Page 50 of Strictly Forbidden

I guessed this fell under too little too late.

A few seconds later, I glanced into the rearview mirror again and immediately tensed. “Ah, fuck.” At least two vehicles were headed toward us at an excessive rate of speed.

“What’s wrong?”

“We got some shit. You’re going to listen to me. Crawl into the backseat with Max. Both of you need to stay down.”

“What is going on?” Noel insisted, straining to see what I was seeing.

“Goddamn it, Noel. Just fucking do as I say. Now.”

I didn’t need to be staring at her directly to know she was fuming, her mouth open in a proposed retort, but thankfully, she obeyed my command, easily crawling into the backseat.

As soon as both she and Max were secured lying down, I stepped on the accelerator.

All I heard from her was a single shudder. I kept switching from the rearview mirror to the road, hoping what I was seeing was a mistake. It wasn’t. How the fuck had they found us?

My heart racing, I thought about other ways to get where we needed to be. There were several ways of getting up the mountain, some more treacherous than others. But I couldn’t lead the bastards in the direction, or we’d be shit out of luck.

“Hold on, baby girl. This could get messy.” After making a plan of action, I kept the accelerator pressed down, swerving around one vehicle then another. I wasn’t surprised they were doing damn good in keeping up with me.

“Kage,” she said once as I almost hit the Jersey wall, fighting to keep the truck on the road. I’d purchased the one with the largest engine, figuring at some point I’d need the power. I’d just had no idea how soon.

The fuckers driving were skilled, but not as much as I was. I had to get off this road or I’d be boxed in. Somehow there had to be a way.

A part of me wanted to reach for my weapon, but I couldn’t drive and shoot at the same time. Plus, the last thing I wanted to do was to scare either one of my passengers.

At least any more than was happening.

I flew around a slight bend and something caught my eye.

A state trooper.

Fuck.

I slammed my hand on the steering wheel, which caused Noel to jerk up. “What’s happening?”

“A whole fuck load of trouble.” But with any luck, I could spin this load of shit into sunshine. Something else my mother used to say. Sneering, I reached back and was able to touch her face. The electric pulses drilling through me were too much like firecrackers, just another reminder of what I couldn’t have. “Please stay down.”

“Okay.”

God, her voice sounded so small.

I refused to back down and neither did the two fuckheads following us. Within a couple of minutes, another state trooper appeared. They were gaining ground on the mysterious followers. I watched the action intently until I noticed what might be my single chance at getting the hell out of here. Swerving across three lanes of traffic, I hit the exit ramp going eighty, forced almost instantly to press my foot down on the brakes.

Fortunately, my steel baby responded the way I wanted and I was lucky enough the light at the bottom of the exit ramp was green. Making a turn swiftly, I controlled my speeding, refusing to attract any additional attention. This road was parallel to the highway, which allowed me to catch sight of the very moment one of the SUVs made a critical error, spinning out of control before smashing into the Jersey wall at a high rate of speed.

“Shit,” I mused and kept driving, not shocked when a sudden fireball appeared in the sky. I had a feeling the assholes had an arsenal with them.

I noticed that once again Noel had disobeyed me, her eyes remaining on the fireball as long as possible.

Until I finally redirected my travel plans, taking the backroads instead.

“What is happening?” she asked a few minutes later.

I had no good answer for her. “A possible war.” As I glanced into the rearview mirror, I passed a brightly lit gas station, which allowed me to see her eyes. For those couple of seconds, we were on the same plane, one of uncertainty fused with the crazy thought that we each needed the other.

How bizarre after all I’d been through in my life.

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