What if I warned him?
The thought was so startling that I had to sit down on the couch. If I warned him, he could get away. But would warning him count as betraying the club?
Yes.
Yes, it would. That would absolutely be a betrayal and I should be ashamed of myself for even considering it. But then I thought about his soft, brown hair matted with blood. His body buried in an unmarked grave up in the mountains . . .
I’d warn him for the same reason I was keeping Skid alive, I decided. That wasn’t a true betrayal, was it? Dad could always hunt him down later, but for now I should help preserve the peace.
It was enough of an excuse for me to do it. I dialed him quickly, before I changed my mind. There was a scraping noise from the porch, and I looked through the window to see Sophie dragging over a chair to sit on. Would she ever forgive the Reapers for getting her into this? Poor Ruger. He was already in a weird spot with her, and this wouldn’t help.
“Skid?” Hunter asked, his voice tense. “I’m in the meet. Just got word, they found Toke. Clutch is alive but he’s in rough shape.”
“This isn’t Skid,” I said quietly, heart pounding. “If you want to live, you need to keep your face blank and listen to what I say.”
Brief silence.
“I hear you.”
“Sophie and I are in charge at the house now. Skid is alive, but he won’t stay that way if anyone tries to get us before Dad picks up. If you have any friends you’re planning to call, don’t. Understand?”
“Yes.”
“As soon as I hang up with you, I’m going to take ten minutes to go to the bathroom and clean up some scrapes I have,” I continued. “Then I’m calling my dad and telling him everything. If you want to survive, you better be gone before then.”
More silence. “Why are you doing this?”
“I don’t know,” I said. Crap. “To keep the peace. Just get out, okay?”
“Okay.”
I hung up the phone and walked over to the door, pushing it open.
“I’m going to go clean up in the bathroom for a few. You okay out here?”
She nodded.
“Leave the door open so you can hear me screaming if I need to.”
“You got it.”
I found a bathroom between the living room and the dining room. When I looked in the mirror, I had to laugh. I looked like a lunatic woman. My hair was all over, I had raccoon eyes, and a bruise was starting to rise on my cheek.
Oh, and Skid’s blood had run down my chin and dried there.
I thought it added a touch of class.
“Damn, you’re sexy,” I whispered, giggling. I washed up all my scrapes and found some toothpaste in a drawer. I used my finger to rub it all through my mouth, which still tasted like evil biker ankle. Ten minutes later I pulled on my ridiculous shoes and hobbled out of the house toward Sophie, holding up the phone.
“Dumbass has Google Maps installed,” I told her. “I know exactly where we are. I’m calling them to come and get us.”
“That’s good news,” she replied. “He hasn’t moved at all. Do you think he has internal injuries?”
I shrugged, because I really didn’t care. He was alive. That was good enough.
“If he does, there’s nothing we can do about it. We’ll let the guys take care of him.”
I dialed Dad’s number and he answered.
“Picnic.”
“Hey, Dad? It’s me,” I said, trying to hold it together. I realized my hand was shaking. Shock, maybe? My leg felt numb.
“Oh, Emmy,” he said, his voice full of relief. “Christ, I can’t believe it’s you. Are you all right? Fuck, that prick Hunter just left. Lucky bastard.”
Yeah, wasn’t gonna touch that comment.
“We’re okay,” I said. “Could use a ride, though.”
Dad laughed, incredulous.
“You’ve been kidnapped and that’s what you have to say for yourself? Did you escape? Where are you?”
“I’ll send you the map,” I told him. “There’s just one guy here, Skid. He’s a Devil’s Jack. We managed to beat him up and now he’s handcuffed to the porch.”
“Holy shit. Proud of you, girl. Any witnesses I should know about?”
“No, it’s all good,” I told him. “But you might want to bring the van. We may need some cargo space.”
I gave him the directions and hung up. I looked up to find Sophie watching me. She looked a little shocky, I decided, and the gun trembled in her hand. I’d take over guarding Skid in a minute, but I had one more thing to do first.
“They’ll be here in about twenty minutes,” I told her. “They sounded pretty happy to hear from us.”
“Was Hunter with them?” she asked.
I swallowed.
“No. The meet was already over. I guess we missed him by maybe five minutes. He’s got good luck.”
Sophie raised a brow and I met her gaze head-on, challenging her to question my story. She didn’t. I stepped off the porch and dropped the phone on the ground, stomping on it with my spiky heel. The glass shattered and crunched.
“What the hell?” Sophie demanded. “Why’d you do that?”
“GPS,” I said, which wasn’t true. I just didn’t want my dad to see that I’d called Hunter. “I don’t want the Devil’s Jacks tracing us with it, and we can’t leave it here.”
“What if we need it again?”
“We won’t. Dad and Ruger will find us. Don’t worry. By this time tomorrow it’ll be like this never happened. In fact, I don’t want to talk about it and I don’t want to think about it. Got me?” I added pointedly.