Page 84 of Vicious Desire (Fallen Royals 4)

“Did you call your dad?” I ask once we’re on the road. “He might help.”

“He’d want to send him away again,” she says. “And that’s not happening.”

“But if Noah—”

“He’s not. Something bad must’ve happened, but he wouldn’t fall back to drugs.” Her attention flicks all over the road, to the houses. Scouring for his car, maybe.

I don’t know the first thing about finding someone. It was Matt Bonner who helped Caleb and me find Margo last year. And he turned out to be behind it, so…

“We should start at the tattoo shop,” she says. “Maybe he’s working late and his phone died…”

I nod and go in that direction. Screw the neighborhoods Caleb gave us—I have his sister. If anyone can find him, it’s us.

We park in front of the shop, but it’s dark. His car is gone, too.

“Talk to me,” I tell her. “When did this happen?”

She gets out of the car and presses her face against the glass storefront.

When she gets back in, she sighs and closes her eyes. “He started hanging out with Kaiden West in high school. Kaiden introduced him to the party scene.”

I tilt my head. The name is familiar, but I don’t know it.

“Soccer star,” she mutters. “He’s the same age as Noah, and they hit it off. Amelie was a bit obsessed with Kaiden for a while.”

Ah. His face comes to mind know—a serious jackass.

I scowl. There’s something else bothering me about that situation, but I can’t place it. It disappears when I spot someone is staggering down the sidewalk. “Um, Riley.”

“What?”

I point. “Is that him?”

She moves quicker than I anticipate, hopping out of the truck and practically sprinting toward Noah. Because it is Noah—a badly bruised, swollen-faced version of him, anyway.

“Help me!” she screams.

I run toward them and grab his arm, putting it around my shoulders. “What happened?”

Noah’s eye cracks open—as much as it’s able to, I think—and he groans. “What the fuck? Get away from me.”

He tries to shove me away, but he’s pathetically weak.

“You need a hospital,” I say. “Come on.”

Riley goes ahead of us and yanks the back door open.

“Who did this?” I ask him quietly.

“Some assholes jumped me as I was locking up.” He coughs and pulls his hand away from his side, showing me his palm. It’s wet with blood. “They stabbed me.”

“Shit.” I put his hand back against the wound and urge him to move faster. “Riley, call the hospital and tell them we’re coming.”

She nods once. I manage to get Noah into the vehicle, even though he’s got a few inches and fifty pounds on me. She climbs into the backseat with Noah, helping to press on his abdomen.

This is familiar. Didn’t I drive like a bat out of hell to the hospital with Margo and Caleb in the backseat just last year?

Maybe this fucking truck is cursed.

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