Page 84 of Good Girls Beg

"How far ahead are they?" Hel asked, looking over the passenger seat at me.

I checked the timestamp on the video footage. "Approximately an hour." A minute was too long. The sooner I wrapped my hands around the asshole's neck, the better. More important than that, though, I wanted my arms around Teddie. I needed to explain everything. Yes, we locked a guy down in the basement, but not without a good reason. She needed to know.

Should I send her a text message? No, she might not read it. Or believe it if she did.

Worse, she might tell Victor we were coming. There was no telling what he'd do if he knew. I wasn't willing to risk her. Not anymore. I needed to see her, to know she understood. She would, we'd make sure of that.

"Her car stopped outside the ice cream place half an hour ago," Fade said. "Chances are, they're sitting there enjoying a couple of banana splits."

"That better be all it is," Hel growled.

Fade hummed his agreement, as angry as Hel.

Neither gave me looks like they blamed me. They didn't have to; I blamed myself. What sort of guard couldn't keep one guy locked down in the basement? Had Teddie heard him shouting during the thunderstorm right after we brought him in? I should have taped his mouth up first, but he'd fought us. It took all three of us to restrain him and tape him to the chair. The asshole almost deafened me with his yelling.

We drove in silence through the streets of Saltgrave cove, the town we'd all called home since we were kids. The place I thought about leaving a million times. Put the past behind me. If it wasn't for these two guys, I'd be long gone.

From town.

From life.

They gave me a purpose. Something to focus on other than my fucked up childhood. My mother, who sat in a jail cell and would until the day she died. The reason she was there.

My fault.

My mother and my friends would insist it wasn't my fault, but I’d blame myself until the day I died. And then some.

If I hadn't let it happen…

If I hadn't said anything…

My mother would be at home with my father and my younger sister, Hazel. Yeah, my parents like trees.

I was jolted out of my thoughts by the car braking to a stop so sudden, it threw me forward in my seat. If not for my seatbelt, I might have slammed my head into the back of Hel's seat.

I would have cursed Fade out, but I was busy grabbing the mask Hel took out of the glove compartment and shoved back at me.

"We might need these." He pulled on his own and stepped out of the vehicle.

Teddie's car was parked beside ours.

I placed the mask over my face and pulled the elastic down, just above my ears.

While we were driving, the sun had set, leaving the street in darkness. There was no light on in the ice cream parlor, the place was in darkness.

Fade tried the door. "Locked." He pulled a lock pick out of his pocket and fiddled with the door for a few moments before he pushed it open.

“Be on alert." Hel pulled out his gun and started into the store.

"I'll look behind the counter.” I pulled out my own gun and moved carefully. I almost slipped on a puddle of ice cream in the middle of the floor. The cone lay beside it.

"Teddie?" I whispered.

Fade, his own gun in his hand, started up the steps to what I guessed was an apartment. He was gone for maybe a minute before he trotted back down.

"There's no one here."

"There was." I crouched down to pick up something off the floor. I held out my palm to show them. The chain was broken but we all knew that necklace. The tiny teddy bear that dangled from the chain.