Page 14 of Along for the Ride

It wouldn’t be the first time a man’s fists rained down on me. I’ve learned how much of a beating the human body can take, and it’s so much more than I once believed. Knowing this, I decide to take my chances. I can’t stand the passenger, and I want to poke him a bit. Besides, the big one seems like he’d pull him off me before he killed me.

Probably.

I gather my waning energy and use it to send my knee into the back of the passenger’s seat. His chest rises as his back arches to escape the sudden pressure behind him. Before I can react, he’s over the center console and in tussling—or killing—range. Black eyes glare at me, yet I don’t regret what I’ve done. Maybe I have a death wish. I smirk, and this sends him off the deep end. His blade flashes for a millisecond before the driver whips his arm away.

The SUV swerves and bounces along the shoulder as the driver wrenches the blade from his friend’s hand. Instead of de-escalating the situation, I bring my leg under the passenger’s twig and berries with a solid thud. He roars with anger, tumbling against the dash as the driver brings the SUV to a jarring halt. I stifle a laugh because fuck that guy. He deserved it.

“Karson! You’re driving,” the driver says as he tugs off his seat belt and charges around the front of the SUV. I worry he’ll rip the passenger door off the hinges when he whips it open.

“What? Why me?” Karson asks, his hand still holding his crotch.

“Because both of you are acting like fucking children. I can’t keep the car on the roadandplay goddamn referee at the same time. She’s clearly too sick to drive, so that leaves you. Now get in the driver’s seat before I lose my shit.”

“Oh, fuck you, Gentry,” Karson mumbles before crawling over the center console and dropping behind the steering wheel. “I’m going to kill that bitch, first chance I get.” He whispers this last bit, but it’s loud enough for me to hear.

It’s a warning I should take seriously, but I’m too sick to give a shit right now. If he kills me, at least I got a piece of him before I went. That’s more than I can say for my situation with Mickey. I’ll never have the chance to get my revenge on that piece of shit. From the way Karson reacted to me, I’m more certain than ever.

Wherever they’re headed, I won’t be alive when they reach their destination.

ChapterSeven

Karson

We don’t talk for the rest of the drive, and I eventually pull the vehicle into a hotel parking lot. George instructed us to drive toward Hollywood, but he’d better line up more hits along the way to make this worth our while. It isn’t cheap to bed down in a hotel every night, but we have to sleep sometimes. Gentry seems to think this run of hits will be our last under George, that the payout will be more than we’ve ever seen, but I don’t have the same confidence in our sneaky asshole handler. If he shortchanges us, it won’t be the first time.

Gentry always makes sure I know how stupid I am, but my brother is the one being fucking stupid. I’m not only talking about his belief that George will make good on his promises, either. This girl is a problem. We don’t bring people along on road trips like this. Involving others is a risk we don’t need, and she could blow our cover at any point. She could escape. She could rat us out to the first person she sees, an opportunity she’ll have when we book this room. There’s no way I’m going back to prison for some doped out whore Gentry seems to have adopted like a sick little puppy from the side of the road. But I can’t say that to Gentry. He thinks he knowseverything.

He’ll learn how little he knows soon enough. When that puppy feels better, it will turn and bite the hand that fed it. She’s already a snappy little bitch.

I don’t care to see Gentry babying his new pet, so I grab my duffle bag, throw it over my shoulder, and head toward the hotel’s entryway. It’s not the Hilton, but it’s not a roach motel either. The lobby is small but clean, with a few chairs and a couch circled around a low table. A coffee maker stands on a counter nearby, and a muted TV hangs above it. Subtitles flash along the bottom of the screen.

I bypass the seating area and head straight for the older woman sitting behind the lobby desk. “Two rooms, please,” I say. I refuse to room with those two. Gentry’s show of kindness makes me physically ill, and I can’t sleep in the same room as that thief anyhow. It would be smarter if we took turns keeping watch over her, but she’s still sick enough that I doubt she’ll make a run for it.

The woman at the front desk taps away on her keyboard without looking up at me. When she gives me the total, we exchange cash for key cards, and I return to the entrance to wait for my brother and his baggage. They start across the parking lot, and my jaw clenches at the sight of them. She’s leaning against him for support, her useless, unsteady legs wobbling beneath her hips. He looks like a man leading his drunk date to the fuck palace after a night at the bar. It’s a good cover, actually, but it still makes me want to gouge out my eyes with a dull stick. I don’t like how cozy they look.

I toss Gentry his key when they near me. “You’re in three-oh-five,” I say. “I’m in the room next to yours.” Before he can respond, I turn and head toward the elevator.

The short ride to our floor makes the thief sick again. She leans her blonde head against him and moans, clutching her stomach and nearly collapsing. His arm curls around her, a protective gesture that sends my eyes rolling. This isn’t the brother I’ve known all my life. Sure, he’s not as stabby as me, but he’s never been caring. Not like this.

This is going to be a fucking problem.

We exit the elevator and I push past them to get to my room. I can’t take another second of this shit.

“Karson,” Gentry says before I can get the key card into the slot.

I grit my teeth and turn to face him. Whatever he has to say, I’m not in the mood to hear it.

Gentry tells the girl to go into their room, helping her inside as if she’s some invalid who didn’t kick me in the dick earlier. He closes the door behind her and joins me in front of my room.

“What are we doing?” I ask. I don’t give him a chance to speak first. “How do you think this is going to end, Gentry?”

“I know how it ends.”

Does he? I’m not convinced. “Then why prolong the inevitable? We should have killed her on the side of the road when she was sick. Now you’re taking care of her like you plan to keep her. Tell me I’m wrong. Please.”

His lips tighten. “When it’s time, I’ll get rid of her.”

I shake my head. “If you don’t, I’ll kill both of you and then myself.”

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