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My face heated with rage, and I turned back around to face the moving landscape around us, trying to maintain a sense of calm. “It was stupid to organize it alone,” I deadpanned. “You should’ve come to me. What if you missed something?”
“I didn’t.”
“What if—”
“I know how to run a fucking job, Corv. There’s no CCTV out there. We parked around the back. No one saw the Rover. No one saw my face. My hands. No tatts. We took the phones. No prints.It’s fine.”
“They sawher,” I corrected him.
“They saw the face of a victim. A hostage.”
“And when the hostage is never freed? Whenthe hostagenever goes to the police? When does yourhostagestart looking like anaccomplice?”
And there it was. The hooked bait.
It was half the point of the trials, wasn’t it? They saw her face. But as long as she did what she was told and didn’t betray the Saints, we’d back her. She’d always have a solid alibi. She’d have access to the best lawyers money could buy. She’d stand before a judge who’d already been paid handsomely for the outcome of her trial.
So long as she wasone of us.
Ava Jade put her face to the hot, dusted wind blowing in through her window and smiled, not giving two shits about the argument going on right next to her. I doubted she was even listening.
Rook, ignoring my comment, rifled through the bills in the bag before pulling out two large stacks and dropping them into Ava Jade’s lap. She startled. Looking down at the cash and back up to Rook.
“Your cut,” he explained, winking at her. “You earned it.”
The way she smiled at him…
She’d never smiled at me like that. Never smiled at meat all.
“You still owe me,” she replied, smug as she licked her ice cream. “I bet seven grand on you.”
“A solid investment. Too bad you lost it on your second gamble, Ghost.”
She pursed her lips, but even that couldn’t hide the smile still trying to weasel its way onto her lips. I got the feeling I was missing some private joke between them and jealousy roiled in the pit of my stomach.
I turned around at the same time Rook reached forward and jammed the auxiliary button, connecting his phone to the car’s speakers. The beginning notes of Queen’sWe Are the Championsplayed low before he reached forward again to crank it louder. I watched in the mirrors as he sang along, putting his arm back around Ava Jade. Rook rocked her side to side as the main chorus played, until she sang with him.
He gave Grey a shove in the front seat. Then kicked the back of the seat until Grey sang with them too, driving us off the uneven desert terrain and back onto a side road, leading to our next destination.
“Come on, Corv,” Rook called over the music between verses. “We are the champions—”
“We are the champions,” Sparrow and Grey echoed. The dark cloud that’d been hanging over Grey for days seemed to lift, his eyes brightening as he gave himself over to a second hand high.
So easy for him to forget his burdens. To shuck off the weight of his reality.
I wished it were even half as easy for me.
The moon castan eerie glow over the road as we veered off the highway and entered Thorn Valley at half past nine.
Ava Jade still munched on cold, stale fries from our fast food stop two hours before. She seemed determined to finish every last one even though she’d been full after just the enormous double decker burger she ordered.
She sighed as she ate the last one and set the paper container back into the bag at her feet, setting a hand on her stomach. She cooperated well with the pick up after our little stunt at the diner, seeming almost eager as I drew out the blindfold and wrapped it around her eyes, pulling it tight to her head.
I doubted it would do much to dull how lethal she was, but it did the job of hiding the location of the pick up and our arms dealer’s faces from view.
My Ghost checked her phone again, flicking through notifications with a frown. I caught Rebecca Hart’s name before she flicked that one away too with another heavy sigh.
Tricking her felt wrong.
