Page 39 of Hell Bites

I spot Roger hiding under the sofa, and instead of trying to pull him out, I hop up and lift it, tipping it against the wall.

“Good. Do you know how to drive?” Zia blinks at me and holds out the key ring with a rabbit’s foot attached. “We’ll figure that out together then.”

“Together?”

“Together.” I hoist my cat over one shoulder, holding him in place with one hand before I walk over and cup her cheek with the other. “We are a we now, Zia. It happened when you made me an accessory to tampering with the mail and murder.” Dipping my chin, I bring my lips close to hers, hesitating for the briefest of seconds before I give this adorably unhinged female a slow kiss. “And that’s why I need to get you out of here.”

I hop the curb with a loud thud followed by the scraping of metal as I turn right toward the studio, narrowly missing the streetlight when I do. Zia giggles from the passenger seat as she’s tossed around the inside of the tiny little car, some kind of Cooper or something, painted bright yellow with a black stripe down the side.

It’s absolutely hideous and I barely fit inside, but it was our only option to get to Hellcat fast enough to beat the imaginary clock I’ve conjured up.

Roger yowls from the back as I straighten out, jerking the steering wheel back and forth a couple times before I’m back on track. I’ve never driven anything like this in my one hundred and ninety-eight years of life, and I don’t really want to ever again.

If my knuckles get any whiter, they’ll be completely transparent.

“Turn here!” Zia blurts as she points her arm across my face.

Whipping the wheel left, I blast into a trash can and drive through the corner of someone’s lawn before focusing my eyes on the road. “Are you sure? I don’t see it.”

“Uhm…” She scrolls through her phone before nodding. “Turn right… here!”

With another hard jerk of the circle of death that’s supposed to steer this hunk of junk, I accidentally floor it and send us flying down the first street I’ve recognized this entire time.

“There, see.”

“I see,” I grunt. Driving this clown car from that house to the studio was the single worst trip of my life, including when I took the portal from Purgatory to the surface all those years ago, and I’m pretty high strung.

More than normal, anyway.

But getting here quickly was important.

Zia’s brother didn’t exactly give her a timeline or date to be expecting her husband to show up, but knowing he most likely knows where she is, we needed to leave. And when I told her what my plan was, Zia got on board very quickly.

“I’m so excited to watch you record!” She squeals as I swerve into the parking lot before whipping the car into a spot. “I bet you look so sexy doing it.”

I roll my eyes as I figure out putting it in park, then throw open my door and carefully unfold myself from the seat before walking around to let Zia out. “I doubt it.”

But it doesn’t matter what I think.

This crazy little female was getting anxious the more we talked about my plan, and coming here to record was my way of trying to take her mind off that.

So, we’re going to be here while I get the next—and possibly final—episode of The Word Nerd squared away, then we’re going to go to my apartment for the day before leaving as soon as the sun sets.

I wasn’t really sure where we were going to go after that since we’re both supernatural beings running from our homes, but I remembered this place Silas used to talk about, a camp or a commune of sorts in Alaska. I’m pretty sure he said there was someone there who could help people like us get somewhere even safer. I have no idea if any of that is true, but now seems like a good time to find out.

“Such a gentleman,” Zia says with a smile as I close her door behind her. Then she grabs a healthy handful of my ass before I grab her hand and turn toward the back of the studio. “And so nice to look at.”

I chuckle as we stop at the door. “That was very forward, Azizia.”

She visibly shudders as I growl her full name, then grins when I can’t help but kiss her. “You didn’t like it?”

“I liked it too much, but I’m not sure we have time for this right now.”

“Fine,” Zia pouts.

And I smirk. I have no idea how we even got here, but I’m very taken with my abductor, and I’m not mad about it.

After going in alone to send Mandy off without her knowing I have company tonight, I take Zia into the room I record in and get her situated before starting my regular routine.

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