Total pages in book: 159
Estimated words: 145942 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 730(@200wpm)___ 584(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145942 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 730(@200wpm)___ 584(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
CHAPTER 24
My ass hits the couch as a loud, frustrated huff comes tearing out of me. “So, we have nothing?” I question, looking up at the boys who stand around the table, looking down at the biggest map of Ravenwood Heights that anybody has ever seen, though I guess the map in itself is like nothing anyone has ever seen as our version comes complete with our whole underground world, including every fucking tunnel. I won’t be caught out like that again.
“I wouldn’t say nothing,” King says, dropping both hands onto the table and hanging his head in frustration. “She was heading north of the city so anything south of the point where you left her can be ruled out.”
“Can it though?” I ask. “What if she was taking me to some creepy lair, but her actual place is somewhere else?”
“Noooooo,” Cruz groans, flopping down on the couch beside me. “We’ve been at this for hours and we aren’t getting anywhere. All this back and forth is giving me a headache. I say we just sit still and wait for her to come to us.”
“Are you hearing yourself, man?” Grayson says. “I don’t want that psycho bitch anywhere near here ever again.”
“I know, but apart from strapping Winter to a dining chair and leaving her out in the middle of the fucking street as bait, we’ve got nothing,” Cruz fires back. “She’s not going to play by our rules. She’s unpredictable and we have no fucking idea what she’s going to do now. All we know is that for the next few days, she’s going to be down with that stab wound so at least we have until then to try and figure something out.”
“That’s not good enough,” Carver fires back as though we’re not all thinking it.
I look up at the boys around the table, already knowing the answer to my question before it even comes out of my mouth. “Would she have gone to a hospital?”
Grayson shakes his head. “I doubt it. The way bullets have been flying around her, she’s bound to have a surgeon on speed dial. We can check hospital records if you want, but I think it’ll be a waste of time.”
“Shit.”
Carver groans. “We have to be missing something. There’s no fucking way that we have the technology to find trafficked kids, but yet we can’t find one psycho bitch who keeps running in and out of town. We have to be able to track her somehow.”
Cruz props his hand behind his head, his bicep bulging beside me. “I don’t know what to tell you, man,” he mutters, the disappointment clear in his tone. “She’s bested us every fucking time. The trail runs cold and we’re left with nothing. She must have found some kind of blind spot north of the city.”
Grayson shakes his head, his frustration getting all too real. He crosses to the couch and plants himself in front of me, his tall, intimidating body looming over me as his dark grey eyes stare down into my baby blues. “Come.”
I look up at him, ignoring his outstretched hand as I raise my brow. “Why?”
“Because.”
“Well, shit,” I murmur. “What a compelling argument. I don’t understand why I haven’t already thrown myself into your arms and allowed you to whisk me away with your bullshit one-word responses and that alluring mystery, but you know what?” I add, pressing my lips into a hard line and hating how I sound like such a bitch, but I’m not up for games right now. “I’m gonna pass.”
“Elodie Fucking Ravenwood, stop acting like such a spoiled little brat and move your damn ass,” he growls, moving his outstretched hand to point toward the front door. “Do you really think that while we’re in the middle of this shit that I’m over here trying to play fucking games with you?”
I clench my jaw, hating it even more when he tries to put me straight back into my place. “Then tell me where the fuck you plan on taking me.”
“I’m teaching you to drive,” he states as my brows shoot straight back up. “Whether you’re ready to admit it or not, your inability to get behind the wheel of a car cost you today and you’re too fucking stubborn to admit it. Had you known how to drive and were confident in your skills, your first thought would have been to switch places. You should have subdued Paris and turned that goddamn van right around. You had her in the palm of your hand and you let her get away because you’re too fucking scared to learn the difference between the gas and brake.”
I throw myself to my feet. “Don’t you dare do that,” I demand, pointing my finger into his stupidly strong chest. “Don’t you think I already feel bad enough for letting her get away like that? I was in an impossible situation and chose to save the people around me and live to fight another day. My inability to drive has nothing to do with it.”