Everything about this day was blowing my mind, but there was one positive in Richard already knowing—hopefully he would have some answers to the many questions spinning around my head.
Beck was the one to reach for the phone this time. “Can you send Dylan a text? I’m not going in there without backup. Not when your safety is in question.”
With a nod, I took the device and opened his messages. “I need you to use these words only, okay?” Beck said before he rattled off a bunch of shit that made no sense to me.
“Are you sure?” I said, almost smiling at the gibberish in the text.
Beck managed to curl one corner of his perfect lips. “Yeah, we have our own way of communicating, Butterfly. Unless you’re a codebreaker, you won’t figure it out.”
I chuckled this time. “How did you know? Codebreaker is my middle name.”
Yeah, right?This life of crime was definitely new to me, and I doubted I’d ever catch up to my guys—the experts.
“What did you mean about Richard owing you?” Beck said, diverting our conversation. I managed not to groan, because I’d been hoping he wouldn’t really catch onto that … or at least not push me about it.
I should have known better.
“The truth, Riley,” he added when I didn’t answer straight away.
I could tell by his tone that he was not going to let me get away with any half, bullshit type answers.
Deep breath.“Turns out Richard is as much of a psycho as the rest of you all,” I said quickly. When Beck’s eyes darkened, I continued in a rush, “He didn’t hurt me, just scared the fuck out of me. And he threatened you, Beck, so I think it’s best if I don’t tell you all the details.”
I waited for him to explode, and there was definitely a tense moment of silence, but Beck surprised me when his grip on the wheel loosened and he let out an amused, derisive laugh.
“You are going to have to have more faith in me, Butterfly. Richard thinks he has it over me and the guys, but he doesn’t have a fucking clue what we’re capable of. He’s never bothered to pay attention.” I got his full attention then, and I was slightly afraid for anyone on the road, because Beck was not watching it at all. “Don’t ever keep anything like this from me again.”
I returned his glare with one of my own.
“You keep shit from me all the time in the pretense of ‘protecting me.’ I was just doing the same fucking thing.”
Beck’s lips twitched, and he nodded. “Touché, baby.”
I thought that was the end of it, but I should have known better. “You’re not to be alone with Richard again.”
Arrogant fuck.
I hadn’t even told Beck what happened, not specifics, but somehow, he still knew that it was something fucked up and weird. Enough to make his demand. I didn’t bother to answer, because today, I couldn’t make that promise.
With a shake of his head, he let it go, and silence fell between us as we crossed through the main town of Jefferson. We left suburbia for a less urban area—long fields of green and crops that appeared to be in the early stages of sprouting, spring only just making an appearance.
“What does the red-zone mean?” I asked Beck, needing to break the silence.
He stared ahead, relaxed as we sped along. “We have multiple safe houses, drop off zones, and delivery routes mapped around Jefferson. Red-zone is for private use only. Delta meetings mainly. It’s regularly searched for wiretaps, bugs, and unauthorized surveillance equipment. It’s probably the closest thing we have to a safe place to talk.”
Good. That meant Richard had something important to say. Or he was luring us out here to try and kill us. I wouldn’t put it past him, but at least we were prepared now for his underhandedness. Neither of us trusted Richard and that gave us an edge.
Beck turned off the main road, entering a small cleared area surrounded by trees. Unless you were looking for it, you’d never have seen it there. We followed this path through the trees for a long time, and as I sat higher in my seat to look around, I was relieved to see Dylan behind us, the butterfly gleaming in the early morning sunlight that filtered through the dense vegetation.
Seeing him reminded me of something. “How did you know to follow me to Catherine’s?” I asked as a building appeared in the distance. I’d been so sure Beck was sound asleep when I’d left this morning.
His expression darkened—I’d just reminded him that I’d snuck out into danger. “It was a combination of things. You asking about your gun was the first tip off, and then when we were kissing, there was somethingoffin your expression. Like you thought it was the last time we’d ever touch. My mistake was in expecting you’d get some sleep before you snuck out—that’s why I was a few minutes late catching up to you. And Dylan heard your car and was down in the parking lot at almost the same time as me.”
Fuck. I was never going to be able to hide anything from them.
“I’m sorry I took off,” I told him, recognizing that it had been pretty stupid. “I just figured that Catherine would never talk to me truthfully with you guys there. Like everyone else, she would be scared that you’d kick her ass or something.”
Beck’s chest rumbled, and it almost looked like he was counting to ten in his head to try and calm down. “Don’t do that again, Riley. Catherine is dangerous. Everyone in our world is, and you shouldn’t trust any of them except us. The four of us will always have your back.”
