Page 34 of Vengeful

"That sounds like the twins," Slade said approvingly. "Leading them on a wild goose chase." He went back to the first phone and tapped out messages to both of them.

We all watched the screen for a minute or two until first Hunter, then Parker read their messages. Three dots bounced across the screen as Parker typed quickly:

Little help here?

Slade responded with—

On our way

Of course he didn't finish the message with a full stop. He wouldn't want to be seen as aggressive or uncool.

Three dots bounced as Hunter typed.

Meet at SUV

Be there in thirty

Slade followed that with a thumbs up emoji.

Hunter responded with a running person emoji, then three laughing emojis. I took that to mean hurry the fuck up, but with his sense of humour intact for now. Typical Hunter.

Slade tucked both phones away and nodded at us. "Let's go. No doubt the twins have something in mind."

"I'm sure they do." I brushed dirt off myself and hoped Slade had something in the SUV for this headache.

I clung on to his hand as we made our way back through the bush.

CHAPTER 13

SLADE

I kept a close eye on Lila while we moved through the forest. She could claim she was okay as much as she liked, I didn't buy it for a minute.

The blood on her face and clothes, the dazed look in her eyes— They said otherwise.

If I let her, she'd push herself until she dropped. I wasn't going to let her. I was tempted to tie her up with Kent's rope and stash her away in the bushes for a while.

She'd kick me in the balls if I did something like that, even if it was for her own good.

Not to mention the fact I wanted to keep my eyes on her anyway. She shouldn't be alone right now. If I had my way, she wouldn't be alone ever again.

"Stop giving me that look," she said.

"What look?" I asked, feigning innocence.

"The one that says you think I'm going to break in half at any moment." She raised an eyebrow at me without breaking her stride.

"You did fall in a pit," I reminded her. "I think some concern is justified. If anything happened to you…" I would personallyhunt down whoever dug the hole and fill them full of holes. Then throwthemin a shallow one where no one would ever find them.

While they were still alive.

She shuddered. "Nothing happened to me. Just a few cuts and bruises. Did you pull me out of there so you could play mother hen?"

"More like Daddy cock." I managed a smile. "It's my job, as one of your boyfriends, to take care of you. That includes worrying about you when you've been through something."

"That sounds like a yes to me," Kent said.

I looked back at him and glared.

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