chance in hell.”
“Then, shut up and do as I’m asking you. Like I said, that’s a fucking. Order.”
I ground my teeth together. “Got it.”
“Mass copy all of us in the crew with anything else you find. In a text.”
I stood by the window. “Yep.”
“And don’t do anything stupid.”
I crossed my fingers behind my back. “You got it, Bowser.”
“Good.”
The second he hung up the phone, I gathered my things. I sure as hell wasn’t sitting around while Sly and Ash made their way here. The woman I loved wasn’t safe, and it was my fault. I wasn’t stern enough with her. I wasn’t direct enough. And I had slipped in just about every way possible trying to give her what she needed while on this damn trip. I only had myself to blame, which meant only I could be the one to fix it.
So, with my guns and my knives, and a few Dr. Peppers for the road, I disobeyed a direct over from my vice president.
I slung my leg over my bike, slid my helmet over my face, and said a small prayer before I tore out of that motel parking lot. Following the scuff marks on the road as they continued to pop up.
Hoping with every shred of dignity left in my body that I’d get to Simone before Death did.
8
Simone
I tried my best to keep the food down in my stomach as the car squealed around turns and took random exits off the highway. I had no idea where we were or how long we’d been in the car, but once I grabbed a look at the clock at the front of the car, I saw that it was damn near three in the morning. Holy shit, when the hell was I taken? I went to reach for my phone slowly, but when I slid my hand into my dress to search for it, my face paled.
My phone wasn’t there.
Damn it. Of course, it isn’t.
I was scared. Fearful for my life. And it took a lot to get me to that point. I was upset with myself, though, that I let myself get taken right outside that damn room. I still wasn't sure how I hadn’t heard their car approach. Just the closing of the door, then the car squealing to a stop before they tossed me into the back. I’d had a rough childhood growing up with JayJay and because of that, he taught me how to defend myself from a very young age. From the time I was seven until the time I was seventeen, JayJay taught me how to fight. How to wrestle. Even how to shoot a gun and wield a knife. And I’d kept up those classes all throughout community college. Hell, I even roped my best friend, Janie, into self-defense and martial arts classes with me!
So, for someone to get the jump on me and me not have enough time to react?
Whoever these guys were, they were dangerous.
“Pull over,” a gruff voice said.
“Not yet.”
“I have to take a shit. We’ve been on the road for hours. Pull over.”
“No.”
“Skeleton, man. Come on.”
The driver reached over into the passenger’s seat, fisting the man’s shirt. “Don’t you dare use my name again. Got it?”
I swallowed hard. Did that man just say “Skeleton?” Well, that answered all of my curiosities. This wasn’t my threat, it was Justin’s. And the idea that I was in a car with a man known for trafficking women made me feel queasy.
So queasy that I had to swallow down the food creeping up my throat.
“Pull over or I shit in this car. I kid you not. We’re clear of everything. Just let me get to a damn bathroom, man.”
The driver—who I now knew as Skeleton—shoved the nameless passenger back against his seat. The car took a sharp turn and I had to close my eyes, breathing deeply so as to not puke all over myself. The tires squealed again before the vehicle straightened out. And soon, the car eased to a stop as I peeked out the window.
We were at a rest stop.
In the middle of the woods.
“You got five minutes before I leave your ass in the dust,” Skeleton said.
“You want anything while I’m in here?” Nameless asked.
“Just get the hell out.”
I watched the passenger stumble out of the car before he gathered himself. And as he sauntered with a limp over toward the bathrooms, I felt a pair of eyes on me. I slowly looked up toward the rearview