corresponds to a map in there, revealing the treasure’s location, but I’m betting it won’t. Terry—” He cut off abruptly, wincing a little. “Terry is really smart, and he had plenty of chances to take the journal. He probably studied the whole thing and realized Duke didn’t really leave anything important.”

“Didn’t leave anything important?” Jay repeated, swiping at a trail of bloodstained sweat that ran from his temple down into his eye. “How do you figure?”

“Why else would Terry leave it with us?” Leo asked, and Lily finally caught on. If these assholes took the journal, she and Leo would be completely screwed. “Seeing as you guys are here without him… he must know something we don’t.”

“Like what?” Kevin asked, frowning. “What would Terry know?”

Lily shrugged, joining in. “If I knew that, I wouldn’t be standing here.”

Kevin blinked for several silent seconds. “Huh.” And then his expression cleared. “Why are you here, then? If you’re so sure it’s useless?”

“Why… are we here?” She floundered. “Well. We’re—we’re here—”

“We’re working our way through Duke’s clues for closure,” Leo cut in. “This is Lily Wilder, you know. The Lily Wilder? We’re finding a way for her to finally be able to say goodbye to her beloved father.”

“That’s right. Closure. It’s hard for me to talk about.”

Jay’s eyes narrowed as he studied her. “Closure. I’m not buying it.” He sucked his teeth and shook his head. “You’re just trying to get us to leave the book. Fuck you.”

Inwardly, she growled in frustration.

The two men leaned their heads together, discussing, but the attempt at secrecy was completely undone when Jay quietly said, “Either Terry’s in there already, or we beat him here,” and tilted his chin toward the slots, as in, Let’s go.

Kevin looked over his shoulder and nodded at Leo and Lily. “What about them?”

“You could take us with you,” Leo offered quickly. “Lily is better at cracking Duke’s codes than anyone.”

“Like you wouldn’t try to knock us on our asses the first chance you get.”

Leo gave a tilt of his head that said, That’s fair.

“Besides,” Kevin said, waving the journal, “we already have the directions. We don’t need you anymore. So I guess this is where we say goodbye.” He reached into his pack and pulled out a set of zip cuffs exactly like the ones Terry had.

With Jay pointing the gun at Lily, Kevin crossed to Leo, pulling his hands behind his back and securing them together with an unnerving series of clicks. Next, he instructed him to sit, and bound Leo’s feet at the ankles. When it was Lily’s turn, he did the same and put them back-to-back in the grassy clearing.

For a brief moment, Lily wondered if the two men planned to shoot them anyway, but Jay reached into her bag, took a protein bar, and tossed their packs out of reach. Biting into the bar, he threw the wrapper on the ground at her feet. “Hope you don’t get hungry.”

Kevin snorted. “You’re a dick, you know that?”

“But I’m not a killer.” Jay shrugged. “Whatever happens now is between them and nature.”

Kevin pulled Duke’s journal from his pocket and waved it at her. “Thanks again. If you see Terry, tell him to choke on it.” Sparing a last glance at their belongings strewn over the ground, he gave the packs another kick. With a little smirk, Kevin added, “Good luck, Lily Wilder.”