“And I told you, you don’t need to be. Heidi started bawling when I saw her, although I was already wound up from seeing Simona. Honestly, if someone around me cries, I’m sobbing along with them. It doesn’t mean it’s bad but everything is changing.”
“For the good though, right?”
“Yeah, for sure. Seeing Raney happy was something we all needed,” I confess, reaching for the Slurpee we’re meant to be sharing after all.
Even though it was a quick lunch / catch up at Raney’s new pack home, it was the first time the four of us had been together since the shooting at Birdies. It was always going to be an emotional reunion. Maverick had to drive until I could stopthe tears and dry my face enough to put on a mask and some eye gel. The last thing I need for tomorrow is puffy eyes, but I’m certain after we get to enjoy our afternoon date of watching movies and snuggling, I’ll be blemish free for our photo shoot in the morning.
“Any news yet?” I ask, taking a long, purposeful slurp on our Slurpee. Mav’s idea was to mix and make our own flavour combination, it kind of works.
He goes to say something but stops, his eyes go wide and I start to panic except then his face changes and he’s in awe of me or something. “What?”
“No brain freeze? What are you, a freak?” He laughs before taking back the cup, and stretching over the car seat to pass over a pink Starburst that he has between his lips. “Don’t say I don’t spoil you. Hop over into the next lane, we have to take a left on Saints Row.”
Checking my rear-vision mirror, the traffic isn’t too busy but it is picking up. Big Tom and Tonka are following behind us, a few car lengths back. I hit the brakes a bit too hard when it’s clear they won’t make it through and the driver behind me gives me his horn and his middle finger.
“Charming.” I mutter.
Maverick lifts his lip in a snarl but before he can climb out of the car to go teach the person behind us some manners, I grab his hand. “Any messages?”
I think I’ve asked him about a hundred times since we started driving away from Raney’s and this time as soon as he picks it up it makes a noise.
It’s nerve wracking to wait for him to tell me word for word but in a way he doesn’t need to, there’s clearly not good news. He tries to make a call. “Hey, give me a call. Saw your message. Not great but we’re fine.”
The light goes green and we take off except almost as soon as we make it through the crossing, everyone behind us gets stopped by the lights and sirens of a fire truck. I can’t pull over anywhere to wait for Big Tom so I take my foot off the accelerator and we cruise through the next set of lights, waiting for them to catch up. My phone rings, and I pick it up laughing because Big Tom is as predictable as the sun rising. “I’m going as slow as I can.”
“You good?” he asks in his usual quiet stoicism.
“Yeah, no worries. Why?”
I hear him take a sigh before he speaks, “Just a weird day, or maybe we got…”
I’m so invested in the conversation I’m having with Big Tom, the movement out of the corner of my eye doesn’t register until the very last second, and then time stands still.
I barely have time to scream before a huge truck smashes into Maverick. But then time warps and slows and I see everything happening; Maverick’s body nearly bends in half on impact, he flies in my direction but I’m being thrown too. My ears ring as the collision explodes the glass and crushes the metal around us.
I remember watching Maverick reaching for me, raising my arm to him before everything blacks out.
Every cell in my body is screaming in pain and shock, my eyes won’t open and I have no idea what the hell is going on but there is a voice in my head, telling me to wait.
“Are you fucking sure, Mary?” a woman’s voice whines.
She interrupts the noise and disorientation in my head, except instead of fighting to sit up or figure out what is going on, my body locks up and makes me listen and think before I do anything.
“Mary, are you sure?” Her voice doesn’t trigger any memories. I’m pretty sure I’ve never heard it. I might have, butI definitely know I’ve never met anyone called Mary before. It’s such an old name, and her voice suggests she’s not that old.
I also figure out I’m not with Maverick or Big Tom. By the stink of the car seat I’m lying on, and the position I’m in it’s easy to jump to the conclusion I’m not in an ambulance either. There’s bad signs everywhere but I keep my eyes shut, keep as still as I can, hoping I get more of a chance to figure out exactly where I am, who I’m with and what is going on before they know I’m awake.
“Of course I am sure,” another woman answers. “I’ve been watching her. And if you want proof, surely the ring?”
The spite and aggression in her voice is surprising, and her voice doesn’t give me much to work with except to confirm I’ve never met her either. At the mention of a ring, my finger throbs, and as slowly as I can I move, which isn’t really necessary because there’s a hollowness inside my chest, like I already know I’ve lost something important. King’s ring is gone. I have a growing suspicion at least one of the people in this car is responsible for taking it and is the source of the harassing texts I’ve been getting.
That thought barely sinks in when a sharp stab of pain hits me in the chest, and it’s impossible to pinpoint the source. It flares red hot before it dims and almost fills with a sense of calmness. My bond with my pack is alive, but more than that, they know I’m in danger.
I feel better, but I don’t have the luxury of time to relax, as I go sliding over the back seat when the car takes a sudden and sweeping bend too fast. I get slammed against the door.
“Yeah, well, she wouldn’t be the only person in the world wearing…” the other person says, both of them ignoring the sound of me hitting the car door.
My foot gets caught at an awkward angle, nearly snapping under the weight of my body. I bite my lip, trying not to make a noise.
