Page 27 of These Deadly Dreams

“Then come on,” Cade urges. He pushes both of us to the door and out into the night.

The warm summer air barely registers in my mind, as Cade opens the back door of the car and shoves first me, then Kai inside. He runs around the front and hops into the passenger seat. Sterling takes off before Cade’s door is fully shut.

My panic recedes the closer to the gate we get, and as my panic recedes, so does Kai’s. He’s able to get himself under control and he peers out the windshield at the approaching gate.

“They blew the gate up, too,” Kai says. “How the hell did they get so far without any warning?”

“Someone on the inside?” Sterling asks as he maneuvers the car around chunks of stone and twisted metal.

We’re almost out of the driveway when something hits the back window. Kai immediately shoves my head down and covers me with his body.

“Go, Sterling!” he yells. “They’re fucking shooting at us!”

Sterling floors it, the car bouncing over debris from the blown-up gate and Kai curses.

“You better not have just fucked up my car,” he mutters.

“What the hell do you want me to do?” Sterling shouts. “You tell me to go, then get pissy when I go. Make up your mind.”

“Is anyone following us?” Cade asks from the front seat. Always the voice of reason, he reels the other two guys back.

Kai lifts off of me, but he doesn’t remove his hand from my neck to keep me down. “I think we’re good,” he says after a while.

He lifts his hand and I slowly sit up, glancing at the back window. “How did that not break?” I ask.

“Bullet proof glass.”

“You have bullet proof glass in your car? Do you get shot at that often?”

He chuckles. “No. But you never know when you’ll need it. Case and point.”

“Fair enough,” I say.

Cade turns around to look at me. “Are you okay?”

The concern shining in his eyes does something to me. I know these guys all care for me. I know they will do anything to protect me. I know their purpose in my life. But experiencing their love for me first hand is something else entirely. I swallow the lump in my throat and nod.

“I’m fine. Just trying to process everything.”

“Do you need anything?” he asks.

“I never got to eat that food. I’m still hungry.”

He smiles. “We’ll stop and get you something once we know we’re for sure not being followed.”

He turns back around and Kai tugs on my arm.

“Come here.” His eyes are still red-rimmed, and the way they shine in the street lights as we pass them makes me shiver. He looks every inch the predator he is.

I scoot across the seat and rest my head on his shoulder. He wraps an arm around me, holding me tightly.

“Ellis, about what happened back there.”

I look up at him, worried he’s mad about my reaction.

“Nothing happened between me and Guilia. She was trying, but I never would have let her take it any further.”

“I know that,” I whisper.

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