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Where the fuck were we going now? I strode to my closet and shoved the sliding door aside before grabbing my duffel bag from the floor.
“Just what you need, Lazarus,” Dad ordered from the doorway.
I gave a nod and glanced his way. “Got it.”
He lingered for a second before walking away. Why the fuck hadn’t he told me? The thud of his footsteps echoed as I turned back, yanked my clothes from the hangers, and stuffed them into the duffel. I knew why…because of Mom.
“Anymore to go?” Taken asked as he stepped into the room.
I looked around at the posters of bare tits and souped-up cars, my crappy old TV and Playstation shoved into the corner. It was a fucking kid's room. A tired, shitty, old outdated kid's room. I just shook my head. “Nah. Just this.”
“Meet you downstairs then?”
“Yeah.” I shoved as much as I could into the bag, stuffing jeans and t-shirts and boxers from the dresser in at the end, until there was nothing left.
Nothing but a thin brown leather lead in the back of a drawer. Iggy’s lead. The one fucking thing I'd kept of his.
“Lazarus.” Dad called from the doorway. “Time to go.”
I stared at that lead, remembering the pain I’d felt that night. A pain I’d never felt since and never wanted to again. I heaved the duffel's strap onto my shoulder, leaving the lead and the memories behind, and turned toward the door. “Ready.”
We left in a rush, Taken and Gravel crowding each side of me as they scanned the street outside our nondescript stucco home. Gravel pulled me forward with a hand on my arm, pushing me to an idling black Explorer. “Inside, Laz.”
I climbed in, throwing my bag onto the floor as Gravel slid into the driver's seat and Dad slipped into the front, literally riding shotgun. Taken climbed into the back across from me, leaving the others to make their own way. My gut clenched as I scanned the street behind us. It’d never been this bad, never been this…careful.
Whatever this was…it had scared them.
I turned my head as Harley closed the door to our home and met my gaze. But then we were gone, pulling away from the curb and into the street. My pulse sped as I flung my gaze around us. Taken’s hand was inside his jacket in an instant, then his gun was drawn and resting beside him on the seat. In that moment, my life became all too real.
I knew who we were…and what we did. But there was one thing Dad had battered home to me. The Rossis didn’t run, fromanyone. So, as we peeled out from the front of our home, the tires squealing, I had to ask myself,why the fuck are we running now?
Dad said nothing from the front seat as he scanned oncoming traffic. “Gravel,” he growled as a dark blue sedan shot past, then slowed with a squeal of brakes.
“I see him,” Dad’s second-in-command muttered, gunning the engine of the Explorer.
“Fucking bastards.” Taken leaned forward, gun in hand.
“Give me a piece,” I commanded, and thrust my hand out.
Taken just jerked his gaze to Dad.
“Don’t look at him,” I snarled.“Give me a goddamn piece.”
Dad gave a nod before the solider reached into his jacket once more and handed a weapon over. “Just…be fucking careful, okay?”
I shot him a look as the howl of the sedan’s engine grew louder.
“How the fuck did they find us so soon?” Gravel leaned forward, cutting his gaze to the side mirror before jerking the wheel and crossing the lane of traffic.
“They were watching the goddamn house, that’s how,” Dad muttered, then punched the button for his window. “Over there.” Dad pointed to a side street up ahead as Gravel tapped the brakes, spearing the four-wheel drive into the corner.
I slammed against the door as we shot toward the narrow opening of an alley.Crack…crack…CRACK.The back window of the of the Explorer shattered. I flinched a second before a meaty hand grabbed my shoulder and shoved me forward and down.
Taken was a blur, twisting to fire round after round above me. The sway of the car made me sick and the roar in my ears was deafening.
“Who the fuck are those assholes!” Taken yelled as we skidded sideways and crashed into two overflowing trashcans.
“Hood’s men!” Dad barked, leaning out the window to fire.
