Page 42 of The Wayward Sons & The Vampires of Fortune
“Get your head out of the fucking clouds,” Sam snapped. “I need you here with me if we’re getting out of here, not a million miles away plotting how to kill me when I’m not looking. Lives are at stake.”
“I know what’s at stake,” I said.
“I’m not talking about your life,” he cut me off, starting the car. “I’m talking about my team. You’re mad at me, I get it. You hate me because of what happened with Gray and me—”
“What you did to Gray,” I corrected.
“Right,” he drawled, a little bit of a Southern accent bleeding into the word. “I wouldn’t be here if Gray didn’t know. So, while you may be pissed, Gray signed off on this. Gray agreed to work with me and then some.”
“And then some?” I frowned at the wording. “What the fuck does that mean?”
He smirked but said nothing. It took everything I had not to hit him again to wipe that cocky look off his face.
“I swear to God if you did—”
“Gray didn’t do a single thing he didn’t enjoy,” he interrupted. “Put your seatbelt on, princess. I’d hate to see you fly through thegoddamn windshield after all the work I’ve done to get your ass this far.”
I scowled but said nothing as I yanked the seatbelt on. He pressed a button on the dashboard screen, manipulating it until a map came up. The glimpse I got of our destination looked to be in the middle of nowhere. Where the hell was he taking me?
“Can you hear me?” Sam asked after pressing another button.
“Loud and clear,” Riley responded, his voice coming through every speaker.
“Good,” he said. “Any update on our bloodsucking friends?”
“One dead,” he told us. “And the one you… ripped apart is still out of commission.”
“It better be,” Sam retorted.
“That leaves three on your trail.”
“There were seven vampires, Riley,” he interrupted quickly, an uptick of panic in his voice. “Did you lose two vampires?”
“How the hell do you lose two vampires?” I demanded.
“How the hell do you end up as their target?” Sam shot back, glaring at me.
“Are you two done?” Riley cut in, his voice dripping with annoyance. “Or should I just leave the vampires to get you?”
“No.”
“When you escaped the first building, they separated.”
“Fuck.”Fuck was right.“We need a clear route out of here. How long do you need?”
“Depends on how fast you can drive,” he said. “I have every stoplight queued up and ready to go. I’m just waiting on you.”
Okay, that was impressive.
“Do they have a mode of transportation?” Sam put the car in drive, his fingers drumming on the gear shift. The idling engine rumbled under us as we waited for an answer.
“I imagine they have to,” Riley replied. “I just haven’t pieced together what or how yet. You need to be careful. Be fast. Get out of there.”
“That’s the plan,” he muttered. Outside his window, Andrea rapped on the window. The two exchanged a series of quick hand signals—things I couldn’t begin to understand. Maybe sign language? Whatever it was, they had a whole conversation within seconds. “Do you still have your gun?”
“I only fired one shot,” I told him.
“Good. Keep it ready,” he ordered.
