Page 186 of Burn Like An Angel

Turning away from the window, Raine taps a path back over to us. “Now that’s taken care of… how about a snack? I’m fucking starving.”

“I saw a vending machine down the corridor.” I consider him. “Need help reading the buttons?”

“Nah.” Raine waves me off. “I’ll leave it to chance.”

Ripley snags his arm before he can leave. “Wait. How did Sabre find me so fast? Elon changed vehicles like a thousand times.”

A hot, guilty flush creeps up my neck. I roll and pucker my lips, unable to provide an immediate response. Raine looks like he wants to laugh. He’s barely holding it back.

“What?” She frowns at us both.

“Yeah, Nox. What?” Raine breaks out in laughter.

I rub the back of my neck. “Look, if we hadn’t done it… We never would’ve gotten you back. Remember that.”

“Done what?” Ripley asks suspiciously.

“It was just a precaution… Sabre helped set it up! Blame them!”

Chortling, Raine squeezes his stick between his hands. “Oh, this’ll be good.”

“And it came from a place of love,” I add, feeling my panic spiral. “Nothing else.”

“Seriously, Nox. What the fuck?”

My eyes skid back down to her bracelet. The one we gave her on our impromptu date. She looked so confused when Xander handed it over out of the blue.

I clear my throat. “Ahem. There’s… erm, a tracker in your bracelet.”

Ripley is silent for several seconds. It seems to stretch on endlessly. I’m preparing my escape plan before she can throttle me with her IV line when she finally spits out a response.

“You gave me a fucking tracking device as a fake gift?”

“Technically, it was a real gift,” Raine jumps in. “And for the record, I knew nothing about it. All I suggested was flowers or something.”

“Oh, let me guess!” she shouts in a rage. “I know exactly who’s goddamn idea this?—”

Click.

The door to her room swooshes open. Wheels roll across the tacky linoleum, preceding the appearance of a chair being pushed by an aggravated-looking orderly.

His ghostly face set in a scowl, Xander is seated in the wheelchair, demanding his carer hurries up. When they round the corner, his tired midnight eyes snap over to us.

The doctors decided that surgery wasn’t required after his emergency CT scan showed a hairline fracture in his upper skull from the wreck. Much to our collective relief. Xander simply bitched about being kept on the ward against his wishes.

Before he can say a word, Ripley points a finger at him.

“You! Xander fucking Beck! What kind of psychopath gives his girl a damn concealed tracker on their first official date?”

Thin lips pressed together, he turns to look up at the orderly. “Turn me around and run, would you?”

The middle-aged woman snickers, parking him up right next to me.

“You’ve dug your hole, son. I could use a break from your complaining while she rips you a new one.”

CHAPTER 29

RIPLEY

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