Page 85 of Lethal Attraction

She stands in the center of the destruction with her chest rising and falling as she catches her breath. Loose strands of hair frame her face, and dust clings to the dark fabric of her dress. Anyone else would look exhausted after something like that.

Thalia somehow looks magnificent.

“Alright,” Connor muses, “time to go.”

I blink myself back to the present. “Oh, yeah…”

He guides me towards the back of the venue, and we come out through the exit of the industrial kitchen. There, a dark van is parked in front of the doors, running idly with the back doors open. Taryn and Emma are already buckled in on the bench seats, their heads tucked as they talk quietly among themselves. Taryn brushes a strand of her wife’s hair behind her ear before kissing her cheek tenderly.

Parked next to the van are some motorcycles and a massive truck I don’t recognize. But one of the bikes looks oddly familiar—like Thalia’s.

Alana walks down the center aisle of the van, motioning us over. “Hurry. We need to get on the road before someone finds us.”

Connor jumps in without question as I stop and glance back towards the doors. “But Thalia—”

“Will kill me if I don’t get you out of here safely,” Alana urges with a friendly smile. “Trust me. She’s going to be fine.”

I run a hand through my hair as the adrenaline begins to wear off and my limbs start to shake. “And what about last time? That’s how she ended up on my operating table.”

Connor leans out of the van with a raised eyebrow. “Either you get in or I’m throwing you in. Take your pick.”

This is frustrating.

I reluctantly give in before hopping in the back and sliding across from Taryn and Emma. Connor takes the driver’s seat as Alana eases into the passenger side with a laptop propped up on her knees. The van lurches forward as I rest my head back onto the glass and close my eyes.

I feel Taryn’s heel brush my shoe, and I peek at her. Emma’s head is resting on her shoulder as they bump along with the tires hitting potholes. Everything is deathly quiet besides the sounds of the road outside and Alana typing on her keyboard.

Until I hear the distant hum of a motorcycle. My head whips around to the glass, and I can make out at least four sets of lights traveling quickly behind us.

“Don’t worry,” Alana calls distractedly from the front. “It’s just the team.”

“Oh, thank God,” Taryn breathes with relief.

A motorcycle gains on us, swerving to my side before the rider places their hand on my window.

Thalia.

I touch the glass, offering a small, unsure smile as we continue to barrel towards some unknown location.

She’s safe.

Chapter twenty-three

Reed

We travel for thirty minutes, leaving the city limits behind as we enter the forested areas of New York. My eyes stay trained on Thalia as she rides beside us.

The van hits a gravel road, and we’re all tossed around as the terrain turns bumpy. Connor doesn’t even budge as he continues to hum along to some metal song that’s blaring over the speakers. Alana is still typing on her laptop, and every time I look over, all I see is a confusing code that reads like another language.

Connor drives us up the road until a warehouse comes into view. It’s dilapidated and leaning too far to the left, but I can make out the warm light from the inside as we near it. The massive tin door rolls upward as a brunette stands in the opening. She moves to the side when Connor’s tires slide over the smooth concrete inside.

Before he stops, I’ve already ripped my seatbelt off and am throwing the back doors open. Motorcycles rev as they drive past, and the truck from earlier pulls inside before parking. Theo jumps down from the bed of the truck with a crooked smile as he holds a finger up to me.

“Give ’em a second,” he muses.

“What?” I ask.

Thalia rips off her bike before pulling her helmet off and tossing it to the ground. She looks furious as she advances on another biker.