‘You have a whole gaggle of ghouls that follow you around. If I ever lost you in a crowd, all you would need to do is drop your talisman, and I would be able to find you just from their yowling screams.’
Carefully, with the arm that still worked, I forced my fingers into the front pocket of my jeans. It was nearly an impossible task to pull out the talisman with whatever drugs were in my system, but I managed it.
The last thing I did before my vision went black was drop the talisman, hoping like hell that it would be enough for Vox and Ryan to find us.
Both mine and Theo’s phones vibrated as we pulled up to Fairview. I frowned down at the text when I saw it was from Naomi.
She’d written in our group chat, dropping a location pin.
Theo parked the car, and I barely had time to process the message when the back door blew open, and Vox, who I had never seen runin mylife, basically sprinted to his new Aston Martin.
This one was a shiny, black DB12 since he never recovered the red two-seater after Cal blew up Apex.
I finished reading the text, and my stomachdropped.
Naomi:
Cal says we’re being followed! There’s a scary black car tailgating us! Here’s our location!
I lost time. I don’t remember exiting the hearse, but suddenly, I had Vox’s arm in a death grip, ripping him back out of the luxury sedan.
“I’m coming with you!” I snarled, and Vox turned furious eyes on me. He shook his head, but I slammed him against the side of the car.
“That wasn’t afuckingquestion. I’m coming.”
I couldn’t do this again.
If anything fucking happened to Cal, I was done. Terror rolled through me, but it was tinged red with rage.
I hadjuststarted fixing my man up. He wasfinallygetting better, and now someone thought they could take him away from me again?
I would fuckingkill everyonethat stood in my way before I let that happen.
“We’ve been training forweeks,Vox. I can handle a gun. I know how to fight. Cal ismine.I will not fucking sit here while he’s in trouble. You either take me with you, or I’m going on my fucking own.”
“I’m coming, too,” Theo said, pocketing her phone. She looked just as pissed as I did. I glanced at Theo, surprised, and she glowered at me.
“They’re my family now, too, Ryan. If anyone hurts either of them, I’m taking no prisoners.”
Vox’s silver eyes darted back and forth between us, and then he seemed to deflate and nodded abruptly. I released him, and he stalked to the trunk of his new car. Popping it open,he rummaged around before pulling out what looked like two Kevlar vests.
He tossed one to each of us before shrugging into one himself.
It was super lightweight and adjustable. Once I had it on and fitting like a glove, Vox started handing out weapons.
Both Theo and I were given handguns.
Vox gave us each a Glock 19, and I was pleased with myself for recognizing the guns after working so hard to be better at this stuff with Vox. I slipped into the vinyl holster he handed me. Suited up and ready to go, I pulled the passenger seat of the Aston Martin forward so Theo could climb in the back.
Slipping into the front, Vox leaped in next to me and fired up the engine.
None of us spoke as Vox shot down the street toward the location Naomi had sent us. It wasn’t far from the IKEA we’d just left, and I prayed that we weren’t too late.
Seeing Cal’s totaled G-Wagon was probably one of the worst moments of my life. I was halfway out of the Aston Martin when Vox grabbed me by my vest and ripped me back down.
Feeling like I was underwater, I stared at him, my heart hammering so hard in my chest that I felt like I was going to puke the entire organ up.
He held up a finger and reached for a small pad he kept in the inner console.
