Page 34 of These Monstrous Ties
Still, he argues with me.
“Absolutely not, Sid,” he says from his black leather couch. I sit across from him perched on the edge of a chair. The TV is on, replaying a fight from the night before.
“You can’t stop me.”
Nicolas barks a laugh. “I can. And I will. Your brother would kill us both if I let you leave here.”
It isn’t that I can never leave. Just not at night. And definitely not to go looking for Lucifer, when Jeremiah has specifically told me the job is for Halloween.
Besides that, I don’t have a car. And my phone has a tracker. Jeremiah claims it’s to keep me safe from the Unsaints.
But I don’t plan to bring my phone. Or take a car. Raven Park isn’t that far. I can run there, and I know how to get to the southern border that edges the lake. That’s where the house is. I’ve seen it myself.
A small part of me wonders how close he knows he is to me. What he and the Unsaints would do to Jeremiah if they knew I was here. Maybe they do know. But I want to know why the fuck they’re looking for me. Lucifer had no problem letting me go that night.
“Look, Nicky,” I say, crossing my ankles, my combat boots on the seat of his chair. “You either let me leave, keep your mouth shut about it, or I’ll tell my brother about our little game.”
Nicolas glares at me, tearing his eyes away from the fight. He closes his eyes, lets out an impatient sigh. “You’re testing me, kid. But here’s the thing.” His eyes spring open. “I don’t give a damn if you tell Jeremiah about the game. I’ll have much less hell to pay for that than if he finds out I let you walk out of here in the dead of night while he was away, without sending anyone with you.”
I grin, hopping down from the chair, standing right in front of Nicolas, blocking his view.
He narrows his eyes, waiting for my challenge.
“I’ll be back in two hours,” I say, crossing my arms. “And you mightthinkJeremiah won’t mind if I tell him about our game, and maybe he wouldn’t have. Maybe he wouldn’t have given a damn, you telling me about Brooklin.” I lift one shoulder in a lazy shrug. “Maybe he wouldn’t have gave a damn that you told me Lucifer doesn’t know I’m here.” Then I drop into a crouch, my hand on his knee. “But hewillgive a damn about the rest. About the fact that Lucifer is a father. That he’s with his baby’s mama. He’ll give a damn, because he’ll know, then, that it wasyouwho pushed me out of this hotel to go looking for Lucifer. Because if you don’tletme leave, I’ll find a way out myself. We both know I will.” I squeeze his kneecap, my heart thudding while he watches me.
This might not work.
I will find another way out, if he says no. But having Nicolas get me out is easier. Much less work than trying to scale the roof and sneak down the long driveway, dodging my way past the armed guards.
But I will do it. I’ll take out the guards, too, if I have to.
But I’d rather not.
Two hours. That’s all I want. Enough time to jog to the park, scope out the house, and jog back. To see what I’m up against. To see where Lucifer and his gang went after he dumped me in the asylum last Halloween.
“Jesus fucking Christ,” Nicolas seethes, scrubbing his hand over his face. That’s when I know I have him.
I smile, stand to my feet, and turn to go, shoving my hands in my hoodie pocket.
“Two hours, Sid. If you’re not back in two hours, all bets are off. I’ll lie to your brother if I have to, and when I find you, I’ll kill you myself.”
I glance over my shoulder. “Deal. Now zip me up.”
* * *
Climbingout of the trunk of Nicolas’s Mercedes and breathing in the still-warm fall air gives me a kick of adrenaline. I’m really doing it. I’d really bargained my way into two hours of free time, even if Nicolas had to stuff me in a body bag to do it. A body bag that he claimed was full of tools when we passed the guards at the door to the mansion. It’s no secret Nicolas has a hideaway in the city, and that he’s been working on renovating it himself. A place to get away when he has time off, which is almost never.
My brother knows where it is.
Which meant Nicolas had actually put tools in the body bag with me, and on the long, winding ride down the driveway, I’d been smacked in the ass with a hammer and some nails one too many times.
But still…I’m free now.
Nicolas doesn’t ask where I’m going. He doesn’t want to know. Because if Jeremiah comes after him for this, his ass will be on the line.
But even as he lets me walk away from the parking lot of a dead gas station, I think he knows. Especially as he calls out, “Two hours. Do you have the gun? The watch?”
I nod without looking back, making my way to the sidewalk that lines one of the quieter streets of Alexandria.
