Deadly Secrets

Chapter 4: Ditched

[Revised]

"What happened back there, guys?" Saffron asked, his voice unnaturally calm and controlled.

"These two—assholes—left me back there to rot!" Zara ripped the balaclava from her head and jabbed an accusatory finger in the air, pointing first at Orion then at Aurora. Her words dripped with repugnance and betrayal.

The tension in the air was almost tangible.

"How could you? The money from this shit is yours too!" Zara gestured to the backpack. Her eyes stung so she pinched the bridge of her nose. The anxiety from the escape still hadn't left her—it was as if she was still back at the house.

"Well, what did you expect us to do, Zara?" Orion said, "Sit on the couch and wait for your ass? It was all on you! We didn't ask you to go take that stuff!"

"You didn't ask but are you getting the money from it? Are you?" Zara yelled back, outraged, "I was thisclose to getting caught and it's all your fault!"

Orion responded with a crease in his forehead and a click of his decorated lighter. The umpteenth cigarette had somehow appeared in his mouth, the end of its filter now a deep orange. As the street-smart member of the group, he was perfectly aware of how well prescription medicine sold under the counter, but still had the audacity to be sarcastic. Through the sheer force of willpower, Zara didn't rip the cigarette from his lips and burn a hole in his skin.

"Come on Zara," Aurora said quietly, resting her head on her hand, "the guy had a gun. If we showed ourselves or attempted to wrestle it off him in any way, someone would've gotten seriously hurt." She pulled her gloves off and rested them on her lap, unable to meet Zara's frigid glare.

"Are you kidding me?" Zara let out a forced laugh, "I bet that guy didn't even know how to use the goddamn gun!"

Everybody was so quick to throw her under the bus when she only did what anyone would've done in her position; Saffron wouldn't have advised her to lasso them in if he knew that they weren't as greedy as her. Carpe momentum; she seized the moment and got out of it with a bigger reward and her body parts unscathed. As the risk-taker she was, they should've known better than to leave her behind.

"We couldn't take that chance—"

"Oh, shut up Aurora. I know you. I saw you. You didn't think twice before running away like the little bitch you are."

"Don't talk to me like that," Aurora retaliated, her voice low and filled with venom.

"What are you going to do, huh? Come on, hit me bitch. Hit me." She shoved Aurora against the door, hard.

Aurora immediately fought back, swinging a punch at Zara but missing her as Saffron aggressively manoeuvred the car over to the side of the road and hit the brakes. With a yelp, Aurora collided with Zara, who banged her head against the car window.

"The three of you, out of the car."

No one budged. Orion even threw up the hand wielding his cigarette, as if his silence excluded him from the problem the three had all been involved in.

"Out of the car. Now!" Saffron thundered and the three of them scrambled outside.

"None of you are getting back in until this is resolved. Like civilised individuals." He didn't bother to leave the driver's seat, instead locking the doors after they were shut.

Orion, Zara, and Aurora all looked at each other, but then they all turned away.

"Alright, I'm sorry," Orion conceded, shrugging a shoulder.