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“Okay.” My voice is raspy and hoarse from the tears. I move to get up, but Blaze stands up, lifting me like I’m nothing. I wrap my arms around him as he walks us back to the truck, skillfully opening the door even with me in his arms. As I buckle myself in, I studiously avoid looking towards the Cerberus Security building, shame and embarrassment weighing my shoulders down. They were in there, planning ways to keep me safe, and I ran out and now Blaze is taking me away.
“I feel so ungrateful,” I confess as Blaze pulls out of the parking lot. I’m leaning my forehead against the window, the small town passing in an unfocused haze. “It’s just...” I trail off as we pull to a stop at the red light. It’s just...What?
He grunts. “Thought you said you didn’t want to talk?”
I snort, dry amusement at the question pulling me out of my head enough that I sit up and see where we’re headed just as we pull into The Styx parking lot. He puts the truck into park by the door we’d fled from last night. “Why are we here?”
He gets out of the truck and I follow, cautiously looking at the building across the street. My heart leaps and then settles when I see someone on the roof of the building, then see Blaze raise a hand to them. Security, I think.
Blaze opens the door for me, and I proceed him in.
“I want to take my bike, and I figure you’d appreciate a chance to shower and change,” Blaze answers as he tails me on the way to the stairs. There’s another man at the base of the stairs who looks up from his phone and lifts his chin in greeting. He’s got a Knights of Hades cut on, but the patch on the front reads Prospect.
“Anything?” Blaze asks from behind me.
“All quiet. Sydney headed out with Lacy and some of the Knights for a supply run,” the prospect answers. He’s young-looking, even younger than me. There’s no way this guy is a demon, but he’s definitely not human.
“Bet Sydney loved that,” Blaze mumbles and gives my lower back a light press. “Head upstairs and get changed. I’ll wait down here.”
My feet are like lead but my chest loosens with each step until I can finally breathe again as I reach the upstairs apartment. I expected it to look terrible, like it’d just been shot up. Instead, it looks like repairs are already well underway. There’s less furniture, and a few of the windows have been removed, letting the warm desert breeze flow in. But all the holes in the walls have been plastered and just need to be sanded and painted.
It assuages my guilt enough that I can face heading into the room I was supposed to stay in. Someone cleaned up the clothes, folding and neatly stacking my sad wardrobe at the foot of the bed. Whoever it was must have also removed the damn figurine that’d conveyed the promise of death. Even without it right in front of me, the sharply scrawled words haunt me. Shaking my head free of thoughts, I grab some clothes. Unable to remember when I last washed all of my clothes, I bring them up to my nose to sniff. I really don’t feel like taking a shower then putting on dirty clothes.
I’m met with a crisp, clean scent and I bring the clothes to my chest, hugging them tight as I squeeze my eyes shut. Someone, probably Sydney, washed them for me. Another act of kindness when all I’ve done is bring danger to their small town.
I won’t let Sydney get hurt, I resolve. Her home has already been attacked, a place that is filled with her touch and clear pride. I won’t let Enzo and my past take anything more from her. I won’t let them hurt Blaze or any of the other Knights either.
I need to stop running, but I don’t know how. Maybe, just maybe, an idea will come to me in the shower.
Twenty minutes later, I’m clean and dressed but still idea-free. Knowing Blaze is still downstairs waiting for me, I toss my damp hair up in a bun and double-check myself in the mirror, scrunching my face at what I see. Being on the run has taken its toll after a few weeks, though the dark circles under my eyes aren’t as visible as before. The only makeup I have is the mascara and lip stain I’d had in the tote before I ran, so I do a quick swipe of both. It helps a bit, adding some color to my face and darkening my lashes, but what I really need is a good week of sleep.
I’m frankly shocked Blaze is interested in me at all. Even now, I feel as if I look like a hot mess. Especially compared to Sydney and Lacy. Sure, Lacy is pregnant, but I can tell she’s the short girl with curves in all the right places and she’s genuinely beautiful. Sydney is all tanned skin, dark eyes, and lean muscle with a pure fuck-around-and-find-out attitude. Then there were all the other women at the party last night, especially that one in the skimpy dress that was all over Blaze at one point. He’s probably been with countless women, women with more experience than me.
I’m just an exhausted runaway with the mob on her ass, with only sad, worn-out leggings and tank tops. I wasn’t even smart enough to take the jewelry I’d gotten as Enzo’s wife to pawn off once the money I’d taken ran out.
A sound creaks up from below, making me almost jump from my skin.
“Almost ready, kitten?”
I blow out a harsh breath, shaking my head. I don’t know what I’m doing, but maybe with the Knights’ help, I’ll have time to figure something out.
“Be right there,” I call out as I head from the bathroom back to my room. I slide on my black flats and grab the leather jacket Sydney let me borrow. Shrugging it on, I decide to let today unfold however it will. I’ll worry about a plan to escape Enzo’s reach tomorrow.
10
BLAZE
I don’t bother hiding the fierce grin that Kennedy’s squeal behind me elicits as we catch air. No one is around to see it as I push my bike faster than I normally would out here in the desert.
When she came down the stairs and followed me to my bike, which I’d had another prospect deliver to me while she was getting ready, she had all her walls up. She’d been stiff sitting behind me, worse than when I’d first picked her up outside of town.
I shouldn’t let myself care, but I want the woman who’d kissed me back with abandon. So I push the bike, taking corners sharper and faster than necessary until Kennedy presses herself against my back, her fingers digging into my stomach as she holds on. When the first delighted squeal comes, I feel an unfamiliar relief and sense of victory. The moment I turn off the road and into the desert, it became my goal to yank her out of whatever made her cry this morning. I want more of those squeals as she holds me tighter.
I’ve had other chicks on the back of my bike before, but none of them felt so right. I didn’t give a fuck what those chicks felt, so long as they were up for a good time and nothing else.
The rocky mound I’d been driving us towards quickly approaches, and I take the last opportunity to bank hard as I whip us around it and under the shallow outcropping to earn another delighted squeal. Then I kick the stand out and cut the engine. Suddenly, I’m uncertain about what Kennedy will think. She hadn’t asked where I was taking her, and I doubt when she first climbed on the back of my bike, she thought I was going to take us an hour out into the desert.
She lets go of me and pulls off the helmet I’d insisted she wear.
