Page 590 of Filthy Elites

“Put your hands in the mud?" Cam suggests.

“Maybe your jacket too. Roll in it for a bit; you can say you fell. They shouldn’t see much in the dark, and you can always say it’s mud. I’m going to play dead, pretend I’m passed out. They’ll let you take me to the hospital before questioning you.”

I’ve killed someone and she doesn’t give a fuck. Nor does Camden, for that matter. I don’t particularly care either, so I suppose we can all be psychos together. “Thank you.”

She chuckles humorlessly. “What for? You guys literally saved my life. Making sure you don’t end up incarcerated for your effort is the least I can do.”

I take her back into my arms for the rest of the way.

The sheer amount of light coming from the main path tells me we’re about to be greeted by Thorn Falls’ finest. Before I can say a word, Erica goes limp in my arms, eyes closed.

Cam draws nearer. “Whatever happens, her story’s the way it went,” he whispers, before we step into the light.

ChapterThirty-Three

I can’t believethe number of bouquets I wake up to. You’d think I was popular. I know better. Getting abducted and literally set on fire has endeared me to a surprising number of assholes.

Morgan’s seated next to me, reading a book, and Lola’s head rests on my bed, close to my knee. She fell asleep to my left.

“You’re awake.” Morgan sets the book down and gets up. “How are you feeling?”

“Drugged.” I’m groggy and everything aches, especially my left hand.

“I’ll call the nurse. And your boyfriend. He just popped out for coffee.”

I grinned. “Chase was here?”

“Yeah, the nurses were dicks about having so many people with you at the start, but your mother said we could stay.” She rolls her eyes. “I literally had to kick him out, he was driving me insane, pacing nonstop.”

Lola stirs, blinking her pretty lashes. “You’re up!” she yawns. “How are you feeling?”

“Like a truck hit me.” After Vince knocked me out on the path, I don’t know how long it took to for me to come to, but I was in the ranger cabin when I woke up. Vince explained to me in great detail what he intended to do to me before and after killing me, but then Cam burst in, and he skipped to the murder part of his plot. “Could have been a lot worse, though.”

I’m hooked to an IV, and my left wrist’s in a cast, so I have a hard time detangling myself before running to the bathroom. By the time I’m cleaning my hands, I’m inexplicably tired, and in a lot more pain. I try to flex my fingertips and wince.

Back in the bedroom, I asked, “Have I been given any painkillers?”

“Hours ago. I’ll call the nurse.” Lola’s out of the room before I can add another word.

I climb back into bed just as Chase walks in, at the head of his three boys, Morgan following them.

He walks directly to me and lowers his head, pressing his forehead against mine. My heart stops and I close my eyes, taken by the intensity of the relief hitting my chest. Like I wasn’t truly okay until this very moment.

“Laughing already?” Cam shoots me a rare, quick smile I return.

“Thank you,” I tell him earnestly.

I know he only helped me for Chase’s sake, but the whys don’t matter.

“Any time you need a knight in shining armor, princess.” He smirks, bowing down to me.

I chuckle because it’s hilarious one of the guys who took pleasure in fucking with me helped saved my life. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

Chase claims the chair Lola just vacated and takes one of my hands in his.

“The police will want to speak to you soon.”

I hold Chase’s gaze, a thousand questions in my eyes. As he’s here and not behind bars, I’m guessing he didn’t spontaneously confess to manslaughter.

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