Page 75 of Falling in Reverse

“Get to my car.” A dangling of keys skips across the hardened earth and its Juice. “There’re too many of them.”

“What are you going to?—”

“Hurry up.”

Shit.

As quietly and quickly as I can, I slither out from my safe haven, swipe up the keys, and listen for anyone approaching. Juice is gone, disappeared somewhere else in the darkness, and my heart is literally beating the crap out of my chest.

Getting back behind the Challenger again, I round the backend to keep myself closest to the brush and woods for better coverage.

No shining flashlights give way to anyone nearby and one step out is me in the open to where the green Mercedes sits and Juice’s Impala is parked along the other side of the woods.

It’s a good twenty-five yards over with no cover.

A blacked-out SUV that I can’t make out the brand of is parked behind the stolen vehicle that caused all this to happen, and unless I go into the woods and make a circle, it’s the only way I’m getting safely to it.

My right heel doesn’t even make it out, when I’ve quickly spun around and slammed into the trunk of the Challenger, a large palm covering my mouth to keep my scream and the surprised grunt at bay.

“I should’ve known that when there’s trouble, you’d be a part of it.”

I know that voice.

However, I can’t confirm it fully with the limited light from above, but the smell of aftershave and weed fills my nostrils just like they did when Travis was getting shot and I had a gun held to my head.

“Bay Astor,” Cairo’s voice leers venomously. “I’m getting real tired of your fucking ass.”

I open my mouth, not to speak, but I feel the familiar end of a gun pressed into my stomach.

That quickly gets my lips to clamp shut against Cairo’s palm.

“I’m removing my hand,” he states. “And if you fucking scream, I’m shooting you, got it?”

I bob my head, but Cairo is untrusting of my silent acknowledgment.

“One peep and I’m putting a few bullets in you. I don’t care that you’re Emilio Wildes’s daughter. I don’t give a fuck that your Levi Wallace’s girl, either. Scream, and you’ll only give me something worth comin’ out here for besides getting my car back.” The hand over my mouth falls to the wayside, and I inhale a fresh breath of air. “Well?”

“Well, what?” I stutter a bit.

“How many guys?”

Oh God…

He wants the layout of the land so that he doesn’t miss someone out here that might jump his ass.

“Five,” I lie.

“Who?”

“Bobby, Fallon, Walker, Murphy, and Yates.” All five names that I just pulled proudly out of my ass.

“The Nameless?”

“Dunno.” The barrel of the gun shoves itself deeper into my side again. “I don’t know.”

“How the fuck don’t you know?” he retorts through his teeth in a low growl. “Do I appear like I’m in the mood for your bullshit? I dragged my ass through the fucking forest to get here. You’ve been nothing but a pain in my ass who I can just get rid of before you become a bigger one.”

“I don’t have a list of—” A loud explosion booms through the air, rattling my eardrums and jolting me into shock at how close it sounded.

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