AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Something like that. Not the police, bad people. Don’t fuck about with them, if you see them, you just drive faster, okay?”
“Okay.”
“And we can take your uncle’s car?” Colt turned to eye up the Mercedes.
“Yep, I’ll tell him I had to borrow it for a friend, he won’t know it’s gone until the morning, I’ll take the rap for it which will probably involve working another month here, maybe taking on the role of janitor, too....” Ash smirked and shrugged his shoulders.
Colt nodded. “Okay fine. Is it in good working order? Brakes? Airbags? Seat belts?” he asked again.
“Yep,” Ash said with a pop to the P. “He’s all about ensuring stuff is clean, safe, blah blah blah.” Ash moved his hand about.
“Fine.” Colt produced a package of notes from inside the saddle bag. He caught April’s eye, a silent check with her. April nodded and Colt then thrust it into Ash’s hand.
“Wow.” Ash saw the wad of crisp clean bills and froze.
“For your hard work, Ash. I know we haven’t been the easiest guests and you’ve been good to us,” Colt said softly.
Ash looked up, Colt’s tone catching his attention. April heard it, too. Colt sounded proud. Fatherly. Ash almost choked. April realized Ash probably hadn’t been praised, told he’d done good, for too long. By the sounds of it, his family had villainized him and cast him out. He had fucked around, yes, but he had a good heart, he had a good head. He wasn’t into taking advantage of people. Unlike Cleaver and company. April felt all the emotions bubbling up in her. God, she’d actually cry before the night was out, she knew it.
Ash cleared his throat, looked at the money, then at Colt and April. “Thank you,” he said quietly.
Colt slapped him on the back, then pulled themselves together in a brief hug.
“Time to drive,” Colt said. April nodded. She gripped Ash’s shoulder in her own emotional display before turning from the van and climbing into the passenger seat of the Mercedes. Ash had put water and granola bars in the seat pockets. She smiled.
She looked around and Ash slipped Colt one final thing. A gun. April did a double take.
Colt took it, handling it with care, inspecting it. She watched it in his hands, she wanted to look away, like he was touching something dirty. But she couldn’t. She wanted to watch him handling it at the same time. She realized she hadn’t breathed. She wasn’t meant to see this, she realized. Colt looked up and nodded at Ash, and tucked the gun into the saddle bag, too. It was coming in the car with them. She felt the weight of that, she felt how it changed the air in the car, how it made it heavier, in her opinion.
Colt slipped in beside her, into the driver’s seat. He turned on the engine and paused for a moment.
“You sure you want to do this?” he asked quietly.
April blew out a breath. “Yes,” she said simply.
Colt nodded and took the car out of park. They were moving, at last. He purred it slowly at first, tapped the brakes, revved slightly. The security barrier came into view. In front, Dwight, the security guard, swaggered over. Colt swore under his breath.
Then, suddenly, Colt hit the accelerator pedal. The car shot forward, noisily, jerkily. April gripped the seat beneath her with both hands.
“Colt!” she squealed. The barrier was streaking toward them but Colt didn’t slow.
Bam. They hit the barrier. Smashed it out the way. It snapped and folded easily, the car hardly slowed down.
Dwight was left looking on from a safe distance, aghast.
Colt was grinning from ear to ear, and he chuckled wildly.
“That was so unnecessary!” April chided. In truth, now her heart was pounding.
“That’s MC life, Kitten… revenge and vengeance.”
She’d felt too emotional before, saying goodbye to Ash, The Pines, the van. Now she felt Colt’s wild energy, the pump of adrenaline in her body. Fear, yes, for she should be afraid. But also the thrill. She couldn’t wait for them to get on the highway, for Colt to put his foot on the pedal and for them to streak off into the night. Back to California, back to where it all began.
She threw a glance over to Colt, and the thrill of the chase was gleaming wildly in his eyes again. She recognized it because she felt it, too. “So bad, Colt,” she said, but the smile in her voice, the tease, was clear. He heard it.
“I’m a bad boy, April, what can I say?” he replied, before flooring it down that narrow driveway. The night air ripped in half, in the wake of the roar of their car.
April’s fingernails bit into the car seat with desperation. Her palms were sweaty but the leather seat did nothing to absorb it, and probably made it worse. She flicked a glance at Colt. He looked like a teenage boy who had spent too long in front of a gaming monitor. Wild eyed, strung out, manic. They had been driving for three hours, non stop. April felt a tick in her eye. She must have strained it from staring so intently at the road. Both in front and behind. And she wasn’t even driving.
