AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“What?” His cold, hard laugh raked across her bones. “That I have a family? That I have someone who depends on me? Typical selfish thought train.”
Silence prevailed for several minutes, and then Shay said, “Is he your only family? Aside from your dad?” For someone who was frequently talked about throughout the state and beyond, she knew next to nothing about him.
“My dad isn’t family. I’ve got Paxton and Travis. Pulled Travis out a long time ago. Threw him far away.”
“Can’t you do that for Paxton too?”
“It’s…complicated. He’s technically my half-brother, the son of my father’s newest whore. My dad couldn’t give a rat’s ass if Travis was gone, but Pax… Pax, he’s got on a really tight leash.”
Quiet returned once more. Shay didn’t know what else to say. While she found the silence between them tense and unnerving, there was something about peeling back Roman’s many layers that unsettled her just as much.
And then Roman circled back to their earlier topic. “Speaking of dots getting farther away on screens.”
Shay stiffened, the movement causing the pain blooming on one side of her neck and head to worsen. The waves of nausea would be coming soon, which meant she had to get into a dark, quiet room as soon as possible, so she could deal with the pain in peace. “I thought you didn’t like talking.”
“I like to talk when it suits me.”
“Well, this topic doesn’t suit me, so tough luck, pal.”
“How’d you do it?” he persisted. “I know what I saw on that screen.”
She shook her head, gritting her teeth against the pain worming into her muscles. “Uh-uh. You’re not the one who gets to dictate every conversation we have. It’s my turn to say we’re done talking.”
“If you’re a hacker, you can just admit it.”
“I’m not a hacker.”
“Then it was magic.”
Shay didn’t know what to say, so she ignored him. She could practically hear him mulling it over and realizing the mainstream knowledge on magic didn’t add up. Cameras and screens never lied; not even veneficae glamors worked on them.
Shay’s magic, on the other hand…
A small building appeared up ahead. Shay leaned forward, squinting to read the sign.
It was a store. The faded letters on the big windows out front declared they sold everything from pool floaties and hiking boots to snacks and over-the-counter drugs. There was a group of cristala charging stations too, thank gods, though they looked like they hadn’t received maintenance in a while, maybe even years—decades, if she was pessimistic.
Shay unbuckled her seatbelt. “Pull over.”
But Roman didn’t slow. He drove right by in a cloud of dust, and soon the store was only a speck in the side mirror.
She swung her head around to glare at him. “You got cotton in your ears again, Shadows? I said pull over!”
He pointed up ahead, and Shay looked with reluctance. “There’s your motel.”
Sure enough, there was a flashing red sign welcoming them to Motel 58. Below it was another: VACANCY.
Perfect. But—
“I’m thirsty.” The steady pulse on one side of her head told her she was way past dehydrated. “Just turn around real quick—”
“‘I’m thirsty’, ‘I have to pee’, ‘the dot keeps moving’,” Roman mimicked. “Can you lay off the whining for five fucking minutes?”
She bristled. “Can you lay off the assholery?”
He veered into the tiny parking lot of Motel 58 and lurched to a stop out front of the office. There were a few other cars parked in front of the handful of numbered doors, and Shay saw a sign to the right of the office, directing guests toward a swimming pool.
Oh, thank gods. It was hot as sin out here, even this late in the day.
