‘Gia, move!’ Renny shoves me in the passenger seat of a truck – a Raptor. Ryker’s Raptor. I blink when I’m hit with that familiar scent. I feel like everything is moving so fast but in slow motion simultaneously. A second later, Ryker opens the driver’s side door, starts the engine and we’re moving. He locks the doors and manoeuvres his way through a chaotic mess of headlights and exhaust fumes and heads down the street leading to the blast furnaces.
‘What the fuck is going on?’ I cry.
Ryker breathes harshly, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth. He tosses something silver at me and I catch it. Jace’s necklace. I run my fingers over the word engraved in the metal bar and the relief I feel is cellular. I hold Jace’s necklace against my heart, afraid that if I let go, it’ll slip through my fingers like sand.
I inhale a shaky breath. ‘Why did he have this?’
Ryker’s nostrils flare as his knuckles whiten around the steering wheel.
‘Ryker!’ I demand. ‘Answer me.’
‘Drop it!’ he booms. ‘The less you know the better, Gianna! If I don’t get him, then these last four years will have been for nothing.’
‘What are you talking about? IsErikwho you’ve been after? If this is some stupid college bullshit …’ I lose my words, my mind racing faster than I can keep up with. ‘I need to know what’s going on.’
‘Just. Drop. It.’
I sink back into the seat, feeling bile burn at the back of my throat and tears prick at my eyes. I grip the metal chain tight in my hands. The moments that pass feel like hours, and Ryker sounds hollow when he finally speaks.
‘It was him. Don’t you remember?’
Chapter 25
Ryker
FOUR YEARS AGO
Red drips onto the asphalt.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
I freeze when I see where the blood is pouring from, feeling my insides break. My R1 has skidded to a halt on its side. My eyes sting from the plumes of black smoke. My soul leaves my body when I see what’s trapped underneath the mangled mess.
Jace.
He took my bike and sped off down the strip. I’d only just turned away to follow Gianna, but the crash of warped metal rang out, rising above everything else. I’ve never run so fast in my life and when I reach him, I lift off the bike, throwing it to the side.
More red.
Jace gurgles as I lift his head, cradling his face in my palms. I take him all in. Broken bones and torn flesh. Crimson douses my hands, clothes and forearms.
The whine of a motor makes me look up in time to see the silver car that smashed head-on into Jace. The same Aston Martin that was at the animal shelter this afternoon.
Erik.
‘Told you you’d fucking regret it!’ he yells. ‘I was after you, but don’t worry. You’re next!’
The car fishtails off into the distance with a scream, squeezing between two parked cars.
I look down at Jace, his eyes glassy as he lies limp and heavy in my hands. His flesh is ripped from his bones while his legs bend in sickening directions. His chest barely rises and falls. His blinks slow, and I panic.
‘Jace!’ I rub his cheek lightly with my thumb. It does nothing but smear the blood across his face. ‘Wake up, man. You gotta stay awake.’
Heavy steps approaching make me look up. It’s Renny. He’s dialling emergency and keeps his phone pressed to his ear as he swipes a hand through his hair.
