His body shuddered, and he came hard.
Still inside her, he lifted his head, the black rim around his blue iris more pronounced. “You still mad?”
“Yes,” she murmured.
He grinned, looking like the old Tace for a moment. “Well, the night is young.” Then he leaned down and kissed her, going deep.
Chapter Twenty
The darkness inside me was always there, lurking,waiting to be freed by Scorpius.
—Tace Justice
It felt natural scouting the territory with Raze, yet Tace missed Sami. He’d gotten accustomed to her humor as they faced the dregs of life, and Raze didn’t talk much, if at all.
Tace drove the truck around a mound of old paint cans in the center of what was once a busy street just outside of Vanguard territory. Raze kept watch out the passenger-side window, his gun out, his gaze tracking a series of shadows in an old thrift store. “I see several Rippers or survivors, but they’re not coming out to investigate.”
“Good.” Tace reached the open road and pressed the gas. “I always get twitchy scouting in the daylight.”
“Ditto, but we’re running out of batteries for flashlights and fuel for lanterns,” Raze said. “Daylight it has to be.”
“I know.” Tace kept his focus out the front and side, ready for any threat during the dawn hour. They were heading inner city to some former home construction businesses, hoping to find explosives to use at the Bunker. The large, well-known construction areas had been wiped clean of anything useful months ago.
“You guys were really loud last night.” Raze turned and eyed Tace’s aching face. “She nailed you with a good one. It’s purple now and will end up quite the shiner by the end of the day.”
Tace nodded. “Yeah.” It wasn’t like he’d had ice or a steak to put on it, even if he hadn’t been otherwise occupied with making Sami scream his name. “Sorry about the noise.” Not really, considering Raze and Vinnie had kept him awake more than once. The doc was a screamer.
“No worries.” Raze turned back to scan for danger. “You and Sami all made up?”
“I don’t think so,” Tace said. “She was sleeping when I left, and we never really got a chance to talk, you know?”
“I think so.” Raze tensed. “There’s something going on in the old McDonald’s to the right.”
“Slow down?”
Raze craned his neck. “Yeah.” He stilled. “I see two small kids throwing bricks at people.”
“Shit.” Tace pulled around back and away from the windows. “Kids can be Rippers, too.”
“Yeah.” Raze leaped from the truck and ran up the sidewalk. “Give me the count of five and then come in through the back. I’ll take front.”
“Wait.” Tace moved beyond an overflowing Dumpster to test the back door. It opened easily. “Let’s go in and scope.”
Raze nodded. “Your call.”
Tace slipped inside and swept both ways. Packaged straws littered the way along with what looked like finger bones. He moved quietly, feeling Raze at his back but not hearing a sound.
A kid screamed from the other room, and he stiffened, breaking into a fast jog.
“What do we have here?” a low voice asked.
“Let us go. We won’t tell anybody you’re squatting here.” This voice belonged to a girl—a young one?
Tace slid out from behind the wall to get a better look. Two men wearing purple gang colors had cornered a couple of kids, one boy and one girl, both around seven. The girl had long, wild black hair with mocha-colored skin, and the boy was a towhead with blue eyes.
“Oh, I think we’re gonna take you with us.” The guy speaking half turned, showing a series of tattooed tears up his neck and face. He was about thirty, and if the tats told the truth, he’d been an enforcer for Twenty, the local gang.
The boy pushed in front of the girl, who was already crying. “Take me and not her.”
