“Not until I get answers.”
“Goddamnit, Fallon.”
Crouching in the shadow of a rusted propeller, I post up about ten feet from the sedan. It’s definitely a Helix company car, just as I’d guessed. Akio creeps up to me so quietly I don’t even hear him approach.
“You are in so much fucking trouble,” he whispers, but at that moment, the doors on the SUVs swing open and four girls, bound and stumbling, exit. The armed men bring them around to the far side of the sedan, lining them up like they’re presenting them to whoever is in the backseat for approval. They bend them this way and that, pullingdown their pants and lifting their shirts to expose them like they’re prized cattle.
Anger, hot and fierce coils in my gut when the driver gets out. “That’s Randy. My dad’s favorite driver…”
“You’re sure?”
I only manage a nod. There’s no way to tell who is in the backseat, but seeing Randy all but confirms that it’s my dad. And if it is, then it’s no surprise to me that he isn’t getting out, showing his face. My dad is careful, calculated. He won’t get his hands dirty until he needs to.
Randy stands in front of the girls, flicking his fingers in approval until he gets to the last girl. The one who looks so drugged out of her mind she can’t stand up without the support of one of her captors. She’s skin and bones, and purple bruises mar her flesh. “Boss says not her.” Then he turns and gets back in the idling car.
They escort three of the girls back into a vehicle, but the fourth…
A single gunshot rings out, startling me back into Akio and knocking us both off balance. His back slams against the flat side of the propeller, the reverberation echoing like a gong. “Oh my god,” I pant, unable to catch my breath. The fourth girl is a crumpled heap on the ground. “What the fuck?”
“What was that?” one of the armed men asks, his voice rising in alarm. Shit.
Akio grips my arm, tugging me to my feet and dragging me with him back to the bike. Our feet crunch on the gravel, loud enough that anyone can hear us now. There’s no time to stay quiet, though, not with the shouting behind us, alerting the others. Another gunshot goes off and sparks fly off the metal container next to me.
“Faster!” Akio yells.
Doors slam and the sound of tires peeling out on gravel has my stomach in my throat. Akio all but throws me onto the bike when we reach it. My arms wrap around him, and he’s hitting the throttle, racing out through the entrance.Psychoby Asking Alexandria instantly blares over the speakers in my helmet.
One of the SUVs is right behind us.
“They’re following!” I warn him, failing to hide the panic in my voice.
“Hang on.” Akio revs the engine and then we’re flying. He snakes between cars like he’s had plenty of experience losing a tail. The SUV keeps up, though they have a harder time fitting in the spaces between the other cars on the road, causing several to spin out. My nails dig into Akio’s jacket when he crosses four lanes of traffic in a blink of an eye, catching air as we take the ramp to exit at the last second.
Tires squealing, he cuts a ninety-degree angle into the nearest alley, picking up speed. I pull my arms and legs in as tight as I can, knowing the brick walls on either side of me are less than a foot away. Shit, I really hope nobody is back here or we’re so screwed. The bass of the music rockets up my heart rate to a dangerous level as we cut another corner.
This is insane.
This is fucking incredible.
This is freedom.
I can’t help but let out a whoop of excitement as Akio barrels onto the next street, barely avoiding slamming us into a bus, and then guns it down the road. Cars fly past in blurs, but I’m focused on how right it feels to be here, with Cerberus. What they’re fighting for is the same fight I’ve been too afraid to face. I don’t want to be afraid anymore.
Tonight convinced me that there’s more going on at Helix than I imagined possible, something I’m 99.9% positive my father is a part of,if not responsible for. I owe it to the innocent people who are taken, abused, used and left for dead to do something about it. I owe it to myself. Maybe leaving Axton Harbor isn’t the answer to my problems. Maybe… maybe I belong here, with Cerberus. My kidnappers. My monsters.
We zip down one street then the next, weaving until we find one less crowded, where businesses have closed for the night. Akio turns down a secluded alley, and pulls us to a stop, cutting the engine. Breathless, I slip off the bike and pull off my helmet, listening for the sound of a vehicle following us. Nothing. Then I’m sucking down the cool night air. My entire body is a live wire, full of adrenaline and aching.
Akio’s boots hit the pavement. Three steps and he’s in front of me, helmet ripped away and face a mask of rage and want. Lips slam down onto mine in a bruising kiss. It’s teeth and tongue and hot breath and sweat. I moan as his large hands grip my ass, pulling me against his erection, grinding himself against my throbbing core.
“I’m so fucking furious with you right now,” he says between the sweet painful bites down my neck. “I told you to stay on the bike.” Hands digging into my hips, he spins me so that my back is flush to his front. “If you want me to treat you like a brat, then I will.” Akio grips the band of my pants and yanks them down to my ankles, pulling my panties with them, and baring me to the night air.
“Someone could see us,” I pant, but he only shoves me forward so that I’m bent over the seat of the bike, gripping the leather.
Akio plunges two fingers into my wet cunt, making me lurch forward in surprise, but he puts a hand on my lower back, stilling me. He pumps his fingers into me several times before pulling them out and then thrusting them in front of my face.
“Suck.”
I do, eagerly taking his fingers into my mouth and sucking, hard, teasing them with my tongue like I did his cock the other day. He groans, but yanks his hand away. “I don’t think you’re too bothered about being caught out here, Siren. In fact, I think your pussy is even wetter because of it.” I hear him fumbling with his belt, then his zipper. “Doesn’t matter. I’m going to fuck the brat right out of you.”
