The Rules of Survival (Mercer #1)

RoS Chapter Twenty Eight

Chapter Twenty Eight

"What are we doing here?" I asked, guiding the Escalade over to the curb outside a two story house I thought I'd never see again.

Though, given the flood-like rain and the vague directions Justice had given me on the way over, we were lucky to have made it at all. The shiny red Mustang was parked in the driveway, almost like it hadn't moved since our last visit.

Beside me, Justice was leaning back against the seat with his eyes closed. His entire body was tense, muscles pulled taut, and a fine sweat had broken out over his forehead. At the sound of my voice he cracked his eyes open to squint at me.

"We're laying low for the rest of the day and possibly the night."

At my dubious look, he shifted to face me with a grimace. "I'm tired. My head hurts. I'm bleeding. At the moment I don't know how I'm going to walk my ass up those stairs let alone fight off another wave of Callahan's followers. If I thought we'd be safe anywhere else, that's where we'd be. But seeing I can't remember if I ever told anybody besides Kalen and Sal where I live, we're a little limited on options."

He waved an arm at the house. "Nobody will look for us here."

"Are you sure about this?" I asked, my hand hovering over the key in the ignition. I had yet to turn the car off, half hoping Justice would come back to himself and claim his head injury was impeding his wise decision making skills.

His answer surprised me, and a feeling of unease grew in my stomach. "No. Which is why I need you to do exactly what I say and more importantly, I need you to have my back."

"What if it all goes to hell and he tries to kill us on the spot? He could pass it off as trespassing, you know, and get away with it."

Unbothered by my realistic outlook, Justice staggered from the vehicle, using it as support as he made his way around to the driver's side. He opened my door and I sighed in resignation, pulling the key out of the ignition.

"He's not going to try and kill us," Justice said with a pained expression, holding his left side.

"I still think we should call Sal and have him meet up with us before you attempt this," I muttered, and like Justice, I didn't pay the heavy rain much attention as my feet landed in the middle of a puddle.

"Be my guest," Justice said with an amused smile, eyes focused on something behind me.

I didn't have to turn to know he was staring at his phone, which conveniently no longer worked. Thinking of the call that had brought about it's demise had a combination of fear and desperation hitting me hard. It was such a potent feeling I had to take several deep breaths to prevent a mini melt down, and Justice didn't say a word when I gripped his forearm so tightly my nails left indentations. My free hand was busy rubbing vigorously at my chest. This was almost what it felt like when I'd had a major panic attack; it was an exact replica, only less severe.

"Ioney, listen to me," Justice murmured, his lips at my ear. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you here."

I shook my head, willing my throat to open up so I could speak. "I don't care about that," I finally managed to get out. My eyes were pleading, begging. "Ray is the only thing I care about."

The same pain I felt reflected in his dark gaze before he hid it with practiced ease. "Tell me he's going to be fine. Tell me we'll get him back."

Justice opened his mouth and shut it. Water ran down his face and off his jaw to hit the ground, and his exhales were coming out on white puffs of air.