Page 32 of Married into the Mob
My ears hurt as Hunter leaned out the window and fired. “One down. Maybe two.”
The universe was looking out for us as the cars moved forward, and perhaps seeing me careening along the alley hadthe driver of the car at the end of the T junction hesitate and pause, staying where they were.
I swung around the corner, scraping the curb, and the ear-splitting screech grated up my spine and goosebumps paraded over my skin. Weaving into small spaces between lanes, I left our pursuers in my dust.
“How was that!” I did it. “I got us away from the bad guys.” Shit! Icouldbe a stunt driver. When this was over I’d consider a career change.
After removing one hand from the wheel, I held it up for a high five. Hunter’s palm on mine had my body tingling. But it was the adrenaline. Nothing more. I’d been in flight-or-flight mode.
“They’re in two black SUVs behind us.”
How was that possible? But luck was finally with us as we sailed past a green light, though the poor car complained with each yard. But as I squinted into the darkness, Hunter shouted, “I’m sorry.”
He owed me a thousand apologies, but now wasn’t the time. But he gripped the wheel and swung it hard to the right in front of traffic and toward yet another narrow side street. If they were smart, the bad guys would separate and block us in both directions and we’d have run through our nine lives.
My poor heart couldn’t take much more stress and neither could the car, but we both held it together as I plowed ahead. We were still alive as we met another busy road. I burned rubber across two lanes of traffic, causing a multi-car pile-up as I turned left.
“Dear gods, what if those people are hurt?”
“Maybe, but if so, their injuries are minor. They were barely crawling along before you skidded in front of them.”
I hoped he was right because that was pretty cool what I did. My mind couldn’t cope with guilt piled on top of everything else.
“Where are they?” I wiped sweat from my brow and was suddenly conscious of how my knuckles hurt as if I had arthritis. But it was likely from holding the wheel so tightly.
“Can’t see them, but don’t get too excited. They won’t give up easily.”
Hunter knew the city better than I did, and he directed me off the main thoroughfares, down small streets, into residential neighborhoods, and we circled around more than once before taking a road out of town.
As we zoomed along, one mile after another, the headlights swallowing up the darkness, I tried to hope that those remaining guys were far behind, telling Draven they’d lost us.
“How did they know where we were?” The tension in the back of my neck sent shooting pains down my spine and in the opposite direction into my head.
“There are eyes and ears everywhere. Draven and his cronies could pay off someone who works near the club.”
“That’s what I’d do if I was him.”
Hunter shot me a glance. “Odell, listen to you.”
“Huh?” I twisted my head toward him as we sped down the road. “What did I say?”
“You must have gotten inside Draven’s head because that’s exactly what I’d do if I were him.” Of course, Hunter was mafia and understood how people like Draven thought.
But was it Draven’s thoughts I’d interpreted or Hunter’s? My breathing sped up, and there was a familiar squeezing in my chest. The car and the world outside were closing in on me.
Shit! Not now!
THIRTEEN
HUNTER
“Odell, you can pull over and I’ll drive.”
My mate was staring straight ahead, barely blinking, his expression unchanged, with his mouth set in a straight line. The whites of his knuckles were visible in the darkness, and his paperclip ring was visible on his left hand.
But there was no reaction from my mate, no sign that he’d heard me, and he wasn’t easing his foot off the gas and pulling over.
“Odell?” My voice was edged with panic, mine and my beast’s. My wolf expected me to grab the wheel. And while I had the strength and skill to do that, I worried what it would do to my mate. The poor guy had been subjected to so much trauma. His life had been upended, and people he held dear had trampled on and shredded his trust.
