Jaxon considers the eyeball on his blade, then glances at the rider’s empty socket. Blood weeps from the wound and trails down his cheek. “Look it up.”
Clicking my tongue, I fish my phone out of my pocket.
“Why do you want to know?” Hawk drops the cigarette butt onto the ground.
“I just want to make sure he doesn’t keel over prematurely. Can’t get answers out of a dead man.” I shoot him a disapproving look. “Thought you knew better, bro.”
He scoffs and joins Jaxon’s side in front of the rider. “You hear that? You may die. If you tell us who the other riders are, then we’ll send you to the hospital.”
Jaxon chuckles under his breath. I’m right there with him, cracking a smile and turning my attention to my phone screen.
Yeah, we’ll send him to the hospital one way or another. No guarantee of what condition he’ll be in.
An unread message from Ryder grabs my attention.
Ryder
Have any of you seen Jaxon?
I glance at Jaxon, my eyebrows pinching together. “I think Ryder is looking for you, Jax.”
He straightens to his feet and tosses the switchblade aside. It lands with athumpagainst the cement floor several paces from the rider. His chest deflates, and he looks close to tears, staring at his discarded eyeball.
I grin and respond to Ryder’s text.
Sorry for the late response. We’ve been busy fucking up a rider we snatched the other night. Would have told you about it, but we wanted to give you some time to rest up.
Hawk
How you feeling, bro?
Jaxon
You good?
My notification bar lowers from the top of my screen, alerting me to a severe thunderstorm warning.
“Shit!” I stuff my phone into my pocket and dash toward the stairs. “I have to go.”
I ignore Hawk calling my name and take the steps two at a time to leave the basement. My heart pounds against my chest as I rush through the house and out the door into the pounding rain. Thunder cracks overhead at the same moment that lightning arcs through the sky.
Fuck. I didn’t realize there was a storm; otherwise, I would have left hours ago and stayed with Nova. I’m always on top of the weather, but I’ve been so fucking busy with this motherfucker who attacked my friends and me that I overlooked so much.
She’s alone. She needs me.
I crash through the front door and check the first floor for her.
“Nova?” I shout.
I race up the stairs and sprint into Nova’s bedroom. My eyes widen, and I stumble a step.
“Fuck, pretty girl,” I breathe. I cross the room in two strides to her gaming chair, where she’s curled forward with her handspressed against her headphones over her ears. Kneeling beside her, I pause.
Nova’s breaths come out fast. Tears escape from the corners of her clenched eyes and trail down her tear-stained cheeks. She jumps and lets out a sob as thunder booms outside. Lightning flashes through the windows and illuminates the room.
I leap to my feet, flip on the lights, snap the heavy drapes over her windows to block out the lightning, then return to her side. Gently, I touch her shoulder and keep myself as small as possible so she doesn’t get spooked.
Nova’s bloodshot eyes fly open, and she lets out a strangled cry when her gaze lands on me. She flings herself against me and winds her arms and legs around me. I grunt as she strangles me from how hard she’s holding me, but I don’t give a shit. All that matters is her.
