Page 168 of Heresy

They approach, and Damon doesn’t say a word in greeting, his teeth locked together much like mine. I steal a glance at Ames to see she’s been crying.

Damon’s voice is quiet when he finally talks, the anger in him difficult to contain. “What do we do now?”

If I knew the answer to that question, I would have already done it.

All I can manage is a quick shake of my head.

My hands are tucked in my pockets as I turn to lead them both to the car. I’m afraid to touch anything—say anything.

I feel like, at any moment, I’ll destroy the fucking world.

Angry doesn’t cover it.

Enraged doesn’t begin to touch it.

Fury is too soft a word to describe it.

Whatever this feeling is, there is no word that exists yet that can encapsulate it.

I am destruction itself.

An ancient God long forgotten but still at work planning how to end all of existence.

I’ll happily start with Scott and Jerry.

I had no choice but to let Brinley go, not with a gun to my head and an asshole on the other side of it who was itching to pull the trigger.

The look she gave me when she walked off was worse than what that bullet would have done. At least the bullet would have put me out of my misery, but her expression put me right square in the middle of misery’s tight-fisted grip.

How they found us is beyond my understanding.

As far as I knew, Scott was still up north, plotting his next act of vandalism. Not beating me down here to tip off Jerry that we were coming.

I can’t even begin to ask the myriad of questions that surround this turn of events.

Instead, I did the smart thing: I let them go then ran to a window to watch them walk through the parking lot and drive away.

I got their license plate number using the zoom feature on my phone and immediately sent it to Taylor.

Next, I texted Tanner to let him know he was chasing a shadow back home. And then I texted Damon to warn him that when his plane lands, he’ll be facing a man so damn angry that one wrong comment will set him on a warpath.

That’s why he was so careful approaching me. And learning that her friend was missing is what must have triggered Ames.

Gabe’s plane is headed back home to pick up the rest of the Inferno. But I don’t fucking need them. Their methods won’t work with this.

I’m getting Brinley back my own way.

We all climb in the car, Damon sitting shotgun despite the lack of chivalry. He knows better than to let Ames take that seat when I’m at this point. He knows one wrong word and I’m likely to snap.

Of course, he would understand where I’m at better than everybody else. They don’t call him Anger for nothing.

Even Ezra can’t quite understand.

Where he runs cold, Damon and I both run hot.

Beauty’s engine roars to life when I turn the key.

Given what’s already been done to her, I made damn sure to check her over before leaving the hotel parking lot. Thank fuck those assholes didn’t decide to mess with her again before stealing Brinley away. It would have been just one more reason to make what I do to them that much worse.

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