Julian doesn’t let up, and Gage nods at me in a silent command.
I don’t even grumble or argue. There’s no point in making this shit worse, and as reckless as I can be, I’m not gonna risk getting Priest murdered. I pull the car key from my pocket and toss it to Julian. He snatches it up and tightens his grip on Priest again, dragging him up the hill.
None of us dare move while we watch, helpless and furious.
If we rush him, he could still kill Priest. It’s not safe. But every step he takes drags my cousin farther away.
Julian pops the trunk and shoves at Priest’s back, the gun still trained on him. “Get in the fucking car. Now!”
He practically shoves Priest inside, then slams the trunk closed, swinging his gun around to aim it in our direction as he makes his way to the driver’s side door. He slides inside, and my feet are already moving, my instincts overriding everything else now that Priest no longer has a gun to his temple.
I sprint forward as the engine revs to life, but I’m not fast enough.
Julian peels out, sending up a cloud of dust and gravel as he speeds off down the dark road with Priest locked up in his trunk.
35
River
My heart is in my throat as I stand frozen, watching the car speed off.
No.
No, no. No. This isn’t how this was supposed to go!
We were supposed to be the ones with the upper hand. We were supposed to snatch Julian. To make him suffer for everything he’s done. He wasn’t supposed to be able to give us the slip or turn the tables on us, but he did.
Driven to the brink and so fucking desperate, he managed to do this shit. And now he has Priest.
Everything in me screams in agonized fury at that thought. Not Priest. He can’t fucking have him.
The other Kings are just standing there, and I can tell they’re scared and furious. Even Ash, usually cool-headed and easy-going, even in a crisis, looks like he wants to either scream or rip someone’s head off.
Knox has his hands balled up into fists, and there’s no way his palms won’t be bleeding when he uncurls his fists. Gage grinds his jaw, looking like he’s searching for a solution to this in his head and coming up short.
I feel so fucking sick. I start pacing, walking back and forth in the brush, trying to keep my breathing under control so I don’t hyperventilate out here.
“What the fuck are we going to do?” I demand. “He can’t just—we have to do something! We can’t let him have Priest. What the fuck. This wasn’t—”
I can barely get the words out. They all come tumbling out of my mouth so fast, and I stare at the guys like they have the answers. Like they can fix this somehow.
I’ve never been one to look to others to help me with shit, but now we’re in this together, and one of ours is missing. There’s no way Julian’s going to treat him well. Not after what we did to him, and I’m terrified that if—when—we find Priest, he won’t be in good shape.
“We have to go after him,” Gage says. He sounds angrier than I’ve ever heard him before, his voice a low, barely controlled growl. “We have to get to wherever the fuck he’s taking him.”
“We can’t take Julian’s car,” Ash points out. “It’s a fucking wreck.”
Gage lets out a breath and tugs at his lip, nodding. “I’ll call in a favor,” he says. “It’s all we’ve got.”
Thank fuck they have so many people who owe them favors. Thank fuck they’re so well connected in this city.
“How long will that take?” I ask him. We’re still outside the city, so there’s no fucking telling.
When Gage looks at me, I can tell he’s thinking the same thing, and my stomach clenches with worry. He grabs his phone and makes the call, talking in a low, urgent voice to whoever’s on the line. Gage gives them our location, and I want to ask for an ETA, but at the same time, I don’t want to know. If it’s too long, I’m not going to be able to handle it, but what the fuck else can we do?
I feel outside my body in a way. Panic and anger swirling inside me in a violent storm. That high I felt earlier is completely gone. It feels like that was a different person. All I can think is that Julian is going to take another person from me. Someone else I care about so much. I can’t let that happen.
“We can track him,” Ash says, sounding like he just remembered that. I don’t blame him. All of our heads are fucked up right now. He pulls out his phone and taps into the software we downloaded onto Julian’s phone. It shows us a little red arrow, indicating where Julian is in our car.
So we know where he’s going at least, but we have no way of following him yet.
We troop back up to the road, all of us glancing anxiously in the direction our ride will be coming every few seconds.
Watching isn’t going to make it come any faster, but what else can we do?
I spare a thought that this must be how Julian felt at that party earlier tonight. Scared and angry, pushed to the limit but out of options. The only difference is that he fucking deserved it.
Time keeps passing, and the little arrow gets farther and farther away. There’s no sign yet of the car Gage called for, and I can’t wait any longer.
Another car comes down the road, and since Gage doesn’t react when he looks over at it, I know it’s not the one we’re waiting for. But I’ve had enough. I can’t wait anymore. Not knowing that Priest is in trouble.
Without even really thinking about it, I step in front of the car as it approaches where we’re huddled on the side of the road. I’m almost moving on autopilot, risking being hit if the driver doesn’t stop in time.
I hear one of the men call my name, but I don’t move out of the way, and the car comes to a screeching halt just a few feet in front of me.
As soon as it stops, I grab the door handle and wrench it open, sticking the gun in my hand in the guy’s face. He looks startled and then afraid when he sees my masked face, but I don’t give a shit.
“Get out of the car,” I say, my voice surprisingly even considering how frantic I feel.
The guy’s eyes go even wider, and he scrambles to get out, grabbing his phone and stumbling out of the car to the road.
“Let’s go!” I call to the others, getting behind the wheel as Gage, Ash, and Knox pile into the car quickly.
We leave the man in the dust as I floor it, fingers clenched on the steering wheel. I’m driving erratically, weaving back and forth, and my hands are shaking so much I can barely keep the wheel straight.
Gage looks like he wants to say something from the passenger seat, but he doesn’t. Ash is in the back with Knox, giving me directions as he follows the tracking on his phone.
“Left here,” he says, and I yank the car in that direction, bumping over the curb a bit as I send us shooting down a side street.