Page 68 of Road to Redemption

The clown licked her lips as her eyes darted back to mine, stepping even closer to Dom. “It’s always dark here.”

Leo and Spencer closed in on her, ready to put this freak into her place. Next to them, Lady growled and snarled at the intruders.

I was about to watch my angels fight some freakish clown with a bloody ax in the dark. No one was backing off.

A cackle ripped out of her chest, finally taking a step back. “You should see your faces!”

Dom, Leo, and Spencer weren’t laughing. Deadpan, all of them stood at attention. Dom’s temple vein bulged out of her head, Leo’s nose rose to a snarl, and Spencer’s arms flexed as she prepared to throw a punch.

“We’ll see who’s fucking laughing.” Leo snapped, lifting her fists.

But not before Dom stuck her arm out and held the doctor back.

From the darkness, two more clowns appeared from the abyss of the fake forest’s darkness. I recognized one of the masks, the same we’d seen outside — the one with red splatters and black around its mouth.

The other, taller than all of them, stood with crossed arms. Her clothes were tattered and ripped too. Her mask had wide, gaping eyes and mouth. But twine stitched across the edges of each hole. Swallowing, the mask sent a shiver down my spine.

Her voice was deep when she spoke, the words reverberating off of every surface. “Time for our biker friends to head back to their shelter. They won’t like what happens next.”

I could feel Dom wanting to challenge them. She didn’t like giving in — to anyone.

But she was responsible for keeping all of us safe, and despite how the clowns had pushed their luck by cornering me like that, Dom knew how to keep me safe.

“Don’t touch what’s ours.” Dom snarled before grabbing my arm and guiding me out of the ride, Lady, Leo, and Spencer covering our backs.

The sun outside nearly blinded me after so much time in the darkened space.

All of us covered our eyes as we marched back toward the safehouse. Dom was fuming, her chest heaving with anger as she checked the time. Sunset was an hour away but none of us had any desire to cut it close again.

Dom barely looked behind her until we were back in the safehouse and the door slammed closed behind us. “Are you three fucking stupid?”

Spencer scoffed. “Chill, asshole. The dog needed to piss.”

“And how did the key to solving all of our problems end up alone inside a dark amusement park ride?”

Now in the safety of our apartment, I felt my body start to shake. “We were just trying to have fun.”

Leo grabbed a blanket off the couch and wrapped it around me as Spencer rubbed my back. “You’re okay, Princess.”

Shaking her head, Dom moved toward the kitchen. “You never fucking listen to me. Stop pushing your luck and making it impossible to keep you safe. God forbid I try to protect you because we need you. I need you.”

Despite the confession, Dom’s words were biting.

She does care. Not just about the shares, but about me.

Dom tried to steady her breath. “What would have happened if I hadn’t showed up?”

Maybe Leo and Spencer could have taken those three psychos, but they would have been outnumbered.

The last thing I wanted was to see where those freaks would have taken me, what they would have done to me. Whoever they were, they weren’t interested in following anyone else’s rules. They played by their own code.

Shaking it off, Dom ripped her phone out of her pocket and started dialing a number. “I’m getting us out of here.” Impatient to leave, Dom was going to push The Oracle.

Before she could press call, her phone dinged with a text from an unmarked number.

Dom huffed out a laugh. “Lucky girl.”

“What?” Spencer pressed.