Page 31 of Explode
“God no, not for all the tacos in Mexico,” she said before leaning inand whispering conspiratorially, “and I happen tolovetacos.”
Despite myself, I laughed and relaxed a little. I’d always liked Mrs.Henderson. “Thanks.”
“But, just because I wouldn’t, doesn’t mean others won’t. There areplenty of people in this apartment block who would give you up in a heartbeat to get their greedy mitts on the kind of money that’s being offered in exchange for information on your whereabouts, so I’m going to ask again, what the hell are you doing here?”
I sighed. “It’s a long story, and honestly, I don’t even know where tostart, Mrs. Henderson. But I don’t want to drag you into my mess because that will no doubt end badly for you.”
She was a sweet lady, and if Hendrix or Max got wind she waswithholding information on my whereabouts, they’d torture her to get what they needed. The less she knew, the better.
She reached out and patted my hand. “I understand, dear. But it’s notsafe for you to stay here, have you got a way of getting out of Hollows Bay? Somewhere you can go?”
Now the shock of finding out Kai was alive had begun to settle, Istarted thinking a bit clearer. Mrs. Henderson was right, it wasn’t safe for me to stay here. I needed to get the hell out of Hollows Bay. Not just because it would eventually get back to Max and Hendrix that I was here, but because Kai would be looking for me.
There was no way that man would let me walk away from him, not asingle chance on god’s green earth. So yeah, I needed to find a way to get the hell out of here, and sharpish.
But how? I damn well wasn’t going to go back to the house with Milesand the others, I wasn’t going to spend one more night under the same roof with a bunch of traitorous assholes. And there was no one else I could call on to help me. I had no one, not anyone who wasn’t connected to Kai in some way.
Except, that wasn’t true anymore. A week ago, it would have been,hell, when I woke up this morning, it would have been true. But not anymore.
Pulling out my phone, I wasn’t in the least bit surprised to see agazillion missed calls from Miles, Ash, and Jack. I really must have been in a daze not to hear it ringing when I walked here. At least they couldn’t track me.
Quickly pulling up the number I needed, I held the phone to my earand held my breath as I waited for it to be answered.
“Riley, I didn’t expect to hear from you so soon. Missing me already?”Rafe said, chuckling down the line.
He’d given me his number when we stepped out of the room so Milescould discuss the marriage to Sofia in private with Mr. Bianchi. While we waited, Rafe gave me a tour of the Bianchi mansion, doing his best to flirt with me. He gave me his number, telling me that now we were family, I could ring him if I needed anything. Granted, he’d eyed me up as he said it, and I’d told him there was little chance I’d need anything.
But here we were.
“Believe me, I didn’t expect to be calling you so soon,” I replied,riddled with doubt that I was doing the right thing, but in the absence of any other choice, I closed my eyes before adding, “I need a favor.”
He chuckled again. “And what exactly can I do for you?”
Opening my eyes, I found Mrs. Henderson watching me closely. Shegave me a small nod, urging me on.
“I need a ride out of Hollows Bay.”
Chapter 9
Kai
Ittookalotof restraint to not plunge a knife into Alex’s unconsciousbody. Not for betraying me. But for hurting Riley. He never laid a finger on her, but he was the cunt who shot Jacqueline in the head, and I knew how much witnessing that would have hurt my Star.
For betraying me, Alex would die a painful death, but for hurting mywife, he would die anexcruciatinglypainful death.
As much as I wanted to end him, I wanted him to be awake to feelevery little thing I was going to do to him. But I was struggling to hold onto my control.
I didn’t know where Riley was.
I wanted to kill Ash for letting her walk out, but as he rightly pointedout, if I hadn’t sprung my surprise return on her, she wouldn’t have had a need to walk out, and for pointing that out, I wanted to kill Ash even more.
Reluctantly, Miles and I had left Hollows Bay with Alex tied up in theback of the car while Ash, Tank, and Dan went to look for her. I’d wanted to go with them and had almost come to blows with Miles when he tried to stop me.
Eventually, I’d had to relent and accept it was a suicide mission if Iwent marching around the streets of East Bay trying to find her, even if I did think my disguise was suitable. So despite my need to find my wife, I agreed to take Alex back to the house ready to interrogate him.
At least I’d be able to take some of my frustration out on Alex.
Fuck, I was mad at Riley. I knew she was pissed, but she was puttingherself at risk strolling off like that, what the fuck was she thinking? I’d just got my girl back, I wasn’t prepared to lose her again.
