“We aren’t going to hurt you. You have my word on that.”
Trust wasn’t something I normally gave anyone, but there was so much honesty and caring in the old biker’s voice that I settled against the seat, still tense and on edge, but not as scared as I was before.
For the next ten minutes, I let them drive me around, playing it off like I knew where I was going. I didn’t. I had no clue where to have them take me. But I still pretended like I was taking them somewhere.
“So, where do you live, kid?” Cap asked.
I spied a gas station off to the left in front of some nice-looking apartments and blurted out, “At those apartments. You can drop me off at the gas station, though. My mom would freak if she saw me hanging out with a bunch of bikers.”
Archer eyed Cap in the rear-view mirror. “Zodiac wants us to go speak with your parents.”
“Th—they’re not home right now.”
“But you just said she’d freak if she saw us with you,” Cap interjected.
Shit. I did.
“Cameras,” I quickly fired back. “She watches them like a hawk. Anyway, thanks for the ride. I really appreciate you patching up my arm, too.” I flapped the broken arm just a tad, but just moving it made it hurt like hell.
Archer frowned when he saw the pain in my face. “You should really go to the doctor.”
“I’m fine.” But I wasn’t. I didn’t think I’d ever be fine again.
“Okay, well, if you need anything, Dillon, anything at all. Come find me at the strip club. I work almost every night.” I wasn’t sure why Archer was so intent on saving me, but he seemed genuine, which was something I wasn’t used to at all.
“Okay, thank you.”
Retreating from the van quickly, I acted as though I was walking toward the apartment complex, disappearing behind a wall of the gas station, and waiting until I heard the tires pull away from the curb. After counting to two hundred, I peeked around the corner, making sure that they were gone.
They were.
“Great. Now, where am I going to sleep tonight?”
Above me, the clouds darkened, and I swear I saw a mocking smile in one of the flashes of light that burst through the clouds.
“Please don’t rain.”
Slowly, I made my way up the street, keeping my hoodie down and my arm close to my side. I couldn’t risk the Artillery seeing me, and I wasn’t sure where to go that I could stay safe. The only place I relatively felt safe was at the strip club, but if I returned there, would they just make me leave again?
I had them drive me at least two miles away, so I knew getting back there was going to be a chore, especially since I was still hurting all over. Archer was right. I did need a doctor, but I had no address, no phone, and no form of identification to prove who I was. I left the foster care system with a black trash bag full of clothes that I left behind the dumpster at the grocery store like a dumbass and returned, only to find it had been thrown away. Now all I had were the clothes on my back and my name. That was it. I might as well be considered a ghost with how much of my life had been eradicated from existence.
A block or two away from the strip club, I noticed a pair of Harley’s waiting in an abandoned parking lot. The Hell’s Artillery was bright and bold on their backs, and instantly had me ducking for cover. Why were they watching the strip club?
Their eyes were trained on the parking lot, laughing and joking as they waited for something.
“Fuckers. They actually think they can best Beretta? I can’t wait to see that asshole’s face when the thing that means the most to him goes up in flames,” the smaller of the two bikers growled.
What were they talking about? Who were they talking about?
“It’s done. That’s the signal,” the other one said loudly, watching as two men in an automobile road past me. I was hidden behind a dumpster, but I could see Beretta’s face in the passenger window throwing up some sign. “Now we wait to make sure it goes as planned.”
The two bikers were too consumed in conversation to notice me slip by them, and I made it to the crosswalk across the street when all hell broke loose.
A white sedan skidded into the intersection, right as a truck was coming up the road. The loudest crash I’d ever heard in my life echoed through the empty street, preceded by the screeching of tires as the two vehicles came to an abrupt stop, wrapping around each other. Metal was everywhere. It littered the intersection and hung off both the vehicles like flimsy wafer paper. The sound of a broken horn blared from one of the cars, and I wondered if the driver was okay.
From the doors of the strip club, I saw the young prospect take off, running straight for the wrecked vehicle. I wasn’t sure what to do. Do I stay hidden? Do I help?
That’s when I saw Sienna come running out, throwing open the driver’s side door and revealing who was behind the wheel… Tess.
