Page 82 of Ride Long
Chapter 26
Sloane
Iwas vaguelyaware I wasdreaming.
Cool air was blowing on my skin, making a strand of my dark hair flutter back and forth in the breeze. The tickling sensation on my neck roused me further, though I fought it with all I had. Waking wasn’t something I wanted to do right now. Out there, beyond my closed eyelids, was reality. Realitysucked.
Despite my struggle, my eyes cracked open, and I swatted at the stray hair, tucking it behind my ear. Raising my head, I glanced around the unfamiliar room. Was I dreaming? Because this place looked a hell of a lot like one of those nondescript motel rooms Chaser and I had stayed in on our road trip. I was still fully clothed, so maybenot.
The ceiling was slathered in that awful popcorn plaster I’d become so familiar with, and the closed curtains had a putrid floral pattern all over. The laminate floor was bubbling where it met the white walls, and there was a mildew stink that seemed to cling to everything—even the scratchy sheets on the bed were rank withit.
Hell, this was one of those awful ‘and then she woke up and found out it was all a dream’ plot devices movies used. I didn’t want to one-star review my life, but it was better than acknowledging the last two months werereal.
I pushed up, my head feeling like it was stuffed with cotton wool. Picking at my hair, I sniffed it.Smoke.
“Chaser?”
Movement from across the room startled me. A chair scraped back, and he wasthere.
The way his face was mottled black and blue made him look as if he’d been pulverized by a mallet. Cuts and scrapes littered one side of his face while one eye was beginning to darken and swell. As he stepped toward me, he was favoring his right leg, and I began to fret over the stab wound he’d gotten on thetrain.
“Sloane.” He sat beside me, his hand combing through my tangledhair.
“It wasn’t a dream, was it?” I whispered, my eyes gritty anddry.
He shook his head. “No. It was veryreal.”
“Where are we? For a moment, Ithought…”
“We’re at a Best Western motel outside of LasVegas.”
“Las Vegas?” I jerked away from his touch and scooped the musty sheets around me. “But…”
But that’s where they were going to take me… The Hollow Men operated out of Las Vegas…The King and his depraved dungeon lingered among the glitz and the glamour of The Strip. Was it safe to hide out right under his nose likethis?
“We weren’t followed,” Chaser said, his forehead creasing. “No one knows we’rehere.”
“You’re doing it again,” I exclaimed. “You’re…”
“Shh,” he murmured. “Listen to me. I won’t let anything happen to you, youhear?”
He reached for me, and I let him pull me into his arms. Nestling into his neck, I clutched onto his T-shirt, feeling the hard plane of his chest. His heart was thrumming wildly underneath my palm.Ba-boom, ba-boom…
“I killed him, Chaser,” I murmured. “I…”
“I know.” His hand soothed myback.
One half of our revenge plan had come to fruition—albeit not as planned—but at what cost? Had I shaved a piece of my soul off the moment I pulled the trigger? He was a monster, but he was my father.He was myfather.
“What happened?” I asked with a shake of myhead.
“The renegades retreated,” Chaser explained, giving me a rundown. “We had the upper hand, but when you came out of the desert looking like… They knew Marini was gone and ran. It was over. Gasket and the others went after them, and I brought youhere.”
“It’s his now,” I whispered. “Fortitude will be reborn underGasket.”
“Yes, itwill.”
Liberated from Marini’s psychotic rule, those who were left would flourish with Gasket at the helm. It would take a long time to build the club back up, but maybe… maybe… Maybe they would become something better than they’d been. I wanted to say legitimate, but who knew. Fortitude Customs would make a comeback, and perhaps this time, it wouldn’t be laundering anymoney.
