Page 60 of Ride Long
Rolling my eyes, I shrank in on myself. “I guess I’m a woman, afterall.”
Laying back down on the creeper, I scooted back underneath the car, signaling the conversation wasover.
“Hey,Sloane?”
“No,” I shot back, my voice muffled by the car over my head. “No, thankyou.”
* * *
Isaton the roof of the Fortitude compound, studying the rise and fall of the skyline, counting windows on the skyscrapers of downtownLA.
When I got Chaser’s message about a clandestine meeting up here, I could hardly contain myself. It wasn’t exactly the alone time I’d been craving since Gasket was meeting us, but it was a chance to be with him and not worry about burly bikers watching our every move. Up here, we didn’t have topretend.
The rooftop door opened with a metallic squeal, and my heart leaped into my throat. Seeing it was Chaser, I smiled, all my bits zinging to life in a dirty and lustfulway.
He swept his hand through his hair as he walked toward me, his jaw covered in more stubble than usual. He had been out on the road nonstop for two days, but the scruffy look definitely suited him. It gave him a wild edge that mad my ovaries goboom.
He sat beside me on the roof, leaning his back against the broken air-conditioning stack and kicking his legs out in front ofhim.
“Sam?” I asked, moving over so the entire length of my body pressed againsthis.
“She’s safe,” he said, combing his fingers through myhair.
Damn, that felt good. He’d never been so touchy-feely with me, and it was as comforting as it was alien. It was strange how things had changed so dramatically between us. It was as if Chaser had gone through something profound while we’d been apart. It was unlikely he would ever talk to me about it, but I felt itnevertheless.
“Good,” I murmured, glad Sam was out of this place and had a future she could look forward to. “Yvette?”
“Her claws were out.” He narrowed his eyes, giving away that he’d had a verbal spat with the feistyblonde.
I laughed and shook my head. “Then she’sfine.”
Taking his hand, I turned toward the LA skyline. The weather had eased in the past day, the sweltering heat now a mere simmer. The calm before thestorm.
“What now?” I asked, tightening my grip on Chaser’s hand. “I don’t have a good feeling. Whatever we do, someone’s going to get hurt. We’re not ready,but…”
“We can watch and wait,” Chaser said, but he didn’t look convinced. He knew these men and didn’t want to see unnecessary bloodshed, no matter how vile some of them couldbe.
“We don’t have time to play the long game,” I said. “Hesuspects…”
Chasernodded.
God. We were all in the firing line, and he would be first. And what about me? I had a strange feeling of foreboding wash over me, and I shivered. This was all because of my piece of shit father. If he were out of the picture… If we assassinated him, it would put a swift end to all our problems. Wouldn’tit?
I glanced at Chaser, hardly daring to put the option on the table. “If I asked... Wouldyou?”
He narrowed his eyes. “I won’t be your soldier. I’ve done that, and it hasn’t worked out sowell.”
“So, that’s a nothen.”
“We’re equals, Sloane.” He sighed, and I sensed another of his Yoda moments was incoming. “I’m on your side, but murder doesn’t fix everything. It would be easy to pull the trigger, but you have to live with that stain the rest of your life. I have to live with the things I’ve done. I won’t do them if there is no justcause.”
“There is just cause,” Iargued.
“It’s not that simple. Killing Marini is a temporary fix. Fortitude would still be split in two. It would be utter chaos, and people woulddie.”
“No matter what we do, there’ll be war.” I sighed and shook myhead.
If only we’d disappeared that day after we’d escaped the Hollow Men on the train. I should’ve driven in the opposite direction. Right now, Chaser and I could be living happily in some remote cabin in the Rockies or a romantic shack by the ocean. Just us and the sky. Now…we were fucked whatever we chose to do. War was on the one hand, and war was on the other. There was no middleground.
