She opens her mouth to spew some random shit at me once again, but I press the gun to her lips, shutting her up.
“Out,now,” I say. “Do it, because I won’t fucking ask again.”
She must see something on my face because she relents and does as I’ve asked. With her eyes blazing in anger – at me, obviously – she unlocks the door and gets out of her car.
“Was that so hard?” Solo says with a roll of his eyes.
She doesn’t answer him, and when I push her forward, she stumbles, but rights herself and follows Solo to his SUV.
I turn to Maverick. “You joining us?”
He points a thumb at the Lexus. “Don’t you think we should take care of this mess first?”
“I have a team that’ll deal with it, no problem.”
He nods. “Perfect. I’ll follow you and Chris, then.”
I nod back at him, then pull my phone out and send Eddie a picture of Miranda’s car’s number plate, along with instructions on what to do, and where to find the car. Once I’ve done that, I join Solo, and slide into the driver’s side of his SUV. Shifting to look behind me, I find Miranda glaring murderously at me once again. This time, however, her hands are tied, and there’s a piece of black duct tape covering her too-big mouth.
I glance at Solo. “How long have you been waiting to do this?”
He’s sitting next to Miranda, and scowls when I smirk at him. “Go fuck yourself, Dor.”
I chuckle and hand his pistol back to him. “Keep this close, in case she decides to go wild on you.” I then look at Miranda. “Cliché formalities and all. They make for a good time, don’t you think?”
Her nostrils flare, but because she can’t speak, she decides to shoot daggers at me.
Not that I care.
I face forward, and before I drive us out of the parking lot, I send Varsha a quick text, asking her to bring Cignette and the rest of the crew to the underground gym.
55.
Ifollow Varsha further into the underground gym, wrapping my arms around myself when my nipples pebble against the chill. The overhead lights flicker on occasion – a usual trait here – and the smell of wet stone and sweat permeates the air. I’ve only been here a handful of times in the last few months, but this place has never ceased to make me shiver.
Varsha had woken me up earlier and told me that Dorran wanted us all at the gym. I’d still been half asleep when I’d grabbed a random sweatshirt and shorts from his closet and dressed myself, and had only gained a full sense of myself after Alex had shaken me awake multiple times during the ride here.
“Nettie.”
I blink and look ahead, and find Mave standing next to a small dumbbell rack.
What is he doing here?
I smile, despite the confusion, then start making my way to him, but he rushes forward and wraps me in his arms, all but engulfing me in his warmth.
“I’m so sorry I wasn’t there when it all happened,” he says against my ear.
I hold onto him and close my eyes, sighing against his familiar presence. “You couldn’t have known, Mave.”
“But we know Miranda’s impulses. We know she’s a goddamn psychopath.” He pulls back and looks down at me. “And I should have fucking been there – this time, of all.”
I shake my head. “Maybe it was time for me to finally stand up for myself the way I should’ve since the very beginning.”
He works his jaw as he studies me. “What you did was…huge. It’d be stupid to ask how you feel about it, but I really wanna know if you’re okay.”
I hug myself and shrug. “I guess I am. The event flashes in my mind in fragments; in bits and pieces. Maybe it’s because I haven’t let myself think about it fully. I’m scared that once, orif, I do, it’ll take over me completely.”
“I can understand that. It’s not something you can just forget, or ignore indefinitely. But remember why you did what you did, Nettie, and know it’s in the past now. And if you need to talk to someone about it when things get too hard to handle, there’s always me, or we can get help–”
