Chapter 23
Cyrus felt Evie grab on tighter as he accelerated down the alley. He managed to cut between two Thirsters, ramming the back wheel into one and bringing him down with a satisfyingly painful scream.
Evie let out a yell and he grabbed for her wrist, thinking she was about to topple off the bike, but she was fine, clinging onto him with both hands now, her face pressed against his shoulder blade. That could be a dangerous distraction, he thought, as he gunned the bike through the next alley, putting as much distance as he could between them and the small army of unhumans chasing them.
The warehouse was clearly a no-go zone from now on. He wasn’t sure he minded that much. It had felt like living in a playboy mansion – one that had been decorated by a pre-pubescent boy. Though, granted, the notches in the bedpost had been kind of impressive. He just wished he could remember any of the actual notching. It was Murphy’s law that he could remember details about exit routes, Spanish tourist phrases and where he’d left his keys, but he couldn’t remember anything he might want to remember, like notching.
He couldn’t remember any girls. Except for Evie. She was the only person who appeared clearly in the swamp fog that was his brain. Despite what she’d said to him last night he knew something had happened between them. Her lips looked just too damn tempting, but more than that, he could remember exactly how they’d felt – exactly how she tasted.
‘Cyrus.’
He turned his head slightly and the bike swerved.
‘Cyrus,’ Evie said again. ‘Slow down. We’re clear.’
He eased off on the gas and slowed the bike, marvelling at how it moved so fluidly beneath him. He really knew how to ride a bike. He was glad he could remember that at least, even if he couldn’t remember the same experience with a girl.
He came to a stop at the side of a road and put the kickstand down, helping Evie off. She fell forward, against his chest and for a split second he held her there, feeling a rush of something that was way more than the adrenaline dissipating through his body. But before he could savour it she snatched her hands away as if he’d burnt her and crossed instead to Ash and Vero who’d parked behind them.
He couldn’t figure Evie out. One minute she was so vulnerable and broken – like she had been last night when she’d talked about Lucas – and the next moment she was about as approachable as a scorpion.
When he’d rushed in to wake her she’d been totally out of it. Her hair pasted across her face, her body warm and floppy. He’d had to shake her hard, and her head had fallen backwards exposing a pale stretch of neck and flushed cheeks. She’d been smiling in her sleep, and the look of her, the total tempting sultriness of her had almost made him forget why he was coming in there to wake her up. But as soon as she snapped awake, the softness vanished, the sultriness went completely AWOL and she was all business as usual. Though, he had to admit, she couldn’t stop being sexy if she tried.
The only problem was that she was clearly still in love with the dead guy. So why then did he remember kissing her? And why did it feel so good when she wrapped her arms around his waist like she had done just now? Hell, he’d wanted to keep driving all night. And why – this was really the crux of it – why had he given his life for her? Well, not given his life, because he was still alive, thank god, but he had intended to, and that was what counted. He’d been ready to die for this girl. Had he really done that for someone who didn’t give a rat’s ass about him? It was possible, he supposed. But it didn’t sound like he’d been that sort of guy.
‘I cannot believe you had that escape route planned. You could have shared it, you know,’ Ash said to him as he joined them. ‘I mean, what if you’d never come back. What if they’d attacked when we were there alone? It would have been good to know there was an exit route.’
‘I don’t remember,’ Cyrus said, shrugging apologetically.
Vero grinned at him. ‘Nice bikes, by the way.’
‘How did they find us?’ Evie asked, glancing back up the street in the direction they’d just come from.
‘Guess they followed one of us,’ he shrugged, ‘or maybe they just lucked out.’
The four of them stood there in silence for a few seconds, thinking about how close they’d just come to being wiped out.
‘Where are we going to go now?’ Vero suddenly asked, wrapping her arms tight around herself. She was wearing only a thin T-shirt over skimpy pyjama shorts and her bootlaces were undone.
‘We can’t go back,’ Cyrus said, pointing out the obvious.
‘We lost all the weapons,’ Ash added grimly.
‘Except the blades,’ Vero said, holding hers up in its sheath, and pointing at Evie’s. ‘Could be worse.’
Cyrus turned to look at Evie. She was clutching her bag close to her chest as if it contained her soul or something equally precious.
‘What about going to your mum’s?’
Vero was talking to him. It took him a few seconds to process. To his mum’s? ‘Do you know where she lives?’ he asked her, ‘because I don’t have a clue.’
‘No,’ Vero shook her head. ‘I only know the store.’
Cyrus glanced at Evie who was busy scowling at the sidewalk. She was wearing a man’s T-shirt which, baggy though it was, still couldn’t disguise the hotness of her body. Her hair was a windswept mess, her eyes two blue streaks in the pale oval of her face.
‘Does anyone have any money?’ he asked.
‘You’re the one who had all the money,’ Ash answered, wryly.
‘I did?’ Huh. He guessed that made sense, accounted for the car and the bikes and the impressive wardrobe and the display of grooming products in the bathroom. He didn’t have a wallet though anymore, guessed it must have vanished into the ether along with his clothes on the night whatever happened to him happened. But it wouldn’t have mattered anyway. It wasn’t like he would have remembered the PIN.
‘I’ve got some money if we can get to an ATM,’ Evie said suddenly. ‘It’s not much but it’ll pay for a motel for the night until we figure out what we’re going to do.’
‘What about Victor?’ Ash asked suddenly. ‘What if they’ve found him too?’
Cyrus stared at them all. Vero had explained to him all about this other Hunter guy called Victor and what he’d done to Evie and Lucas as well as to his own mum, and Cyrus had made a silent promise to himself that, when Evie decided the time had come to kill Victor, he’d be right by her side.
‘He has weapons too,’ Vero said quietly, ‘and we’re all out.’
Cyrus stole a glance at Evie. Her body was pulsing with anger; it was radiating off her in waves. He could hear her heartbeat banging against her ribs hard enough to crack them. Having to see Victor and collaborate with him – given all he’d done to her – must be killing her.
Cyrus was on the point of suggesting that they forget about checking on Victor and head to a motel as Evie had suggested, when she huffed loudly and stormed over to the bike.
‘Fine,’ she growled. ‘Let’s just check he’s alive and tool up.’
Cyrus paused before walking over to join her. He swung his leg over the seat and when she wrapped her arms around his waist he felt the same thrill rush through his body as before. He revved the engine, taking off down the street so fast that he heard her inhale sharply and press herself closer against his back.