Page 54 of Ride Long
“Stewie’swoman.”
“Bet he’d have a few things to say aboutthat.”
“What are you going to do?” she asked. “When you get back to Fortitude? I don’t think Marini’s got good intentions. Sloane said he tried to sell her off. Is that true? I’ve always been scared ofhim.”
“Smart girl,” Idrawled.
“I can’t believe he was just going to sell her like that…” Sam shivered, whimpering and dabbing her sleeve against hereyes.
He was going to do it again, but it was a secret I wanted to keep and one she didn’t need to burden herself with. Not considering her currentpredicament.
“So?” she prodded. “What are you going todo?”
Thinking about Marini’s plan to sell Sloane off to the Hollow Men to prevent a war, I narrowed my eyes. We were on the highway now, traveling away from the lights of Los Angeles. Soon, we would be able to see the stars again. Therealones.
I grunted, signaling I didn’t want to talk about it because I didn’tknow.
Whatever happened, it was going to be a bloodbath. Sam should be happy she got out now. Extremelyhappy.
“We’ve got a long way to go,” I said, turning on the radio. “You should get somesleep.”
Sam sighed and nestled into the seat, rubbing her eyes with the sleeve of hercardigan.
“She’s so got your balls,” shemuttered.
* * *
It wasa long way toTulsa.
A full night and day had passed, the sun showing its face and then disappearing again before we parked in the lot of a McDonald’s near the highway. I left Sam in the car stuffing her face with cheeseburgers and fries while I sat on the hood, watching the traffic come andgo.
Apart from our insightful conversation about who had or didn’t have the possession of my balls, the trip had been uneventful. Unlike the last time I drove across the country, no one had shot atus.
Sam… Well, after a while, things kind of got to her. She’d fallen asleep after a while but had cried and sniffed straight across Arizona and half of New Mexico. Couldn’t blame her, but I had no words of comfort. Harley was dead, shot in the chest at point-blank range for trying to murder Sloane, and there was nothing I could do about that—you reap what you sow, an eye for an eye, and allthat.
Besides, I wasn’t Sloane. Sloane knew how to use her words. All I knew was how to pull the trigger. The life I led at Fortitude had erased the one I knew when I was with Madison. Tenderness, smiling, caring, sacrifice. How did I get those things back? If I lost Sloane to the Hollow Men or her father, did I want to care that much about her? Madison’s murder had destroyed me utterly and completely. Her death had turned me into ashell.
A silver sedan—a rather old Ford that had seen better days—turned into a spot across the lot. The headlights turned off, and all wasdark.
I vaguely remembered Yvette from the strip club where I’d found Sloane. Blonde, tiny, pouty lips, and that stripper look that saw tips being shoved into her cleavage every night behind the bar at that club she worked at. That was all I knew. That and that Sloane cared enough about her to stop Marini from ‘dealing with her’ while we’d been on the road. The fact Yvette had just upped and left her kid to drive across the country to take in a woman she didn’t know was more points in her favor. She was taking on a lot for no other reason than she had the means tohelp.
The driver’s side door opened, and a little blonde woman climbed out. Turning, she spotted me sitting on the hood of the car and glanced around the lot. It was lit bright enough it wasn’t dodgy, and inside the McDonald’s, there were still full tables of locals eating their way through chicken nuggets and sweet and sour dippingsauce.
The woman wandered over, her hands shoved into the pockets of her denimjacket.
“Hey. I’m looking for directions. Are you Gunnar?” sheasked.
I rolled my eyes. “Fuck this code word shit. I’mGunnar.”
Yvette pouted and looked me over. “I can’t believe I told Sloane to fuckyou.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Is thatright?”
“How isshe?”
“Fighting.”
“She was always good at that.” Yvette craned her neck and gave Sam the once-over in the car behindme.
