Page 38 of Enter if you Dare: Part Two

It was nice while it lasted. A break from all the worrying, all the what ifs hanging over my head, and not knowing what surprise my brother had in store for me next.

My heart squeezes when I see the travel cup in the cup holder. It’s Noa’s—he left it in here a few days ago when we ran errands for Nixie. I had to buy it for him because someone out the front of a store stopped him and made him aware of how many turtles die each year from plastic straws. He boasted about doing his part for the environment.

“Those people are fucking insane,” Rowan finally says, breaking the silence.

I keep my eyes on the road and sigh. “You pulled a fucking gun on me,” I bite out. “What did you expect?”

He scoffs. “I wouldn’t have shot you. You’re my sister.”

I turn momentarily to glare at him. “You aimed it at me.”

“I was scared.”

A laugh nearly escapes me, but there is nothing funny about this. “So was I.”

“They were surrounding me.” He shifts in his seat, turning toward me as much as he can. “What was I supposed to do?”

“Not bring a gun to the island.”

His jaw flexes, and I catch bruises around his throat and marks along his arms. I don’t know how he got them, and I honestly don’t care right now.

“Easy for you to say,” he mutters. “You’ve got three psychopaths protecting you now.”

My fingers tighten around the wheel, and I clench my teeth. Every time I’m near Rowan, he brings out this side of me.

“They protected you too,” I fire back.

He turns his head so fast it must hurt his neck. “They locked me in a cage,” he roars.

“They kept you alive.”

He laughs. “Is that what you call it?”

“Yes,” I snap, and Rowan stares at me in disbelief. Cave could have killed him, the Jester could not have listened, and even if they let him go, Steedy’s men would have ended him. Instead, they kept him alive for me.

Cave may have lied to me, but I refuse to let the good erase the bad. I won’t let Rowan twist it.

Rowan rubs his hands over his face. “Do you really believe they were going to keep me alive? I watched that clown.”

“Jester,” I correct.

“Who fucking cares? I watched him torture Steedy to death.”

“You should be relieved he is dead—it was you or him.”

Rowan sits with that for a second, and I say nothing, needing him to realize how lucky he is right now. The fact that the Jester killed someone should make me feel something, but I don’t. Steedy was the scum of the earth, feeding on people’s weaknesses and not letting them out. He deserved everything that came his way.

“Did the Jester hurt you?”

Rowan drops his hands and looks out the window. “Does it matter?”

“Yes.” Of course it fucking matters. Everything matters, and the fact that he can’t see that is such a Rowan thing.

“Not really.”

I laugh. “That isn’t an answer.”

“He threatened me,” Rowan says, scratching the side of his neck. “Talked about cutting pieces off me and feeding them to his pigs. He would sit outside my cell, just him. Sometimes he would come downstairs covered in blood and stare at me.”