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I eyed the knife Vincent had dropped, a dark thought of plunging it into him surfacing. I shoved it away as Thomas shook his head.
“I’m getting you out of here. I don’t have a choice now. Paul was sleeping, and there’s no one else up there now inside, only guys outside, so we have a chance. I can get you out of here, and hopefully the Slades can help me. Because I’m dead once he wakes up,” Thomas said slowly, his voice unsteady. “Fuck, my family.”
“We just have to contact the Slades, they can help your mother and sister, right?” I hissed.
“I’ll call them once we get out of here. Tell them to meet me somewhere,” he said, nodding as if he was assuring himself of it all, but the fear in those eyes had my heart pulling.
He’d saved me, but now his own family would be in danger.
I owed him big time.
“We need to move, grab the knife, you might need it.”
17
VERONICA
Isat in the passenger seat of the truck, chewing my cheek as my body ached.
“You okay?” Thomas asked for the millionth time.
“I’ll be fine,” I mumbled as I tapped the knife still perched in my lap.
He’d snuck me through the safe house, and I’d started to realize just how much pain I was in from Vincent’s attack, my core aching and throbbing with a sharp stabbing sensation. I could feel that I was bleeding from my tears, but I’d worry about that once we stopped.
By some miracle of God, there’d only been Paul inside the house, and he’d been passed out on the couch as Thomas snuck me past. I’d expected more men and even guards to be everywhere like at the Slade lodge, but apparently since they were only a faction of the main family, they had less people, and Thomas had sounded the alarm that I’d escaped when Vincent had attacked me and had gotten out the back door.
Whatever guards had been outside, they scrambled to catch me in the woods outside, while Thomas pretended to come back inside to get Paul to help him search the immediate perimeter.
He’d then waited for the right moment to slip me outside into one of the few vehicles left, and we’d stopped at a roadhouse where he’d asked me to wait for about fifteen minutes while he sorted a few things out.
The next thing I knew, he’d moved me into a truck, having come out with some keys, and we were well on our way.
How he’d acquired the keys, I didn’t ask.
“Look, you can keep saying that, but I know you’re not fine. How can you be?” he said, his eyes trained on the road ahead, his brow furrowed.
“I’m away from there now and everything’s going to be okay,” I said softly, the words more to comfort myself as I trembled. “You rang your mom and sister while in there, right?”
“Yes, got a phone. Glad I have a tendency to carry cash or we’d not have switched cars so easy,” he said. “They’re heading to a safe location, only taking essentials and tossing their phones and such. I’ll meet them there in two days. I gave them the number of the new phone I got in there.”
“Did you steal it or buy it?” I asked.
“The car or phone?”
“Both.”
His lip quirked at this as he gave me a mischievous smile.
“The phone, the car I acquired by other means. I’m sure the Slades can sort that out for me.”
I shook my head, closing my eyes as I leaned back against the seat. It smelled like wet dog in here, but I didn’t care. I was safe now, or at least, as safe as I could be.
“How do we contact them?” I whispered as I shifted, the pain making itself known once more and causing me to wince.
“I know a guy, thankfully I remember his number. He’s a neutral piece, he’ll relay a message for me,” he stated, giving me a sideways glance. “We’ll stop at the next gas station, you sure you’re okay?”
“I’m going to be less okay if you keep asking me,” I muttered. “I’m fine.”
