This Would Be Paradise (Book 3)

Chapter 11

My cold words had shocked me, but I forced my face to remain stern. Even Rose had seemed stunned with my words as her eyebrows shot up comically high on her forehead. Leo seemed to accept my answer and settled down for the ride back to Hargrove.

Oh god, how was that going to go? I hadn't gotten a chance to even think about Hargrove. Wyatt, Grant and Oscar were the reason I was abducted. John mentioned earlier that they had questioned Wyatt. What else had they done? They couldn't expect me to just be okay living with them together in Hargrove. Either they would have to go or I would.

"So, did that young man really betray you?" Rose asked, breaking me from my concentration.

We were currently barreling down a residential road. It was obscenely dirty judging from the dirt being thrown up by John's SUV. No doubt Tough-Guy and Leo were choking on it in the back.

"He told the crooks who used to be in charge about my immunity," I admitted.

"Used to be in charge?"

"They were covering for a psychopath who was murdering people. Now they're no longer in charge."

"What happened to the psychopath?"

"He was exiled."

Rose made a scoffing sound. "Should've killed the bastard. Ain't no room in this world for a person like that."

I nodded in agreement.

"What happened to the others? The people who used to be in charge?"

"They're still there—as far as I know. John didn't get to tell me everything," I said.

"You gunna exile them too?" The way she said exile made it sound like she was definitely against that plan.

"I don't know. We have to get there first." Maybe I'd come up with a solution by then or maybe we'd all be eaten alive by then. "By the way, where were you before you got taken by the mad scientists?" I asked.

Rose barked out a laugh. "Mad scientists. That does fit those assholes." Then Rose peered out the window, her face away from my view. "I was pretty much on my own—easier that way. I'm startin' to see that wasn't the best plan." I wasn't sure I heard that last part correctly.

I couldn't believe what I was about to say, but I knew I had to say it. "You can stick with us if you want."

"I don't need your pity," she muttered into the window.

"Fine, just offering."

She turned to me. "What about the others?"

"They can stay too. I'm not promising it'll be some paradise or anything." I was suddenly transported back to when Darren and I were trying to convince Colin to come back with us. Great, I really had become the type to take in strays. When did that happen?

"We'll see," she said with her nose very much in the air. I rolled my eyes. Her ego wouldn't just let her say thank you.

We sat in silence for a little while longer until she asked, "So what's the cowboy's deal?"

I scrunched up my face, not liking where this was going. "What do you mean?"

"He ... with anyone?"

I wanted to lie and say he was gay, but she would eventually see through that. I sighed.

"Not that I'm aware of."

John hadn't seemed to be romancing any of the ladies at Hargrove, but then again, I wasn't with him twenty-four hours a day. And he was a man. Ugh, I didn't want to think about this. He was like a father to me.

Rose seemed placated with my answer and peered out the windshield at the SUV in front of us. Perhaps I should tell John that Rose was bad news. I accidently hit some debris and the truck lurch over the lump, tossing the guys in the back like a pancake in skillet. They hit the bed with a thud when they came back down.

"What the fuck are you doin', girl? Watch the damn road!" Tough-Guy bellowed.

Both Rose and I looked at each other and burst out laughing.

"It ain't funny!" Tough-Guy yelled.

And of course we laughed even harder. I had to wipe away the tears in my eyes so I could see the road. Wouldn't want to accidently toss them again.

"Did you ever catch his name?" I asked Rose.

"It's some hillbilly name like Cletus or Adolph or somethin'," she said and we started laughing again.

I would probably have to learn his real name eventually if he was going to say at Hargrove. I couldn't just call him Tough-Guy forever. We both stopped joking when we passed by a building that had its side spray painted with the mercenaries' hand and eye symbol. I heard Tough-Guy spit at it as we passed.

"We gotta keep an eye for those bastards," Rose said.

The only time I had actually seen the faces of the mercenaries were when they tried to abduct me at the apartments, and now they were both dead. Then there was the time they had shot up John, Roy, and I while driving, but again, they were dead. The only living ones I'd had contact with was the one on the radio and the ones who brought me to the hospital—but I had been unconscious for that trip. I wouldn't be able to recognize one unless they wore their pendants with the hand and eye symbol or you know, a shirt saying, "Hey, I'm a mercenary."

"Would you recognize any of them?" I asked her.

"Only the ones that ambushed me," she said, her voice harsh. "But I'll tell you what, if I ever come across 'em again, I'm killin' 'em all."

I didn't verbally agree with her, but inside I was agreeing. Like hell they would be capturing me again. Not that they had someone to turn the immune over to anymore. The hospital and their messed up experiments died with Amelia.

"I went back to kill Amelia," I admitted.

"So that's where you disappeared to," Rose said. "Please tell me that bitch got what she deserved."

"She killed herself."

"Damn, wasn't expectin' that," Tough-Guy said, making use both jump.

His face was right outside the open slot in the middle of the cab back window.

"By the way, my name ain't Cletus or Adolph, it's Lucas," he huffed.

I tried really hard not to laugh that he had been listening to us the whole time, even as Rose poked fun at him. Rose was currently fighting it too as she chewed on her thumb nail with the corners of her mouth upturned.

"She's really dead?" Leo asked, shoving Lucas to the side.

"Shot herself in front of John and I, so, yeah."

"Good," Lucas said while nodding. Well maybe he was nodding, it might have been from being bounced around in the bed of the truck. "Good that she's dead I mean, not that you had to see that."

I lifted a brow at that. Maybe Lucas was learning to play nice with others. Stranger things have happened. He muttered something and settled back into a seated position with his back against the cab.

"I'm sorry for what I said earlier," Leo said. "I shouldn't have brought up your boyfriend."

I waved it off. After all, I had kind of started that. "It's fine. You can stop calling him my boyfriend, though."

An awkward silence fell over everyone as no one knew what to say next. I had meant what I said. Ethan was no longer my ... anything. What about Chloe? My anger shifted to panic as I thought about Chloe. She was a little sister to me now, in every way that mattered. Could I just leave her behind? It wasn't her fault her brother was a dumbass. She would be devastated if I left and there's no way she would leave Ethan. Shit.