If she causes a scene and he crashes, we’ll have much bigger problems. “If she wants to walk the rest of the way, let her,” I say, reaching for his arm to make sure he hears me.
“Fine, I don’t give a shit. As long as she’s away from us.”
“Oh, Hadrian, that hurts my feelings.” She laughs, but he pulls the car to a stop. She pops the door open and jumps out straight away. She bends down before she goes so I can see she’s wearing her old smile, the fake one that makes her Liliana. “Talk soon, bestie.”
She slams the door in Soren’s face as he lunges at her. We pull away as she disappears through the woods.
“What the fuck?” Hadrian asks, but he doesn’t seem to be looking for an answer.
“Good riddance,” Soren says.
Hadrian presses the gas, and my back hits the seat. All I want to do is sleep, but it suddenly occurs to me that I don’t have a fucking bed.
“Where are we going?” I ask.
Hadrian takes a deep breath like he doesn’t want to answer me. “To Bellthorn.”
My spine stiffens, and I turn to him with my mouth hanging open. “What the fuck? I’m not going back there.”
“Sable, Bellthorn is safe.”
“I don’t know what you consider safe, but you’re not taking me back there.” I’m glad to be with them, hurt and confused but comforted by their presence. Still, I will leave their asses and run off into the woods with some chick named Nina before I do that.
“What are our options?”
Is the question meant to hurt me? I personally don’t have any options. I’m broke, hurt, not even properly dressed, and totally at their mercy.
“Are you actually going to make me beg after everything? Please take me to a hotel. If I need to pay you back, I will.”
His jaw tenses like the mere suggestion pisses him off. Soren perks up for the first time in the back, though he still sounds out of it when he speaks. “What’s one day, Hadrian?”
It’s going to be a hell of a lot more than one day, but I don’t argue if it means they’re taking me somewhere else.
“At Bellthorn, we’re in control,” Hadrian says, trying to convince me of something I refuse to see.
Soren laughs from the back seat, and my eyes shoot to him, trying to decipher exactly what’s wrong with him. “I don’t care about control, Hadrian. I need to rest, and I can’t do that there.”
“Let’s stay in a hotel for tonight,” he finally agrees. As relieved as I am, I can’t fully relax because I need to figure out how to avoid going back to that place.
I shift in my seat, my discomfort refusing to allow me to rest. Hadrian looks at Soren in the rearview.
“She’s hurt.”
He doesn’t respond, but his fingers begin tapping across his phone.
“Guys…” I finally say after a few quiet minutes.
“Yeah, baby?” Hadrian asks.
“Thank you so fucking much for saving me.”
He’s quiet for a second, and his voice sounds thick. “Don’t thank us. You saved yourself.”
“No. I just killed him. That didn’t make me safe. You did.”
CHAPTER 21
LEX
