Don't Look Behind You (Don't Look Series Book 1) by Emily Kazmierski (summer reads .txt) 📗

The hungry flash of his teeth makes bile rise in my throat. I fight to push it back down, but it explodes out of me in sharp, livid words that fill the room with a prickling heat.

“This was your plan all along? To murder our parents and marry this… this monster? How could you do something so evil?”

Audrey turns a hard look on me. Her silence is telling. Any doubt I had about her involvement slips away.

“Why do you think she dallied after school that day? She was giving me time to take care of your parents. Too bad I messed up with you, though.” Yellowed teeth part in a wicked smile as the man’s eyes rover over the white scar on my cheek.

I jerk at my arms, wishing I could cover it. He doesn’t deserve to see it, especially if he’s getting some sort of sick pleasure out of seeing his handiwork written across my face.

“You’re lying,” Noah yells. “Meg—she would never do something like that.”

I envy Noah’s faith in my sister.

The Mayday Killer cocks a bushy eyebrow. “Wanna tell him, pet?”

Under the lacy veil, Audrey pales.

“Meg—Audrey, please.” Noah’s voice cracks but he doesn’t drop his gaze from hers.

“What he says is true. I told him I was planning to talk to my teacher, show him the camera. He took care of the rest.”

“Call me Eugene,” the killer says, making final adjustments to his suit jacket. “No need for manners now that we’re getting hitched. I know it won’t be official until you turn eighteen, but I can’t wait any longer to take you as mine. You ready, Mr. Officiant?” The man’s greasy hair shines as looks to his brother, who nods.

My entire body starts to quake. I can’t control it no matter how much I wish it would stop. My heart pounds in my chest. Chills run down my spine.

Noah leans over, resting his head on top of mine. “Just breathe,” he whispers. “It’ll be over soon.”

Can’t he tell that’s the reason dread is filling my abdomen like a bunch of lead weights, dragging me down below the surface of control into a whirling ocean of fear and chaos? What will the Baugh brothers do to us once this sham of a wedding ceremony is over? What will Audrey permit them to do?

The two of us watch in horror as Mr. Baugh begins to recite the familiar words I’ve heard a bunch of times in movies and TV shows. He has Eugene recite his vows first. Words like honor, respect, and provide have no meaning as they bounce off my shaking body and pop like poison bubbles in the air.

Audrey gets through her vows—with emphasis on obedience and subjugation—with no more than the slightest tremor of her lips.

Behind his glasses, Noah’s got his eyes clamped shut, but I can’t look away from this horror show.

Mr. Baugh is wrapping up the ceremony. It’s going too fast. Any second I’m expecting a wicked magician to appear and tell us that he hypnotized my sister, but it doesn’t happen. My trepidation grows as each word draws my twin into an unholy alliance with a psychotic killer. Each word forces Noah and I closer to a gruesome, bloody death. Because I have no doubt that once he gets what he wants, the Mayday Killer will slit our throats and bathe his hideous suit in our blood.

“I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss your bride.”

Noah buries his face in my neck, but I still don’t look away.

Mr. Baugh has the courtesy to avert his eyes as his gross brother grips Audrey’s upper arms in his grubby hands and yanks her into him. Audrey squeals in disgust when his lips meet hers.

When he finally lets her go, Audrey shrinks back against the wall.

“Ready for your wedding present?” the man asks gleefully as he withdraws a huge knife from his boot. “I’m going to take care of your lesser half for you. Just like you asked me to. I tried to get rid of her by setting fire to that corn field, but it didn’t go like I planned. I won’t make that mistake again.” He lunges for me so quickly I don’t have time to panic.

His body bucks and crumbles to the floor, almost before the gunshot has stopped echoing through my ears. Blood oozes out of a hole in his forehead as his limbs jerk. And stop.

The back door crashes open and a pack of FBI agents in bullet-proof vests come storming into the room, weapons raised. One pins Mr. Baugh to the wall while Justin leads several others down the hall to sweep the rest of the house.

Audrey is frozen, the hem of her dress beginning to soak up the crimson stain seeping from underneath the killer’s lifeless body. Tears stream down her cheeks.

Noah gapes as Aunt Karen steps into the room between the busted door and frame, looking fierce in her government-issued gear and holding a gun like it’s an extension of her arm. She rushes over with eyes blazing, giving Noah a once over to make sure he’s okay before drawing me into her chest and beckoning to Audrey to join. When she does, the older woman pulls both of us into her chest. Holds on tight. “I’m so glad you girls are okay,” she swears. “I got here as quickly as I could.”

“Took you long enough,” Audrey manages through a sob.

Chapter 39

Audrey

Esau is sitting in an ambulance while an EMT looks at his arm. Taryn is trying to talk to him, but from where I’m standing on the front porch it looks like he’s refusing to even look at her. She puts a hand on the shoulder of his uninjured arm, but he shrugs her off and shows her his back. Her shoulders slump as she takes a few steps away, trailed by an FBI agent I don’t recognize. My sister glances at me before turning away, pulling the borrowed coat she’s wearing tighter around her