Dawn by McKayla Box

Chapter 39

She’s older than what I thought when I saw her in the parking lot. I thought she was close to my age, but she looks to be more in her mid-twenties, around the same age as the guy who has been talking to us. Her jet-black hair is almost reflective it’s so shiny. Her eyes are green, her skin flawless. A pair of stark white jeans hugs her legs and she’s wearing a baby blue sweater that looks like the softest cashmere. She’s probably the most attractive person in any room she enters and she looks like she knows it.

She smiles at me. “Well. Presley. I finally get to meet Trevor’s…girlfriend.”

She says girlfriend like it’s some sort of joke, but it unnerves me that she knows who I am.

And terrifies me.

Because they know Sunny and I lied.

She looks me up and down. “I expected…more. But, good to meet you anyway. And on such an interesting night.”

“I…I don’t know what that means,” I stammer.

“Of course you don’t,” she says. “Do you know who I am?”

“No.”

“My name is Annabelle Marquez,” she says. “Does that mean anything to you?”

I shake my head. “No.”

She laughs. “Of course not. Trevor likes them innocent.” Her smile dims. “I’m someone you don’t want to fuck with. I’m someone who doesn’t like when uninvited visitors show up in my neighborhood. And you’ve shown up in my neighborhood tonight. Why?”

I’ve tried lying and it’s gotten us nowhere. So I switch to the truth.

“Because I knew that Trevor had been here and I wanted to see what he was doing,” I tell her. “We tracked him on the boat and the app indicated he’d come here.”

She stares at me for a few seconds, then shakes her head. “You tracked him. Interesting. Did you track him everywhere?”

“This was the address we got,” I tell her.

“But you saw where he went, no?” she says. “You saw he went somewhere before he came here, right?”

I don’t say anything.

“Of course you did,” she says. “And now you realize that was probably a mistake. Do you know what he’s doing?”

I shake my head.

She looks at Sunny. “How you about? Do you know?”

Sunny shakes her head.

Annabelle frowns at her, then turns her attention back to me. She looks me up and down again. “What exactly does he see in you?”

My face grows warm.

“You can’t be that good in bed,” she says. “You’re not old enough.” She frowns. “But he’s in love with you. Because god knows I’ve tried to get him into my bed and he’s turned me down.”

My stomach turns.

“But all that is for naught now,” she says. “Because your boyfriend is in a little bit of trouble.”

I look at her.

“Now you’re interested,” she says, smiling at me. “Of course. You love him, too. So cute. I’ll tell you what he does for me. His buddy. His pal. Brett. He borrowed some money from me. A lot of—”

“I know that,” I say.

She raises an eyebrow. “Oh, so you do know some of the details? Excellent. So when his friend wasn’t able to pay his debt, your heroic boyfriend stepped in to to help him. In order to work off Brett’s debt, they pick up cocaine for me in Mexico and then bring it here. To me. They use the boat because it’s much easier to evade authorities in the ocean. He goes down to my brother’s, he picks up our drugs, and then he brings them here. And sometimes I have him make deliveries to my clients. They pay him for the drugs and then he brings me the money. So he’s like my…errand boy. Both of them are.”

I feel my fingers curling into fists as she talks about them.

“I say jump and they have to jump.” She smiles. “Because they know if they don’t? It will be very bad for them.” She pauses. “But it turns out, it’s going to be very bad for them anyway.”

“What are you talking about?” I ask. “They’ve done what you asked them to do.”

“Except they’ve done more than that,” she says. “They’ve been stealing from me.”

“Bullshit,” I say.

Annabelle laughs. “So tough. I like that.” She sits down on the table where the guy was sitting before she arrived. “Are you suggesting I’m bad at math?”

“I’m not saying that,” I tell her. “But Trevor wouldn’t steal. From anyone.”

“He wouldn’t,” Sunny adds. “Ever.”

“It seems you don’t know him as well as you thought you did,” she says. “Because he is absolutely stealing from me. And that is a very, very bad thing to do.” She stares at me and her gaze is creepy. “Micah. Are they on the way?”

Micah – the guy in the golf shirt – nods. “Yeah. Left Sunset about half an hour ago.”

“Good,” Annabelle says. “I think we will clear the ledger tonight.”

Micah nods and disappears down the hallway.

Annabelle smiles at me, and she suddenly doesn’t look so beautiful anymore. All I see is evil

“Ladies. Let’s go for a ride.”