My front end dipped down and came right back up, moving smoothly out of a ditch, forcing thick leaves to part as I drove into a small clearing.
Cobra followed right behind me, stopping when we were fender to bumper. I slid out, making sure I didn’t wake Cali. Grimm shifted in the backseat, careful not to wake Arlen, whose legs were stretched across his lap.
“Didn’t think we’d ever come back here.” He waved his hands to the woods we’d be walking through once we formed a mini huddle.
“You two assholes remember to keep your mouths shut,” Cobra directed at Bryce and Dhal.
“You have nothing to worry about on my end. I’m here to keep her safe if things go haywire, not give a history lesson,” Bryce replied indignantly.
I wasn’t real worried about him.
He’d been closer to us than anyone else had for the past two years. It was Dhal I expected to fuck up and tell Cali things I didn’t want her to know.
I had enough to bullshit to deal with. I’d never handled her with kid gloves, never needed to. That didn’t mean I wouldn’t shield her from shit sure enough to fuck up her already fucked up head.
Hearing car doors slam on the other side of the clearing was my queue to get shit moving.
“Let’s get them up.”
It was time to take a step back into my sordid past.
CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE
If there was anything I’d learned in life, it was that traipsing through the woods usually led me right into a shitty situation.
At least those times had been partially my fault. Since Romero was the one leading us like a good little duck and ignoring me when I asked where we were going, if anything went wrong, I was blaming him.
“You get used to it,” Cobra snickered when he caught me side-eyeing one of the acolytes walking on my left.
“Right,” I said slowly. Being followed by someone in a long black robe and satanic mask wasn’t really something I saw myself adjusting to, but I was sucking it up.
Arlen walked on our right with Grimm. A triangular formation of acolytes was behind us and there was one on each outer ring of our little group.
“Hey, I need you to know that I wasn’t trying to leave you behind on the bridge. I thought I could divert the attention off the car.”
“No hard feelings C, you’d know if there were.” I smiled at him, watching as once again, his eyes flickered to Bryce.
I couldn’t blame him for that. Bryce wasn’t overly tall and he had only a few tattoos, the inverted cross being one of them. But he was well built, his face could make a few panties drop, and he seemed the most normal out of all of us—aside from Dhal, who was so sweet I legit couldn’t stand it.
“I like puss––”
“You don’t have to explain it to me. Ever. Don’t forget that I’m in the same boat.” I swiftly cut him off. I didn’t want him justifying his sexuality to me of all people. I didn’t care if he wanted to suck off Adam on Thursday and ride Eve on Friday. That was his prerogative.
He nodded, letting my words sink in. “You’re a pretty cool chick, sis.”
“I know, right?”
We walked a little further, following a well worn path through the woods. Soon enough, the sound of voices met my ears as the trees began to flare out in a circle and a clearing came into view.
“We’re going to a trailer park?” Arlen asked incredulously.
“We’re going back to where we grew up.” Grimm answered.
Grew up? The closer we got, the more I wondered how that was remotely possible.
If they left The Order and ended up here, did that mean Rome’s dad was around?
“I didn’t know meeting O.G Grimm was on today’s task list,” Arlen muttered, wiping chocolate tendrils off her sweaty forehead.
