Page 28 of Obey

“He seems... impatient,” she noted quietly. “You won’t have time to put him off. If you’re going to do this, you need a plan. What did you tell him?”

I went through what I’d suggested to Devil—about sleeping together, and about bringing knives into the situation—and then went through my own thoughts on the matter. That I wanted to use the knife against him and then get the hell out of here.

It wasn’t a sophisticated plan. But it was the best I had.

“I can help you,” she said quickly. “I just need to know what you need.”

I looked at her for a moment, wondering. If she was a spy for Devil, then anything I told her would go right back to him, and that would only lead to pain for me. If I told her what I was planning, and then she told him, I would be the one bleeding tonight. I mean I was probably going to be bleeding, regardless. This was Devil we were talking about, after all. He got off on watching other people bleed, and it would have been stupid to think he’d forgotten about me leaving him.

I was dead positive he had a score to settle with me and that it would include plenty of pain.

But if he knew I was trying to escape again, his actions would go beyond just causing me pain. I wouldn’t live to see the light of day. And it wouldn’t be a quick or easy death. Nothing like Dutch’s exploding head.

I studied Sioux’s face, wondering. Her story had been a good one, and if she was truly that in love with Tink, it made sense that she’d want her revenge against Devil for having killed the love of her life. But I’d never heard anything about that story before. Hell, I’d been in Devil’s crew for years and had never met Sioux, in that entire time. She looked familiar, but that didn’t mean much. Tink hadn’t said anything about her when I talked to him, though I didn’t know how much I could actually take from that, considering he’d barely known me and we’d only talked once.

What were the chances that she was telling the truth about who she was and what she wanted? Were they better than the chances that she was actively working for Devil, even as she promised to help me escape?

Did I have any choice but to trust her? I didn’t have many options, here, and if she gave me even a slight edge over him, or a glimmer of a shot of getting out...

“You can trust me,” she said, squeezing my hand like she could see exactly what I was thinking. She flipped our hands over to expose her wrist, and I glanced at the tattoo there.

The same tattoo Tinker had worn.

Yes, I would trust her. I didn’t know if it was the right call or the wrong one, and it might cost me my life. But it might also save me.

“I trust you,” I murmured. “But I don’t have much of a plan. I’ve laid the foundation for there to be knives in the room, and that’s it. In theory, I’ll be able to use my own knife to dispatch Devil and get the hell out of there. In practice...”

“You’ll get it done,” she said, interrupting me. “And once you do, you’ll need a way out of the house. And a way to get far away from here.”

She ducked closer to me, dropped her voice to a whisper, and started moving through her plans so quickly that I almost didn’t keep up. There would be another weapon for me to use, though I should bring the knife he gave me with me if I could. She’d also leave a bike out there. When I asked how she was going to manage that, she told me to leave that up to her. The key would be in the ignition and she’d make sure there was enough gas in the tank to get me to the closest town.

“And I’m coming with you,” she said quickly.

All the forward momentum skidded to a stop and I looked at her, shocked. Everything I’d been building in my head had included getting myself out of this place.

Not worrying about getting her out as well.

“What?”

“I want out,” she said simply. “And you’re my path. You have people who’ll pick you up and take you into hiding. Protect you from Devil. I want to go with you. That’s my price.”

That was her price for helping me. She wanted out of here and she wanted protection from Devil after she escaped, and I couldn’t really blame her.

I’d wanted the same thing when I jumped out of that truck. And Knight had given it to me.

“Done,” I said quickly. “But we’ll be a bigger target if we’re both on the same bike.”

“I’ll have a second bike there. When I hear you start your engine, I’ll start mine. We’ll leave together.”

We’d leave together. I’d thought I would be escaping alone, but the thought of Sioux there with me, of the two of us doing this as partners, made me suddenly feel a whole lot better about everything. I didn’t know if Knight would find a place for her in the Banshees or even if we’d succeed at getting away from here. Devil would no doubt send the entire gang after us. And they’d have guns while we only had knives.

But the fear I’d been feeling up to this point vanished into thin air at the thought that I wouldn’t be doing it alone. Sioux would be with me, and though I barely knew her, I suddenly felt like we’d succeed at anything we put our hearts into.

She saw the conclusions on my face and smiled quietly at me, then slid something into my hand. I looked down to see a tiny switchblade. When I hit the switch, the blade slid out, thin and incredibly sharp.

“It’s tiny, I know,” she said. “But it was all I could get my hands on. This way you’ll have something he doesn’t know about. Just in case.”

Just in case.