“Be safe today, baby,” he ordered. “I kind of like you.”
“Kind of?” I asked.
“Kind of,” he confirmed. “Just a wee bit.”
He pulled away even more, then turned to Salem.
“If she shows up,” he said to her, “don’t let your sister do anything stupid like go with her to save you.”
Sadly enough, that was exactly what happened a couple of hours later.
CHAPTER 23
My favorite essential oil is chloroform.
-Banger’s secret thoughts
BANGER
I woke up with my face on rough carpet with the feeling of something moving beneath me.
In a car.
Either on the floor or in a trunk.
I couldn’t quite tell, and my eyes weren’t quite obeying commands at the moment.
My legs felt like they weighed a thousand pounds, and there was a taste in my mouth that I’d never tasted before. Somewhere between death and chemicals.
“Are you awake yet?”
That voice.
Why did it sound so familiar?
“I think you almost are,” she cooed. “Good. I can’t stay here much longer.”
I opened my eyes and they were so blurry that I might as well not have them open. Then I started to heave my guts up.
“No, no, no,” Sareen cried. “You can’t do that… goddammit. Who’s going to clean that up?”
My vomiting subsided only long enough that I could draw breath, then it started up again.
Over and over until there was nothing left to vomit up.
Then, because I was awesome, I passed out again.
“Salem,” I whispered as I woke up again, this time with the distinct knowledge that I again wasn’t in the same place that I’d woken up in last time.
“Not here. She got away, luckily. No thanks to you,” Sareen grumbled.
Good. Oh, good.
The relief in my breathing must’ve been apparent, because she kicked me.
The breath left my throat, and my eyes started to water as every single scenario that could happen in the next couple of minutes started to play through my head.
Before I could think much more on what I could do, I was moving.
My eyes started to focus, not on anything in particular because my brain wasn’t quite up to par just yet, but I knew when we went from inside the building to outside.
The brightness was the first thing to register. Then the cold.
Finally, the smell of what sounded like a bonfire, followed by the sound of a car.
Then more cars.
Car after car passed, and I wondered how in the hell people were not seeing, and stopping, at the sight of her dragging me.
“Do you think you can handle this?” Sareen hissed as she all but dropped me on the floor.
I’d been halfway there already seeing as she’d been dragging me for some while, but it nonetheless hurt as she dropped me.
I thought I was here because Sareen wanted me to know that O’Ryan was alive… but little did she know I’d already assumed.
Sure, I’d thought that the Battle Crows MC had been responsible, but I hadn’t had it confirmed until now.
Which honestly was quite funny if you thought about it.
Karma was a bitch.
“I don’t care,” I said honestly. “It’s worth it, being here, having it confirmed that you haven’t had a very good, or easy, last year. How do you feel about them apples?”