Page 11 of Pretty Monsters

I tip my head to her to let her know she chose correctly then take her hand to lead her over to the other bike. Lucien flips up the visor on his helmet. "What the fuck are you playing at, Sin? My sister rides with me."

I hand her my helmet, and she puts it on. I spin her around and braid her long hair and put a leather jacket over her shoulders. If we crash I'm going to be in a world of pain, but at least she'll have the best protection I can give her on a motorcycle.

"You put on the helmet and jacket without thinking of anyone but yourself. Your sister is better off with me."

He doesn't respond, and I climb on the bike. Looking at Raven, swimming in my leather jacket, I smirk at her. She looks as much like a little girl in this get up as she did in that horrendous and wonderful nightgown the first night I saw her staring at the stars.

"Climb on and hold on tight. We've got to put some distance between us and this place. They are going to notice we're gone any time now."

I use the visual signal to follow, and he nods in agreement.

Lucien snaps his visor back down and starts his bike. This is the part that gives me the most anxiety, because these vehicles are beasts with a growl to match.

Raven climbs on behind me, and tries to sit back away from me. Yanking her forward, I encourage her to hold me tight. For a moment it feels like her arms cut off my ability to breathe, and I realize this might be the first time in my life anyone's held onto me.

It isn't a thought I allow myself to dwell on, and I kick the bike to life. Lucien and I race through the last bit of the forest, and launch out onto the highway.

No Tell Motel

Sin

Dealingwith criminals every day as one of Damien's enforcers made it easy to get the fake identification, even though I went outside his network to get the documents. The last thing we need is someone letting something slip accidentally. Getting transportation not registered to Damien was a little harder.

There isn't a great place to hide a car or truck where it won't be found during the guard patrols of the property. Not to mention it's pretty hard to purchase one without it being recorded somewhere, and impossible if you don't legally exist. I soon learned it was simple to purchase parts for a motorcycle, and after I figured out how to build one, the only problem was getting money to purchase parts.

Building the motorcycles, as difficult as that was, is still easier than trying to figure out what to do now that we're leaving. All the planning I did over the last few months helped me prepare as much as possible, but I know the moment we drive away from the compound we are going to have to improvise. I don't like leaving details this important to chance, but I barely have more freedom than Raven. She's confined to a room while I have to stay on the compound. My world might be a little larger than hers, but only by a fraction

I keep a close eye on the gas gauge and plan to drive as far as possible before pulling off for food, fuel, and bathrooms. Once morning comes Damien is going to send one of his lackeys up to Raven's room to wake her up. Once they find her bed empty they will begin to search for her. It might take them an hour to search the property. That only leaves us about seven hours to put as much distance between ourselves and Devil's Crossing as possible.

Around three in the morning Raven slumps forward against my back. We are driving the backroads, so I have to slow down and use one hand to hold her arms around my middle to keep her from falling off. It takes another twenty minutes before the backroads wind around back to the highway where there's a gas station.

Lucien pulls up next to me, and engages the kickstand. "I've still got gas, did we need to stop already?"

"Your sister is sleeping. I'm afraid she's going to fall off the bike. We need to figure out a different mode of travel."

Off to the side of the building a green truck sits vacant. It's paint is weathered. It looks like a lot of the work trucks farmers drive around here. Which makes it perfect, because it doesn't stand out. For about a second I consider stealing it, but there's no telling how long it will take the owner to report it stolen, or for the police to start tracking the abandoned motorcycles.

"Give me a minute," I tell Lucien, and gently shake Raven awake. I can't just let her fall off the bike, I'm not a total asshole.

Inside the convenience store there's a large man and a clerk. The truck is the only vehicle in the lot. There's an unmistakable resemblance between them.

"Who owns the truck outside?" I ask.

The older man crosses his trunk sized arms across his chest. "Who's asking?"

"I have a proposition for the owner, are you him?"

He nods. "Let's hear it, boy. It's late and my other clerk hasn't shown up for work."

"I need different transportation. My friends and I are relocating and the motorcycles I have aren't going to work for my girlfriend. I think together they are worth as much as the truck. I'd like to make a straight trade."

The truth is one motorcycle is worth more than the truck, and it makes me ill thinking about losing that much money, but the needs of the moment outweigh the future benefit we could get from selling them both.

"Let's see them then," he says, and follows me outside.

"While you check out the bikes, do you mind if my buddy takes a look at the truck?"

He tosses Lucien the keys. He's as skilled a mechanic as I am, and I trust his assessment of the truck. I can tell the moment the giant realizes each bike is worth as much or more than the truck is worth. Looks can be deceiving, but he has the appearance of someone who at a minimum used to run with a motorcycle club.

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