Page 48 of Killer Summer
Dani locked eyes with her aunt as she walked through the front door of the cabin. She was relieved at first to see that Lisa was still alive, but that relief was short-lived as Dani sized up the situation. A monolith of a man stood behind her aunt, holding a switchblade to her throat.
“Hi, Dani.”
A tremor danced along her spine as his voice cut through the quiet of the morning. Matt Vickers sounded just as she remembered, only huskier. Rougher somehow. The years in prison hadn’t been kind, and his appearance was just as grizzled as his voice. He looked nothing like the cocky, preppy young man she remembered aside from his massive frame. Gone were his gelled blond curls, replaced by a more mature salt-and-pepper buzz cut. A long, vertical scar ran down the left side of his face, his skin leathery from too much sun. The exposed parts of his neck and arms were graffitied with prison tattoos, but therewas one piece of artwork that stood out amongst them all. In big block letters on his forearm was the name DANI.
“Where’s Missy?” he asked, the knife still pressed to her aunt’s throat.
Dani tore her gaze away from Matt’s shark-like stare to Lisa’s face. As usual, her aunt remained calm under pressure. She raised an eyebrow and glanced toward the kitchen table. All of the weapons they had laid out were gone.
“Let her go, and I’ll tell you.”
“Fine.” Matt released the knife from her aunt’s throat. He placed a hand at Lisa’s back and shoved her toward the couch. “Where is she?”
“She’s in the van.” Dani said. “Headed back to Florida without you.”
“Liar.” Matt snorted and nodded toward the kitchen table. “I saw your little security system footage. She chased you into the woods.”
Dani shrugged. “You’re right. She’s dead.”
“That’s fine. I didn’t really care about her anyway,” he said. “She wouldn’t ever shut up about you.”
“Sounds like something you both have in common then,” Dani said. “Why, Matt? Why come back after all this time?”
“Spent a lot of time thinking about you over the years.” He shrugged and scratched the back of his neck with the knife blade. “Ever do any time in jail? Probably not, you’ve got a perfect fuckin’ life.”
“You pretty much ruined my life, so no, I would say I don’t have a perfect life,” Dani said. “Answer my question. Why did you come back?”
“I dunno. I was lonely, and I wanted to get out of prison. Missy promised to help me get out if I helped her getyou.”
“She told me you were over me,” Dani said, nodding to his tattoo. “What’s all that about then?”
Matt glanced down at his forearm and chuckled. “This? This is old. I was still hung up on you for a while in jail, that’s true. But nah. I’ve had a few girlfriends since then. You should never get a girlfriend’s name tattooed on you, know what I mean?”
“I was never your girlfriend.”
“If you had just given us a chance, things could have been so different,” he said. “I was wrong, though. I know that now. I’m different, you’ll see.”
“You need help. For your sake, I’m sorry you never got it.”
“Too late for all that now.” He smirked.
“Answer something for me, Matt,” she said, his name sour on her tongue. “Why did you have to kill them all?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “Maybe I hit my head on the football field one too many times.”
“Hitting your head doesn’t make you a killer,” she said. “Okay, then. Why me?”
“Huh?”
“I wanna know.” Dani kept her gaze locked on his. “I remember you in high school. You always had a girlfriend. Everyone thought you were so great. I was a nobody, there was nothing special about me. So tell me, after all these years, why did you bother coming after me?”
He snorted and rolled his shoulders back. “I guess it was because I couldn’t have you.”
“We don’t always get what we want in life,” Dani said.
He smiled, his shark eyes sparkling. “I do.”
Matt lunged toward her as if in slow motion. The sight of him sailing toward her transported Dani back to the time of his first attack. Back to a time when no one had cell phones, when her favorite movies were on VHS, when she recorded one-hit-wonders on the radio. Her heart ached for who she had been in those carefree, teenage days. This had all happened before, andit was all happening again. Only this time, Dani was smarter. This time,theywere ready.
