Page 99 of Juniper Unraveling

“Man, I don’t know if they’re coming for her, or not—”

“They are,” I interject. “Your asses are grass when they find you.” My only objective is getting out of the cage before toothless decides I’m his new toy. I’ll figure out escape from there.

The stranger shrugs. “Take the deal, or leave it. You’ve already wasted enough of my time.”

His lack of interest in me could mean he’ll let me go. I’ve no idea what hell toothless was talking about before, telling me I was in deep shit, but I don’t plan to stick around to find out.

“Truck’s mine, too!” I shout as the cage slides across the bed of it.

“Don’t need a truck,” the stranger answers.

The click of the cage signals one of them has opened it, and I roll out, arms still bound, tumbling to the ground into the soft bed of sand. Kicking back, I flip to my knees and push to my feet.

A thick band of muscle cinches my waist, lifting me up into the air.

Kicking my head back, I smile at the crunch of my skull crashing into his nose.

“Fuck!”

I fall to the ground, scrambling across the hot sand to get away, but once again find myself trapped in the arms of the stranger.

“You are a feisty little shit, aren’t you?”

Attempting the same trick proves futile, when he hoists me over his shoulder, and I swing back and forth toward his ass with my hands strapped behind my back.

He stops alongside a mean-looking motorcycle—one of the old style bikes that probably still runs on gasoline, wherever he managed to find it.

The world spins right side up as he sets me down on a small seat, so I’m straddling the bike.

With a finger pointed in my face, he holds my shoulder. “You move from this bike, and I’ll shoot both your legs. Understood?”

Grinding my teeth inside my mouth, I glance up. “I want my book.”

“What book?”

I jerk my head toward the truck. “It’s in the back of the truck.”

“Get her book!” he shouts toward Rocky while climbing onto the bike.

Mouth set to a hard line, the little prick fishes in the back of the truck and tucks the journal under his arm.

Once close enough, he tosses it at me, and the book lands on the ground beside the bike. On impact, the cover flips open, and a paper flits off with the wind. The page from my notebook on which Six wrote my name. “Have your stupid book. Bitch.”

“Bastard!” My muscles flinch as I lurch on the bike, and the stranger grips my thigh, keeping me still. I want to cry at the loss, but not in front of this piece of shit, who’d surely feel smug if he knew what it meant to me.

A click draws my attention toward the stranger, who sits in front of me with a gun pointed at the kid. “Pick it up. Untie her arms and hand her the book. Nicely.”

The kid glances back to Gordy, who gives a sharp nod, and he does exactly as he’s told, loosening the binds from my hands.

He sets the book in my palm.

I draw him close and slam my fist in his cheek, sending him stumbling back a few steps.

The stranger chuckles and revs the bike. We lurch forward, and I wrap my arm around him, holding tight as he hammers the gas, speeding down the road in a cloud of dust.

Wherever the hell I’m bound, I have no idea.

Chapter 28