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Ugh. He touched me? I didn’t feel him touch me, but he had to touch me to take my gag off.
“I can’t understand what you’re saying,” he tells me as my hair moves.
I’m speaking? I don’t know what I’m saying. There’s a strange tickling in my throat. Maybe I am speaking.
“Eve, you’re not making sense. What are you mumbling?”
Summoning up all the strength I have, I finally make a coherent word. Or two. “Fuck. You.”
I cough while laughing hysterically, and the laughter lashes out and burns my throat, ripping across the dryness like jagged nails. But it’s worth the pain and endless string of coughing that comes with it.
“She’s going crazy. This is backfiring. You deprive someone from sleep for four days and they can’t even make sense.”
I try to look up to see who that voice belongs to. It’s not Baldy. Not unless Baldy got a new voice. That makes me laugh again. I wish I didn’t have to cough when I laughed.
“Damn it,” Ben hisses, jerking back. “She’s bleeding. Why the fuck is she bleeding?”
“You’re so stupid,” I giggle, coughing harder as something coppery fills up in my mouth. It feels good, so good to have something wet in my mouth.
“Shit. Get her some water. It’s too hot down here. It’s drying her out quicker and she’s fucking delirious, you dumbass. This entire thing is pointless. Just split it with him the way we planned. Stick to the fucking plan. This is too risky!”
“If I don’t have to split it with him, then I don’t want to. He’ll hold it over our heads for who knows how long. He still hasn’t put Herrin and Drex away, which was his end of the bargain.”
“He’s not the only one working with them,” the guy points out. “He has to do this with finesse, jackass. He’s the reason the feds are even sniffing around like bloodhounds on the trail. He’s the reason we even thought to lean on Cecil. Stop trying to cut him out. Call the guys who are loyal to you and prepare them for the hell you’re going to have raining down on them. Gator went missing the other day. That means Drex is already going after your crew. I told you starting a war between them was fucking stupid! The plan! We had a fucking brilliant plan!”
“Only part of them are my fucking crew. The others are still loyal to Dad. And if he’s going after them, then it’s already working, you stupid fuck. This is better than his plan. It was never my plan to do this all peacefully and quietly.”
“This is stupid to even be going on about. You need to get out of here before your Dad starts wondering where you are. You need to be planting the seed they took Gator. You need to fucking do something other than play house with her. Now go do the other shit. I’ll keep an eye on her.”
“You better not—”
“Fuck you. Go.”
I try to follow the cryptic conversation, but I’m more focused on counting the dots that bloom across my vision as my eyes flutter shut once again. The arguing is less intrusive than the music… That immediately starts blaring again.
My eyes jerk awake, but my head stays down. I wish it wasn’t so heavy. Heavy. Everything is so, so heavy.
Chapter 20
DREX
“Give me something, Sarah. Please fucking give me something. Anything,” I beg, gripping my head while sitting in front of another house we’ve torn apart while searching for my girl.
We’ve been on the road since yesterday, driving all over the lower half of Texas to search the addresses of Larry’s friends and family. Axle has just met back up with me, and Rush isn’t far away. Snake is still a few hours away. Dash too. It’s been nothing but dead ends and bullshit.
“Okay,” she says on the phone. “It’s a long shot. Larry worked for another guy about seven years ago. He lives about twenty minutes down the road from where you are now. Can’t hurt to look into it. I can’t find any affiliation to the Hell Breathers though.”
I hang up, and she sends the text almost immediately.
“What’s up?” Axle asks me. We’ve both lost the rest of our teams. Well, Axle sent them on to rest. I don’t give a fuck if they’re tired.
“Sarah sent me the address of a guy Larry used to work for. It’s basically a last ditch effort.”
I try not to crush my phone. Four days. There’s no telling what has happened to her, and I can’t do a motherfucking thing about it.
“Drake still not awake?” I ask as I get back on my bike.
“He woke up today, but he’s not alert enough to answer any questions. They’re keeping him sedated for the pain. He did have major surgery to keep him from bleeding to death, in case you’ve forgotten. And he has numerous broken bones. His side absorbed the brunt of the impact.”
