Chapter 19
“Come on,” I mutter, wiggling my wrist back and forth, trying to will the bone smaller so that I can slip out of the cuff. I’m tugging on Chase’s connected hand every time I yank mine, but he’s standing beside me, silent as a grave. “Come on, almost out... fuck! They’re just too damn tight.”
“Don’t worry, kid. We’ll find a way to get those things off later.”
Maverick is marching ahead, peeking at his compass. He doesn’t have to look behind him to know that I’m desperately trying to remove the handcuffs or to call back unhelpful comments that only ramp my anger and anxiety.
Get them off later? I want these fuckers off me now.
Do you know how much of a bitch it is to bolt while attached to the one guy you’d avoid if you could?
It’s even worse that Chase is so much taller and faster than me.
As hard as I try, I’m only slowing him down since he has to match my pace to keep from overpowering me and sending us both to the ground.
We ran for almost an hour. The three of us made it out of East Jersey without any issues, but just because Maverick believed that none of the members of the prison town would want to avenge Darryl, that didn’t mean someone wouldn’t like the idea of eliminating Chase and Maverick to get their hands on another wife.
The threat of being snatched by someone like Booze or Coney…
adrenaline got me through the first mad dash into the dense woods surrounding East Jersey.
Add that to how thickly infested the neighborhood on the other side of the trees was and…
yeah. I needed to get far enough away before I could even begin to worry about the handcuffs, Chase, and how near-fucking-naked I am.
I’m still wearing the bikini and not much else; I’m just glad I got my jacket back before Darryl slapped these cuffs on me.
I haven’t been able to figure out how to pull a shirt on while connected to Chase—though he stubbornly insisted on helping me put the bikini top back on—but as soon as we can get the cuffs off, pulling my own clothes on again is the first thing I’m going to do, thanks to Mav snagging our packs before we fled.
Well, one of the first things…
“Fine. And after that, he’s going back to the Grave.”
Up until this point I’ve been civil to Chase because he’s a way safer bet than Darryl, and I didn’t want anyone to find out we already knew each other in case that made the auction null and void in the leader’s eyes.
I wouldn’t have put it past that bastard.
Hell, I would’ve rather stayed cuffed to Chase forever than spend another minute alone with Darryl.
But now? He has to go back.
He has to, but from the way his head snaps toward me, I don’t think he agrees.
“Me?” Chase drops his hand, taking mine with him. “Why the hell would I do that?”
He can’t be serious.
“Maybe because you weren’t supposed to be here in the first place,” I snap.
We’re far enough away from East Jersey that I don’t bother lowering my voice as I demand: “What were you doing in that hellhole? How did you find us?” When he clenches his jaw, I yank my arm hard so that his jerks. “Fucking tell me!”
To my surprise, Chase reacts like a cornered animal, backing up as far as the handcuffs will let him, his gaze darting over my shoulder, searching for some sort of an escape and finding none. Nope. There’s only me—me and my fury—and my sister’s fiancé has no choice but to answer to it.
Darryl is dead. For the moment, the threat he posed isn’t hanging over our head. Everything that happened in East Jersey… I had to do whatever it took to survive.
Now?
I want answers, and Chase Knight better give them to me.
He chews on the inside of his cheek before he finally admits: “I tracked you.”
“All the way here? From Madison to East Jersey? You were able to do that?”
Chase gives me a cocky smile. He lifts his free hand, running his fingers through his hair, making the sandy brown strands stand on edge as he tugs. “Well, yeah.”
I feel like someone sucker-punched me in the gut.
Alone. Chase left the Grave and headed into the Outside on his own.
He had no one to watch his back. No one to make sure he was safe whenever he got some downtime to sleep.
Shit. I hope he pushed through the night, following our path by the campsites we left in our wake, and it’s only been a couple of days that he’s been so stupid.
Wait a second. This is Chase Knight we’re talking about.
I glare over at him. “How long have you been following us?”
Us?
Me.
How long has he been following me?
He juts his chin out, the smile lingering in the corner of his mouth as though he knows I’m not going to like his answer. He’s right, too. Because when he says, “Since the Grave,” it’s all I can do not to scream.
God fucking damn it!
As I silently rage, Chase lowers his hand, rubbing the part of his wrist where the cuff is biting into his skin. I get a sudden reminder that every time I jerk my hand to make a point, it yanks on Chase’s. I guess I did it more than I thought because I can see a red welt forming.
