I nod. “About a minute ago?—”
Another gunshot goes off.
Finn’s jaw drops in shock, then he bolts out of bed, strides to the window, and throws up the curtain. Bro has no survival skills, so I sprint over to him, snag the sleeve of his shirt, and yank him with me as I crouch down.
“Dude,” I hiss. “You can’t stand in front of a window when someone is shooting up the place.”
“How do you know that’s a gunshot?” he whispers. When I give him areallylook, he says, “You heard a lot of them in northside.”
I bob my head up and down. “You were at northside a couple of times to race. Didn’t you ever hear them?”
He lifts a broad shoulder, shrugging. “I don’t know. That boom sounded like fireworks to me, so I could’ve heard them but just didn’t know what they were.”
“Well, those are for sure gunshots.” I sit down on the floor, noting it’s dark outside.
Is it the next night? Did Finn and I sleep through the entire day? If so, Aiden should be here soon to get us out. That is, if he was telling the truth in that note.
Finn sits down on the floor beside me. His blond hair is sticking up all over the place, and the t-shirt and pajama pants he’s wearing are wrinkled. It’s the most disheveled he's looked, and it’s annoyingly sexy because I find myself wanting to run my fingers through his hair.
I force the thought from my mind the best that I can. “We should get dressed, since it’s the next night.” I give him a pressing look.
He quickly catches on, and we get up, making sure to stay away from the window, as we grab some clothes to get dressed. I head into the bathroom while Finn stays in the room. I pull on a pair of baggy sweats and a shirt, but we’ve never been given any shoes. If we have to run, that’s going to suck.
Although I do miss the days of running with the cool breeze gusting through my hair.
I suddenly want to cry at the memories of what might never be again. But I suck it the hell up, find an elastic in one of the drawers, and put my hair into a ponytail. When I return to the room, Finn is dressed in sweatpants and a grey shirt. He’s sitting on the floor in front of the foot of the bed with his legs bent and a quizzical crease between his brows.
I kneel down beside him. “Is everything okay?”
He has his arms draped over his knees, but shifts, lowering them and stretching his legs out. “I’m fine. I’m just thinking about a lot of things.”
“What sort of things?”
“Things I’ll tell you about later.”
The need to press him tugs inside me, but I assume his evasiveness has to do with not wanting his father to overhear him.
“We should eat.” I start to get to my feet when I hear another explosive gunshot.
Finn springs into action, curling his body proactively around me. “Did that just come from the hallway?”
“I think so.” I’m trembling, partly from the gunshot and partly over the fact that he’s protecting me.
Every time River or Finn has done this, it throws me off. I want to protect him, too, though. I’m about to declare this when the door to the room opens up. For a faltering moment, we both freeze, half expecting it to be Mr. Averson and the society. But Aiden is standing on the other side.
He’s dressed head-to-toe in black, he has a gun in his hand, and blood droplets cover his face. He looks like some sort of godly warrior who’s in the middle of a battle.
“Jesus fucking Christ,” Finn breathes out as he takes in the sight of Aiden.
“Let’s go,” Aiden barrels into the room, grabs the scroll and book from off the table, and stuffs them into a backpack he has slung over his shoulder. “We don’t have much time.” He bolts for the door.
Finn and I hesitate for like a split second before I jump into action, leaping to my feet and running after Aiden.
Finn snags my hand, though, and stops me. “Do you think we can trust him?”
I carry his gaze. “We don’t have another choice. It’s either trust him or stay locked in this room until I’m bred.”
With a nod, Finn and I rush after Aiden.
