“You havegotto be fucking kidding me.”
Twenty-Five
My first thought as I woke up was that my head hurt. It throbbed dully as I tried to figure out where I was, but only found confusion amidst my half-asleep brain. For just a second, I thought maybe I’d fallen out of bed because Cash was taking up too much space on the mattress again.
I quickly dismissed that though as my body wasn’t on a smooth hardwood floor. Instead, I was lying outside on the cold, hard ground.
This was definitely not my home. The sound of arguing in the distance only confirmed that for me.
I groaned, trying to sit up but a familiar voice stopped me.
“Don’t let them see that you’re awake,” Ambrose whispered, giving me a nudge until I flopped back down.
At the sound of his voice, everything that had happened came crashing down around me.
I’d been kidnapped by Mike and a bunch of men. Ambrose had been taken with me. Cash was hurt. No one knew where we were.Shit.
“My head is killing me,” I groaned, wishing I could bring my hand up to rub the sore spot, but both of my hands were tied behind my back.
Finally, I managed to open my eyes enough to find Ambrose’s own black eyes on my face.
We were both lying on our sides, practically nose-to-nose. It was dusk outside, the sky darkening from blue to a deep purple. The assholes who kidnapped us must have driven through the night and nearly through an entire day before I woke up.
Panic fluttered in my chest. How far from Port Haven were we? And where the hell was Mike taking us?
“Yeah, I bet. You sure know how to pick them, human, that asshole was kicking you around even after you’d already passed out. It took one of those hunters to get him to stop,” Ambrose whispered, looking pissed.
As he spoke, I realized he was right. My head was the worst of my injuries, but the rest of my body didn’t feel that much better either. I was pretty sure that at least one of my ribs was broken as it hurt to breathe in and out, but I didn’t have time to think about that.
I shifted slightly, the pain becoming so intense that a whimper slipped from between my lips. “Where are we?” I asked through gritted teeth.
“I dunno, they shoved a bag over my head at some point, but the van broke down ten or so hours in, that’s why they put us outside and are currently busy arguing,” he explained.
“What are they arguing about?” I whispered, trying to listen in vain as the words were muffled by the distance. It was clear that Mike was pissed about something and I wished that I had Cash’s hyper sensitive hearing.
Ambrose shrugged. “Same shit that humans always argue about. Apparently your asshole ex paid them to grab you and drive both of you across the country. I put a twist in those plans though, and the van breaking down was just the cherry on top.”
Effie had once off-handedly mentioned that elves fetched some of the highest prices on the black market. Something about their blood and organs being used as drugs amongst other things. Now that Ambrose had been taken with me I was afraid that we’d just handed these assholes an even bigger payday.
Guilt sat heavy in my gut. I’d pulled him into this. “I’m sorry for getting you involved,” I apologized. Ambrose never liked me much, but that didn’t mean I wanted him to be captured by hunters.
Ambrose sighed heavily, his pallid skin seeming to flush. “I owed you one for giving away your location to that P.I. Doesn’t mean I like you, but I respect Cash enough to not want him to be hurt.”
“Thanks… I guess?” I said, unsure of what to respond to that with.
“Save your thanks for when we get out of this. Remember that earring? Effie should be able to track me with it. Which means that, hopefully, the cavalry is already on its way with guns blazing,” Ambrose said, his shoulders moving up and down as he did something behind his back. “In the meantime, you and I need to get the fuck out of here before they figure out what’s wrong with the van and we’re on the road again.”
Ambrose’s hands, which he’d somehow freed from his restraints, flipped me over and began untying me. I bit back a groan at how much his jostling hurt, and started to gear up for a run that was undoubtedly going to be much more painful.
“When I tell you to, you need to get up and run. I’ll be right behind you, but don’t look back,” Ambrose instructed softly, glancing over his shoulder at where Mike and the men were still arguing.
“Ambrose?” I asked, turning to look at him again.
There was a huff from the elf. “What?”
“Before we do this, can you tell me why you hate humans so much and why you helped me yesterday? And no bullshit about owing me one.” If I was going to trust that Ambrose had my back, I needed to know more about him.
There was another heavy sigh, but this time it sounded less annoyed and more resigned.
