“What?” I ask.
“She said she wanted to get to know me better,” Eli says.
She certainly changed her tune. I guess Gage was wrong when he said Cherri gave up on trying to make Ace jealous. But then another thought pops into my mind. “You told someone where we’re hiding? That kinda defeats the purpose of a safehouse, dingus,” I admonish, tapping his arm.
Eli opens his mouth to protest, but before he can say anything, the doorbell rings. I glance out the window and see Cherri standing there.
“Speak of the devil,” I mutter to Eli, as I unlock the door. She’s hours early for a dinner date. I sure as hell hope she isn’t planning on spending the day here.
Great. This day is going from bad to worse.
Chapter 20
Naomi
Cherri looks flustered when we open the front door, her wide eyes darting with a mix of desperation and relief. “Oh, thank god, you’re here! I was worried I would be too late,” she says breathlessly, her voice tinged with urgency as she barges through the front door, brushing past me. Her coat billows behind her like a dark storm cloud.
“Unless you thought dinner was last night, in which case you’re very late, you’re super early for dinner,” I say sarcastically, raising my eyebrows and crossing my arms.
Confused, Cherri blinks, her long lashes fluttering like a china doll, almost comically. “What? Oh, you think I’m here for dinner?” she says, her tone a strange blend of condescension and relief that only adds to the chaos of the moment. “No. No. Ace sent me. You’re both in danger. The Rusted Scythes are on their way right now for you. You have to come with me. There’s a safehouse I have to take you both to.” Her words spill out in a frantic rush, each syllable weighted with fear.
My mind is reeling from the information, the urgency of her message sinking in like a stone dropped into still water, sending ripples of anxiety through me. I shake my head, brow knitting together. “I don’t understand. Why didn’t Ace just call me?”
Cherri looks at me as if I’m an idiot, her eyes flashing with irritation. “Well, you know, he’s a bit preoccupied fightingoff the Rusted Scythes at the clubhouse. They came back and attacked. They want you back. God knows why everyone thinks you’re so damn special. You have to come with me now, we don’t have much time,” she insists fiercely, grabbing Eli’s hand as if to reinforce her point with physical urgency.
My first thought is a rush of concern for the guys. “Are they okay? Ace, Gage, and Cash?” I ask frantically, the words spilling out in a torrent, my heart pounding with dread.
“They’re fine, but they need you to be safe. If they’re busy worrying about you, they’re more likely to get hurt, aren’t they?” she points out firmly.
I still don’t understand why Ace would have sent Cherri of all people, someone I don’t particularly like, and nor do they. “Surely we’re best off locking ourselves inside here?”
“And be sitting ducks?” Eli interrupts, his voice tinged with frustration and fear. “You know what they’re capable of.” Eli doesn’t let go of Cherri’s hand, which annoys me, as does the triumphant gleam in her eye that she’s won Eli over.
I’m guessing, rather than following Ace’s orders and getting me to safety she’s only come here for Eli, and if it was just me, then she’d leave me for the Rusted Scythes.
“I’ll go call Ace,” I say, moving toward the kitchen where I left my phone. If I could just speak to Ace to confirm this, I’d feel better. Something in my gut feels off, and I need reassurance.
“There’s no time, we have to go now,” Cherri insists, her voice rising with an edge of panic and urgency. “I’m not dying because of you, bitch!”
Cherri reverting to form is what finally convinces me that for whatever reason she’s doing it, it’s been sanctioned by Ace.
“Naomi, please, let’s just go. She’s with the club, right? Ace is already pissed at me, don’t give him another reason to hate me,” Eli pleads desperately. I know he just wants to keep me safe.
“Fine,” I sigh. Although I’m still not happy about going with her. “Let’s go. Lemme just grab my phone.” I move to go to the kitchen, but Cherri blocks my way, hands on her hips.
“No. No phones. It’s how they found out you’re here in the first place. They’re tracking you.”
I look at Eli, the expert on this kind of thing, and he nods, his expression grim. “She’s right, it’s possible they could have hacked our phones.”
I don’t like it, the thought of being out of contact with the guys gnaws at me, but I nod. “Fine.” Eli sags with relief, and we follow Cherri outside to her car. The air feels thick with tension. Cherri glances around furtively, as if expecting the Rusted Scythes to jump out of the bushes and ambush us.
“Maybe I should follow you guys on my bike?” I suggest, clinging to some semblance of independence.
Again, Cherri has a ready answer for why this is a bad idea. “They’ll spot you a mile off. You on that giant bike of yours is hardly inconspicuous.”
She has a point, and I can tell that Eli is on Cherri’s side, again, so I reluctantly stomp over to her car and climb inside the back. Eli hops up front with her. As we leave the relative safety of the guys’ house I can’t shake the feeling that something is wrong. A sense of ominous foreboding rises within me as the safehouse disappears in the rearview.
***
