no turning back

• forty four •

gladys

Brant pressed closer to me and shivered, cursing under his breath. I rolled my eyes, though he couldn't see it, and jabbed my elbow back against him.

"Ow!" he hissed.

"Be quiet," I hissed back.

"I can't! It's fucking negative a hundred degrees in here. How long do we have to wait?"

"As long as it takes. Now, hush before they bust in here and kidnap our asses."

He shuddered again and this time practically curled himself around me.

"Brant, I swear to god—"

"I think I'm gonna pass out."

I sighed. "This is why it's always necessary to carry a few extra pounds around. I'm clearly better insulated than you. If we step out of here and die, I'm gonna annoy the fuck out of you in hell."

He managed a snicker before shuddering again and I realized he probably was about to fall out. Hiding from a mafia was going to be hard enough as it was, and I did not have the strength to lug his bulky ass around.

I stumbled a few steps forward in the massive 
industrial freezer until my shoes toed the door. After a few seconds of blindly reaching around in the dark, my numb fingers found purchase on the cold metal handle. I tugged on it a few times before the door finally gave way and I tripped out of the freezer. The sudden spike in temperature made every inch of my exposed skin burn and my joints ache.

Fuck. Is this what hypothermia feels like?

"Ow, ow, ow." Brant had stumbled out behind me and was now shaking his hands, grimacing in pain.

"Sorry," I said and shut the door behind us. "I know that was not ideal."

He scrubbed his purplish cheeks with his palms. "Definitely not . . . but it was kind of smart."

"Well, we're still alive. For now," I mumbled as I surveyed the back of the ice cream store.

As we fled from the bathroom after my encounter with Cyra, I had every intention of getting us the hell out of the store. But I realized that the moment her family discovered we weren't in the store and that she had "lost" us, they would scour every nearby street for us. I knew it wasn't a good idea to run, especially without a car. So I spotted the giant ice cream freezer and decided that would be a good hideout spot. We were about to find out if that was true, or if the mafia was still here.

Peeking around the corner, I saw the employee pulling the ice cream tubs out of the display cases. She paused and glanced down at the pocket in her apron, which was when I heard her phone's ringtone. She stripped off her gloves and tossed them in the bin before taking the call. I crept closer, ensuring to stay hidden, so I could listen.

"Yeah, it's fine now. He left with some other people . . . There were guns involved. The police said they're on their way."

Guns?! Police?!

I whirled around and nearly bashed my face into Brant's because he was so close behind me. He skittered backwards, falling on his ass.

"We have to go now," I whisper-yelled.

"Where?" he whispered back.

My gaze flicked across the backroom where the exit door was. We had no way of knowing if Cyra's family was waiting outside for us, but based on what I just heard, some kind of confrontation had occurred. If guns were involved, I was willing to bet my life that Elijah had come back for us and had a run-in with his enemies. That also meant he'd left with them.