I'm not the best driver in the world. I haven't exactly gone on a car-wrecking spree, but I've totaled enough that I'm happy to let everyone else drive when they want to. Thankfully, there were few people on the roads and fewer that were awake in their homes. Almost every house we passed was dark, the occupants unaware of our passing. I tried to shake the willies out of my mind, but they were cemented there pretty well.
The problem was, I pulled up to a penthouse apartment thing that looked as if my grandparents couldn't have afforded it. I checked my phone, but it said I was in the right place. I double-checked the keys and they, too, confirmed that I was where I should have been. I didn't believe it until Nishelle came out into the darkness, Edwin in hot pursuit behind her. He pulled open the back door and helped Adam out and into the building.
Which just left me with Ember. The last time we'd spoken had been... heated. She wasn't sure if she could cope with me dating the guys and her. I wasn't sure if she gave a shit about me anymore because of it. We'd gotten into a fight and I'd ended up underneath Nate, moaning and writhing, trying to forget all about her and everything we'd been.
"You need a hand with those bags, Strikes?" Nishelle asked me, peeking in my window.
I reached out and untwisted the strap of her tanktop. Then I sighed up at her. "I knew that Allison had funneled a lot of money through your accounts, but this is craziness."
"This isn't all her. I've been doing a lot of work on the side the past little while. People just love it if you can scorch someone's face off. Get up, get out. I'll help you with everything. James knows you're here."
My heart twitched to life. It was like I'd been holding my breath the entire way to the apartment. I was out of Scribe's reach, at least for that night. So was everyone I loved, except for Nate and, sometimes, my parents. Together, we hauled everything out of the car and upstairs on a single go. Adam had only brought two bags, most of it contained in one, big bugout bag.
I wasn't that person. I'd brought five.
Sue me. I was tired of losing everything that made me who I was. How many times did I have to lose the only place I considered home before I gave up and learned how to take everything important with me? It was a sensible, rational move, and I'd hear no argument against it.
Nishelle still looked at me like I'd lost my mind when she saw what was in the trunk. She took Adam's stuff. I stubbed my toe on the car's tire and had no issue bringing up my bags on my own.
You can take a wild guess what her apartment looked like. The thing was massive, enough to fit twenty of our little squad if she'd had to. Hell, she probably could have hosted most of the Yarborough Alliance if there was an emergency.
"Take it easy with my face," Adam grumbled from the bathroom.
Edwin sighed. "You're an absolute disaster. I'm being as gentle as I can. Close your eyes and hold your breath. This alcohol isn't going to feel great."
Adam let out a scream and there was a substantial thud right after it. I dropped my bags and went to the door to tap on it. "What happened?"
"I think he didn't like what I did to him. He shoved me up against the sink but I'm fine," Edwin said. His head popped out of the bathroom and looked me over. "You don't look too good yourself, Cassie. Did you really steal that old clunker?"
I leaned against the door frame. "I had to get him back to the building and then I had to get us out. What do you think?"
"That you stole that old car and left it parked out front. Where're the keys, Cassie? I'll take it somewhere else," Nishelle said, holding out her hand.
Missing that entirely, I kicked myself. I'd gotten lucky to get us to the apartment and I'd been stupid enough to leave the vehicle out front. I may as well have put up a sign that pointed Yarborough PD straight to Nishelle's door. I tossed her the keys and left the hall, threw myself on the couch, and passed out before I heard Nishelle go outside.
The dreams Allison gave me were no more real than the one she'd trapped us in, but they seemed as though they were.
I was barren, married to an Adam that begged for us to join our houses. The whole setup looked like it belonged in the middle ages and it took me far too long to realize we were in some terrible Romeo and Juliet rip-off.
"For soothery," Adam said, his voice bold and strong; as if he were projecting it so a nearby crowd could hear. "We should make babies and totally calm down this whole family rivalry stuff. It's the whole root of this problem, did you know that?"
Okay, maybe it was more like the Romeo and Juliet movie remake.
Though I had no interest in speaking, the words poured from my lips. "It is not for us to discover a settlement to the bullshit our ancestors got us into."
Quaint. I sighed at the entire scene, watching it play out exactly as one might expect. I died dramatically, to my credit.
Are you finished, yet?
My dead cousin growled at me in return, though she didn't actually say anything. I waited until she released me back to dreams of the horrors she'd inflicted on me and some that I'd done to myself over the years. Nothing said that I had to be polite
