“Then we’ll just have to kill him,” Pete says, making me lift my head as he appears at our side. “I know he’s your brother, but he doesn’t deserve to live. And you deserve to be safe.”
“So do you,” I whisper, reaching out to run a finger down his cheek. “We’ll find the people responsible for sending you to jail and get you acquitted.”
He presses his lips together and nods, as if he doesn’t quite believe me but doesn’t want to disagree, either.
“Jagger and I will get rid of them and their vehicle, follow us down the road,” Dex says as Sly carries me back to the SUV. Pete whistles a happy tune the entire way, completely unbothered by the death and carnage he just reaped. When I’m buckled in beside Sly in the back, I rest my head on his chest and look at the clock on the dash—three a.m.
I can’t remember what time I got up, but it feels like hours since I went looking for some water. I want to ask how they found me and where we’re going, but I get really sleepy fast. I watch the taillights of the other vehicle ahead and am determined to stay awake until they rejoin us so I can thank them all.
But my eyelids turn heavy, and I soon succumb to sleep.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
SLY
“Oh my fucking god, she’s adorable,” Dex whispers, staring down at her with wide, besmitten eyes.
“Shh, you’ll wake her,” I hiss, as I beckon him into the vehicle with us. Jagger climbs into the passenger seat, and I think I see his lips quirk in amusement when he takes in her sleeping form, her head against my chest as soft snores escape her luscious lips.
It hasn’t escaped my notice that I’m the only one she hasn’t kissed yet, but I’m not worried. I’m jealous. The sole thing restraining me from sweeping those three fools aside and claiming her for myself was the knowledge that it would upset her, and the growing certainty that she needed all four of us to stay safe.
That is, if we could figure out a better way to work in a unified fashion.
When I woke up and found her missing, I searched the entire apartment before even thinking about waking the others. That lost us precious seconds. As soon as I did, Pete and Dex tried to charge out of there.
I tried to tell them we needed a plan, but they insisted on speed. Jagger tried to sign something to us, but everyone was freaking out, and it was hard to think straight. We didn’t wait to pack our stuff; we just armed ourselves with what we needed most.
That’s when the door burst open, and four men in black came charging in, guns aimed at us in an instant. Luckily, they had been too distracted by me and Pete that they hadn’t seen Jagger or Dex standing by the door. They took out the first two as we dove to take cover.
Between the four of us, we quickly overpowered and disarmed the last two threats, turning their silencers on them.
After that, we took off quickly before anybody else in the hotel came out to see what the noise was about. I only realized how fucked we were when we got in the SUV and Pete asked, “Which way did they take her?”
But Jagger had pulled out a cellphone I’d never seen and shown a map with a blinking dot on it, moving down the highway.
“Did you take this from one of the men upstairs?” I had asked in surprise. “I suppose they had this so they could follow.”
“Seems like they could have just told them which way to go,” Pete had said with a frown. “It’s mighty convenient for us. What if it’s a decoy or a trap?”
In the end, we decided we had to follow it; we had no other choice. I held my breath when the blinking dot stopped moving, and we pulled into the truck stop and found the van parked in the far corner. We moved in silently, unsure what we’d find. We’re lucky we got there when we did.
But we had agreed to wait and assess in case they hadguns. We didn’t want Wren getting shot if we ran in head first. But fucking Dex and his rage issues forgot all of that the moment he saw her get hit.
I couldn’t exactly blame him. When I heard what he was saying to Wren, I was ready to rip his tongue out myself. But we had agreed to wait. Dex’s rage was a liability. If we couldn’t function as a proper team, then we had little hope of keeping Wren safe.
“How did they find us?” Dex asks as Pete pulls back onto the road.
“I’m not sure,” I reply quietly.
“Dex?” Wren mumbles, her eyes squinting open as she tries to lift her head.
“Yeah, baby. I’m here.” He reaches out and squeezes her hand, and I feel her shoulders drop as the tension leaves her.
“And Jagger?” She tilts her head to the front as Jagger reaches back and squeezes her knee in reassurance. “Thank you all for coming to get me,” she whispers, her head dropping back down to my chest as a big yawn escapes her.
“We’ll always come, little bird,” I tell her with a reassuring hug.
“I know,” she mumbles right before her eyes close and a soft snore escapes her again.