I force myself calm, though his next words just piss me off all the more: “Honestly, Holden? I’ve never been that far behind you.”
Maverick lets out a low whistle that has me glaring at him, remembering that he was there at all. I notice he’s put his compass away. Now, standing about four feet ahead of us, he has his hands in his pockets, looking impressed as his gaze bounces between Chase and me.
“You’re telling me you kept out of sight all that time?
Looks like your skills weren’t exaggerated by that pretty friend of yours back in your settlement.
” Pretty friend? Audrey. I turn my glare on Maverick, scowling at him for bringing the nurse up.
Keep yapping, Mav, and you’re next on my list…
“You’re a strong hunter and a tracker. Gotta say, I’m a little jealous. ”
Chase jumps at the chance to get out of my line of fire. He nods over at Maverick. “It wasn’t easy. You two were tough to keep up with. I almost missed you heading into East Jersey. I had to backtrack and only just made it past the border patrol in time to be vetted and invited to the auction.”
Yeah. I’ve got a lot of questions about that.
I guess, if he told Darryl he was willing to play by his rules—and, in the before times, Chase was always the type of guy to do that—he could be invited to act as another set of muscle in East Jersey, especially after how they threw that dark-haired man away the night before.
That’s still a lot of dumb luck, and maybe I’m being bitter and pissed that he risked himself as much as he did, but I’m also kind of surprised he made it this far on his own with only the few injuries he visibly has.
And that’s my point. He got lucky, and luck runs out for all of us. Way I see it, that’s all the more reason for him to go back to the Grave before our journey gets even more dangerous.
I turn to him. “Chase—”
“So, I was thinking,” Maverick cuts in, like the idea just popped into his head and it’s so important, he needs to interrupt me to get it out, “since you’ve made it this far already, maybe you should join us the rest of the way. You’d be a real asset, going after the nest with us.”
What?
No, no, no.
The casual mention of Audrey earlier hadn’t done shit to help my mood. Add that to the fact that Maverick has just invited Chase to New York and I’m so furious, I want to spit nails at him.
I point at Maverick. “No.”
“Xandra—”
I don’t even know which one says my actual name. My blood is pounding in my ears so it could be either. “I said no. We get these cuffs off, then he heads back.”
“I can’t.”
Yes. He can. “Go back to the Grave, Chase.”
His jaw goes tight. “You need me here.”
What would have happened if Chase hadn’t shown up in time to “win” me?
Maverick would’ve let that convict buy me with a carton of cigarettes to save his precious gun, even if he did waste one of his bullets for us.
Chase… he sacrificed an antidote. Hell, he was willing to do whatever it took to protect me, even going so far as to attempt to “consummate” our union with Darryl rubbing one out in the same room.
I have no doubt in my mind that he’ll have my back. I believe that to the marrow of my bones. If for no reason other than for the love he still has for my twin, he’ll protect me to his last breath.
And that’s why I can’t let him.
“You should’ve stayed back home,” I mutter under my breath, knowing I’m fighting a losing battle, but desperate to try anyway. “You never should’ve followed me to the Outside.”
“There isn’t anywhere I won’t follow you to, Holden. The risks don’t bother me. The thought of losing you does.”
No. No. He doesn’t get to pull that. He doesn’t get to put his reckless behavior and the amount of danger he was in on me.
I’m already the reason that my twin was put in the ground. I absolutely refuse to cause Chase’s death next.
“Maybe, but I didn’t want you to come after me. Do you get that? I don’t want you here, Chase. So why the fuck would you stay?”
His cocky smile dies, replaced by that wounded puppy-dog stare het gets as his face falls before snapping into a flat expression, hiding his hurt from me.
Fuuuuucck. I really am a heartless bitch, aren’t I?
I can’t help myself. All he wanted to do was keep me safe, and I bit his head off for it.
Worse, I might’ve done a little more damage to his heart.
“Okay,” I relent. “I think I went a little too far with that, but that doesn’t mean I’m not right. It’s dangerous here, but it’s just as dangerous back home. The Grave needs you.”
“You need me more.”
I ignore that. “Does Jack even know you’re here?”
I can see his mind hard at work, trying to come up with the right answer to that question. But, if anything, Chase has always been honest to a fault, and I know I can trust that whatever he says is the truth. Even if I can hardly believe it when he sighs, then nods.
“And he let you?”