Page 40 of Hades

“Because it’s late and the roads are empty. They haven’t come close to passing us in this old ass hooptie, and surely, they’d try under these conditions.” She caught me looking at her. “What?”

I couldn’t help the smile that touched my lips. “Nothing, just good observations.” I looked in the rearview mirror until I spotted the car about a quarter mile in the distance. “Got your seatbelt on?”

“Always.”

“Good.” I hit the gas, putting more distance between us before I took the exit at the last minute.

“What the hell, Hades?”

“Need to confirm your hunch.” I sped off the exit only to slow down to give them time to catch up. “If they’re following us, we’ll find them soon enough.”

Two minutes later the car resurfaced but turned into a gas station when they spotted us.

As soon as they stopped at a pump, I sped off and jumped back on the highway. We drove a few miles before the dark SUV showed up again. “Your suspicions are correct.”

“Great. What a fucking thing to be right about.” She huffed out a bitter laugh and shook her head.

“They must’ve been sitting on the house waiting for an update from their friends.” Which meant they’d been following us for a long damn time.

Too long.

“Shit. What do we do now?”

It was a good question. “We can’t go back to the clubhouse, not right away.” I pulled out the burner and called Falcon. “Talk to your brother.”

“Ugh,” she groaned and tapped the speaker button. The ringing sounded loud as fuck inside the car.

“Yo,” he answered.

“Is that seriously how you answer the phone?”

Falcon went silent for a long moment before he laughed. “It is when a number I don’t recognize calls me in the middle of the fucking night.”

She rolled her eyes. “The Russians found us at the second safe house. Hades handled them and we’re both safe. But we now have a Russian tail following us on the highway, so we’re not coming straight back to the clubhouse.”

“Why not? The Russians probably know where it is,” Falcon muttered.

“Yeah, but I still don’t wanna lure trouble to our door unless we’re ready and waitin’.”

“I’ll speak to Diesel. He can call in some other brothers. That way if they do follow, we’ll have a welcoming party for them,” Falcon said, sounding way too pleased at the prospect of a fight.

“Okay, brother. You rally the troops I’ll try and lose these assholes and maybe we’ll be there in the morning,” I called out.

There was silence.

“I’ll keep you updated, right?”

“Yeah,” Falcon sighed. “Fucking Russian mobsters, thought the Cartel was bad enough.” He grumbled under his breath for another thirty seconds as if he forgot he was on a phone call. “I’ll let Diesel know.” The call disconnected abruptly, which was exactly Falcon’s style.

“We’re good, Bro. Talk to ya later.” Raven’s sarcastic words cut through the quiet car and a beat later we both laughed.

It wasn’t loud or energetic, but it was real. And it felt damn good to laugh. “It’s refreshing as shit when you’re the take no shit spitfire you usually are. I can’t handle seeing you afraid,” I admitted.

Raven’s grin was wide and teasing. “Does it make you uncomfortable?” She laughed out loud. “Lots of guys are uncomfortable with emotions.”

I shrugged, trying to think of the best way to answer. “I guess some of it is discomfort, but it’s more that it just doesn’t feel right. Like there’s a disturbance in the universe.”

She froze for a long moment, her stare burned a hole in the side of my face and then she burst out laughing. This time it was a long, body shaking laugh. She laughed until tears ran down her cheeks. It was damn good to see tears of joy for once. Eventually Raven got her laughter under control, but she still clutched her belly. “Oh. My. God.”