“On it,” Cap shouted, following Archer toward the door, making sure to box me in between them.
Once we were outside, I thought about running off, but there honestly wasn’t really any place to go.
Cap had his phone pulled out and was calling people right away. Within two minutes, he had already made all the calls he needed to.
“Done. Everyone will meet us there.”
“Even Leo and Scales?” Archer asked, stopping by a white van. Flashbacks of being shoved into a similar van and then beaten came flooding back, and I internally started freaking out.
“Yup, both are on their way.”
When they opened the back door for me. I took a step back, holding up my hand in surrender.
“Please don’t hurt me.”
Both men looked at each other, then Archer carefully closed the van door. “Hey, Dillon, it’s okay. We aren’t going to hurt you. We just want to take you home.”
“In a murder van? No thanks.”
Archer scrubbed at his beard and shot Cap a look. “We got anything less murderous to ride in?”
Cap shrugged. “Unless he wants to snuggle up against one of our backs, no.” Cap slowly pulled open the doors again, trying to look not threatening. But I knew better. I knew what happened when kids like me got in vans with guys like him.
“Tell you what, Dillon. How about you ride up front with me? We’ll make Cap crawl in back.”
“So he can slit my throat from behind? No thanks.” I crossed my arms, refusing to get in. “I’ll walk.”
Archer’s gaze softened. “They really did a number on you, didn’t they, kid?”
I shrugged again. “Does it really matter?”
The gentle giant took a step toward me, making sure to keep a safe distance, but also close enough to where his long arms could reach out and clasp my shoulder.
“Yes, it does matter.”
The words sounded so foreign. No one ever gave a shit about what happened to me. No one took the time to care. It caught me off guard, and for a second, I let that guard down.
“They shoved me in a van right before they kicked the shit out of me. Right before Zodiac and Tobias got there.”
I felt him squeeze my shoulder, and there was something about his eyes that made me feel less hostile, almost like I could trust him—almost.
“We aren’t that kind of club, Dillon. We help people.”
“Just like you helped the sheriff?” I snapped back, throwing the recent murder of our town’s sheriff in his face. “Because last I checked, you helped him get dead.”
He took a step back. “We weren’t a part of that. We’re still looking for who did it, but it wasn’t us.”
There was something about Archer that made me trust him. He seemed like the type of guy who could kill me with the flick of his pinky finger, but underneath that mammoth biker was a softer side, one that seemed to actually care about my well-being.
I looked at the van, then carefully walked over to the passenger seat. “As long as you can promise that this guy won’t shank me or slit my throat while we’re driving, I’ll get in.”
Cap held up his hands. “I’m not gonna touch you, kid.”
Archer’s eyes stayed on me as I got into the vehicle. Behind my dirty and tattered clothing was a heart beating rapidly inside my chest, and a fear I couldn’t shake—one that plagued and rattled my bones. It was as if he could sense it, like my fear affected him more than it should have .
Cap closed the van door, and I jumped, reaching for the handle on the door.
But Archer was already in the vehicle, and that big, beefy hand was on my shoulder again, soothing me.
