Page 110 of Slay Ride

Bennett whistles as he examines the bruise forming on Maverick’s jaw, then turns to Eve. “You’re damn right I’m protective of her, but if she’s gonna have other people in her corner, I want you there. You’ve got an arm on you.”

She gets to her feet and goes to Maverick. “Hey, sorry about that,” she says. “You understand, though, right?”

“I understand,” he says. “We all want what’s best for the people we care for. But maybe don’t go so hard when it’s one of your own next time.”

“Can you forgive me for hiding this?” I ask Eve as Bennett helps me to my feet. “I would have told you when I was ready. I just?—”

“Honey, say no more.” She pulls me into a hug and places a gentle kiss on my cheek. “If he makes you happy, then I’ll keep my concerns to myself, but if he ever makes you cry, don’t tell me unless you want his head on a platter by breakfast.”

“Thanks, Eve,” I say.

She shakes her head. “Still doesn’t make sense that you won’t tell Kindra. She’s nice enough to me, and I consider her a friend, but she only shares her warmth with a few people. I’ve seen it. And you’re one of them. If you’re worried about the jokes?—”

“That’s part of it, but that’s not all of it,” I say. “I just need some time.”

“Suit yourself.” Eve shrugs. “If you want it kept a secret, I’ll keep it a secret.”

I breathe a sigh of relief, but the feeling is short-lived when a red jumpsuit rushes through the trees in the distance. Bennett hoists the dart gun over his shoulder and looks back at me.

“You ready for your first hunt?” he asks.

I look into the distance, at the retreating figure who doesn’t know we’re on his trail, and I nod. “Let’s do it.”

Before we can start off, Eve grips my sleeve and turns me to face her. “Do you want to do this just the two of you?” she asks. “Maverick and I can run interference if needed.”

I shake my head. “I want all of you there. I’ll need the support.”

“Then you’ll have it,” Maverick says. “Let’s go catch this son of a bitch.”

As a group, we turn toward the forest and head deeper.

Chapter Forty-Four

Bennett

The tracks were easy enough to follow . . . at first. Somewhere along the way, our prey realized we were tracking him, and he got a little smarter. His footprints eventually doubled back on themselves, and we lost him altogether. Now we’re standing in the middle of the woods without a clue in sight.

Maverick recommended we head back, but Cat and Eve argued that we still have a few hours of daylight left. He argued that it was lunchtime and he was hungry. In the end, the girls won.

“Maybe we should backtrack and look at the treetops,” Cat suggests. “He might have gone to higher ground. That’s what I would do if someone were hunting me.”

“I don’t think we’ll need to backtrack,” Eve says as she looks up.

We follow her gaze, and there, ten feet above our heads and roughly the same distance to our left, our target clings to athin pine trunk and stares at us. His mouth opens, and he yells something, but we can’t understand him.

Four sets of boots cut a path through the snow as we race to the bottom of that tree. The Cattle tries to climb higher, but he’s losing his battle with gravity and physics.

I pull the dart gun from my shoulder, then ready a tranq dart. “He might die from the fall,” I say to the group. “Are we in agreement that if that happens, it’s not a fucking kill-block?”

“Yes, Bennett,” Eve says. “Now that I know what’s up, a lot of strange things make sense. Like that day in the rec room. You were covering for her, weren’t you?”

I don’t respond. I just steady my hand as I aim at the quivering red buttocks now twenty feet above me.

Fwoop!

The dart flies out of the chamber, the red-feathered end fluttering in the breeze until the needle finds its mark. The Cattle reaches back with one hand and pulls the dart from his ass cheek, but the damage is already done. The tranquilizer entered his body at the moment of impact, and now we just have to wait.

We lower our weapons and take a seat at the bases of some of the nearby pines, making sure to leave enough space for the asshole to fall without crushing any of us. The man doesn’t look terribly big, but any amount of weight could be painful when it falls from that height.

---