“Shut up,” I muttered.
We split into two vehicles.The Kiss of Death crew took two blacked-out SUVs with Knuckles and Hannah in the lead, Griffin and me in the second with Inferno and Diesel.Tonio and his men rolled out in their own convoy, sleek sedans with heavy tint.
Griffin drove, one hand on the wheel, the other resting near the gearshift close enough that his knuckle grazed my knee once when he downshifted.Neither of us moved away.The headlights stayed off until we hit the county road.In the back, Inferno and Diesel checked their weapons, the soft click-clack of magazines and slides the only sound besides road noise.
“You good?”Griffin asked, eyes on the road.
“Yeah.Just thinking.”
“About?”
“About what happens after.”The words came out before I could stop them.“When we get her back.When this is over.”
He was quiet for a long moment.“One thing at a time, Veda.First we get your sister.Then we figure out the rest.And we’ll do it together.”
In the rear seats, Inferno and Diesel exchanged a look, then simultaneously groaned like they’d both just heard the world’s worst dad joke.
“Jesus Christ,” Diesel muttered, low enough that I wasn’t supposed to hear but very much loud enough that I did.“Can you two get a room?Or better yet, don’t.No one’s cleaning Griffin’s nutsack off the Goddamn dashboard.”
“Don’t be jealous, D,” Griffin shot back, not even looking away from the road.“Maybe if you ever got laid by a woman who didn’t charge by the hour, you wouldn’t have to eavesdrop on my relationship.”
“Relationship?”Inferno deadpanned, using the word like it was an insult.“Since when does two nights of angry sex and a shared toothbrush count as a relationship?”
I shot Griffin a glare and opened my mouth, but Diesel beat me to it.“You didn’t share a toothbrush, did you?Say it ain’t so, man.That’s, like, second only to kissin’ cousins in terms of fuckin’ gross.”
“Sounds worse than it actually was,” Griffin said, glancing my way.I raised an eyebrow.Then he added, hastily, “I bought her a new one.Electric.Gold-plated, even.”Took everything I had not to snort out a laugh, but what fun is this kind of shit unless you play along?
Inferno chuckled and stretched his long arms overhead, knuckles cracking.“That’s real love, right there.Probably engraved her initials on it and everything.”
Griffin kept his hand on the shifter but slid a glance my way.“Ignore them.They’re just pissed because tonight I get to shoot the biggest piece of shit in Tennessee, and they get to play cleanup.”
“Don’t shoot anyone unless you have to,” I said, forcing a smile.“Interrogation’s not so fun when the target’s head is full of holes.”
“Noted,” he said, laying his hand on my knee and squeezing once before returning to the wheel.“But I make no promises.”
Inferno leaned forward between the seats.“Word to the wise, Veda.Your man here gets real murdery when he thinks someone’s threatened his girl.Used to be he just punched walls.Now he prefers skulls.”
“That’s a lie,” Griffin shot back.
Inferno shrugged.“Fine, but the ratio of drywall repairs to concussions has shifted dramatically.”
I rolled my eyes but couldn’t stifle a laugh this time.It felt good.I’d spent months thinking I’d never laugh again, and here I was, jammed in a murder car with three ex-cons, feeling like the world might not collapse after all.Which was just all kinds of ironic.
The radio crackled.“Two miles out,” Knuckles said.“Kill the lights.”
Griffin flipped the switch, and darkness swallowed us.He guided the SUV onto the shoulder, then cut the engine.Ahead, the lead vehicle had already stopped, Knuckles and Hannah spilling out into the darkness around them.
“We go on foot from here,” Griffin explained to me, reaching for his door handle.“Stay close to me.Do exactly what I say, when I say it.Not even if you have eyes on your sister.Got me?”He’d added that last because the man seriously knew me, even if we hadn’t known each other long.He knew if I saw Tessa I’d be helpless not to go to her.
I almost smiled, then repeated his earlier response.“I make no promises.”
He caught my wrist before I could move.“I mean it, Veda.This isn’t like the compound.Iron’s expecting us.He’s had time to prepare.”
“I know.”I turned my hand, lacing my fingers through his.“I’m not planning to die tonight, Griffin.I’m planning to win.And the quickest way to get myself and my sister killed is to be the loose cannon.”
He nodded at me once and squeezed my hand, then we exited the vehicle, meeting at the hood where Inferno and Diesel waited, calm and focused.
Knuckles approached from the lead SUV, Hannah at his side.“Remember,” he said, voice low.“We want Tessa.We want Iron.Everything else is secondary.”His eyes found mine.“Once you have your sister, you get out when Griffin tells you.Let us handle the rest.”
