Page 58 of Full Throttle

Mina and Amara knew everything about Cain and me. The night he went down to the bar below, I’d called them. My emotions were high, old wounds resurfacing, and the last thing I needed was to bottle it all up again. It took over an hour, but by the time I was done, both of the women were stunned into silence.

Mina sighed, bringing me back into the present. “Okay, the roads should be clear by now.”

I shot up, hope flickering inside of me. “Yeah?”

“Yes.”

“Come get me,” I begged. I didn’t care if the roads were still covered in ice; I was ready to take my chances. I didn’t want to be near Cain anymore, not unless I absolutely had to be and it didn’t seem like he was leaving the loft anytime soon.

“I’ll see what I can do,” she finally said.

I closed my eyes, a breath of relief escaping me. That was quickly pushed away when she said, “I think Kavi is back in Chicago.” She was whispering now.

My spine straightened. “How do you know?”

“I overheard Dontell talking to Jeremy last night on the phone.”

“Wasn’t Kavi just in Chicago? Wait—I thought he was last spotted in Denver,” I told her. That fucker liked to move around a lot.

“I don’t know. I think Jer got the cowboys from Hallow Ranch to chase him out of the city.”

I blinked. “Cowboys?”

Mina hummed. “Yeah, the boys are really good friends with Mason Langston.”

A memory sparked inside my head. “The bull rider?”

“The one and only,” she confirmed.

Without warning, my brain conjured up images of cowboys chasing a man in a suit down the streets of Denver. It was a puzzling picture, a knock on my bedroom door had all thoughts running from my mind as my heart jumped into my throat.

“Yeah?” I called, trying not to sound like I was having an existential crisis.

“Just checking,” Cain’s deep voice rumbled on the other side of the door. “You missed breakfast.”

“Is Cain at your door?” Mina asked.

“Mhm,” I said to her, then to Cain, “I wasn’t hungry. Thanks though.”

That was met with silence.

“You really should eat,” Mina said gently. “Don’t starve yourself to avoid a stupid man.”

“Oh, so now he’s stupid?” I asked quietly. “Last I heard, you and Cain were best friends.”

“We are, but he is also a man. Men are stupid.”

“Okay,” Cain said through the door. “I’m headed downstairs. Text me if you need anything.”

What I needed was a one-way ticket to anywhere but here. I didn’t respond to him, listening for the sound of his retreating footsteps instead. A few seconds later, I heard the loft door open and close.

“He’s gone, and he’ll most likely be gone for a while. He’s been trying to get Sullie’s backup generator running. Come get me now,” I hissed, jumping up from the bed. My ankle was much better, and now, I could put a little weight on it. I wobbled over to the closet and grabbed my bag.

“Shouldn’t you wait until he comes back? So you can’t let him know—”

“Mina. Please.”

Something in my voice must’ve gotten through to her, because she said, “I’ll be there in seven minutes. Meet me in the alley.”

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