RISK & REWARD ✔️

76 | 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘶𝘵𝘦

rah sorry for the delay. warning for some content slade alludes to at the end; nothing super graphic, just a bit of an icky implication she mentions w the terrible two. also anyways my offline wip hit 43k words today and im very proud (: been working on her for a year and I think she'll finally be done by summer ugh. kaefoxx published author arc coming soon

I DON'T think Slade or I register Sasha's words right away. I think we both just stare at her like she's just given us a death sentence.

Maybe she has. I look over at Leo and Hawk, and I think that maybe this is Sasha's way of getting us killed. Take us to Vegas and drag two of the three worst possible people with. Yeah. Good plan.

"Are you insane?" Slade's the first between the two of us to speak; she blinks twice in rapid succession, like she's been shocked out of her own body. Sasha just looks at her; she looks sort of surprised, taken aback by Slade's outburst as, beside me, she shifts, clearly uncomfortable in her seat. "Are you insane?"

"No." Sasha's tone is even; calm, even, unperturbed. "I don't think I am."

Slade scoffs. She scoffs, and I swear I hear the bones in her hand crack as it balls into a fist. She opens her mouth; she breathes, and then she just looks away as if she can't quite comprehend what's going on.

"Do you want to know why?" Sasha continues, leaning over as if to get a better look at Slade's face. Slade herself has detached from the conversation, or lack thereof; she stares pointedly past me, straight out the window. Her body is rigid beside mine; she's stiff as a board, unmoving and unwavering.

"No." Leo's scoff is dry. "She doesn't."

Sasha blinks. Swallows. Huffs, after a long moment, and sits back. "Well then. Do you want to know why?" She's talking to me now; her brows raise at her last word, a visual inflection.

I just look at her. I'm still reeling myself; Sasha just looks back at me, brow arched, nostrils flaring just slightly. She looks...irritated, and I don't like it.

"We aren't with Grayson." It's Hawk who breaks the silence; like our heads are on stone pillars, Sasha and I turn to face him. He's glancing between us and Leo—rather, Slade and Leo, and then Sasha, and then me. "After you, uh, shot him, he got...bad."

"He was always bad." Leo joins in; the top of his lip twitches in irritation. "He let me go after that night we chased her (he nods to Slade here) down. Called me incompetent, stupid, a few words I'll choose not to repeat."

"He hit me." Hawk's voice is quiet. "When he tried t' catch you. After everything at her house. I'd t' drive 'n he got mad I wasn't fast enough."

Slade's nostrils flare, but she says nothing.

"He's gone. Somewhere. We don't know where. We don't really care, to be honest." Leo scoffs. "Far away, hopefully. Back to that shithole of a house—insane, it was fucking insane."

Slade laughs. She laughs, and it's cynical and satirical and disbelieving. She stares out the window; she tongues at her capped tooth. She shakes her head.

"They're leaving the city to get out." Sasha finally interjects, but her voice is quiet. "Like you."

That humorless smile returns to Slade's face. She cocks her head; the scoff-laugh she lets out is far from amused. "Like me?" she repeats. "Like me?"

Sasha's lips thin. "Yes."

"Like me. You say these two," and Slade gestures between the two of them, "are like me?"

Sasha swallows. She rocks back in her seat, and then forward. "Listen to me," she starts. "When I first asked you two to come with, I said it was because I saw myself in you. I see myself in them, too. Don't you see?"