Page 21 of Broken Highway (Cult Boys #1)

SEVEN

Bang!

The walls of the bathroom seem to bend inward as the sound of a gunshot snaps me out of a daze.

Hot water pelts my chest as steam obscures my view of the door, anxiously waiting for it to swing open.

I consider all options, my mind racing to the thought of fleeing, but the square window in the shower is only about a foot wide.

I leave the shower running as I gently step out. Water drips from my body, coating the tile floor in shallow puddles. I hurry into a pair of black briefs, dig through the duffle bag on the counter, and grab the gun I used to kill Magnus.

The door clicks softly as I inch it open, peeking out into the room.

A familiar face stands in the doorway with his gun aimed at Noah. Just in front of him, Trent lies dead on the floor, blood pooling around his head. My stomach churns, but I find a sense of grace in knowing Noah is alive. For now.

Pike is dressed in all black garb—tee, jeans, combat boots, and a baseball cap. He’s only five years older than me, but his face is battered and worn. Heavy smoking and alcohol use will do that to someone, even if that someone is supposed to be pure of worldly vices.

I lean back against the door, close my eyes, and try to steady my breathing. I’m no use to Noah if I’m dead before I can save him.

Pike is a no-nonsense, shoot-to-maim kind of guy. He’s a member of a group of cultists known informally as the enforcers—militia wannabes who are sent to extract defectors and runaways. When Magnus came for me almost a month ago, it wasn’t supposed to be him. It should have been Pike and his men.

It was easy for Magnus to find me because I was reckless.

Spent five months on the road without a car, hitching from one place to the next but I never made it far.

Now though, we are hundreds of miles from the compound.

I have no online presence that can be tracked because I threw my phone into the water weeks ago.

Then I remember I called my sister from the phone in the room before Noah woke up, before we had left the motel for the first time. It makes absolutely no sense she would sell me out, but it’s the only explanation.

“I got money,” Noah says on the other side of the door. “You can take it all.”

“None of us are going to need that where we’re going,” Pike says.

I inhale sharply, feeling the way the air stutters down the back of my throat, like a coin being tossed into a well. I steady my nerves and rip the door open, aiming the gun directly at Pike.

“There’s the pretty boy,” Pike says as he swivels his aim to me. “You’re going to pay for what you did to Magnus.”

I step over a pile of clothing as I approach. The absurdity of the situation is not lost on me—a three person standoff and two of us are in our underwear. “You people are expending a lot of energy chasing down someone you all claimed to be a lost cause. Why am I so important to you?”

“Nobody else bothered to come looking for you because nobody cared you were gone. Except for Magnus. He has—had—a weird obsession with bringing you home. You weren’t important to the rest of us until you killed Magnus.”

“He tracked me down all right. Held me at gunpoint and forced me into his car, but he knew more than anyone that I’d do anything to avoid going back.

He’d always been so self-righteous he couldn’t see the forest for the trees.

I gave him every chance to let me go, but he wouldn’t break, so I shot him in the head.

” I lean forward slightly. “And I’d do it again and again.

” My finger dances on the trigger. “I’m giving you the same warning I gave him. ”

“That song we used to sing when we were children? It wasn’t a nursery rhyme.

It was a warning.” He clears his throat and begins to sing, “When all the crows cloud the skyway, and night falls down on men. They play a game with their lives, and if they run, they’re going to die. Hide and seek. Hide and seek.”

“You and me,” I interject, finishing the chorus in a speaking tone. “Forever and ever, these chains will set us free.”

Noah bats his eyes sideways. “Okay, so everyone is completely fucked in the head.”

“You’re not going to have a head if you say another word.” Pike laughs. “In fact, I’m going to kill you if your boyfriend doesn’t put down his gun.”

Noah reaffirms his surrender, waving the tips of his fingers that are held above his head.

“I know I’m as good as dead,” I say. “So, forgive me for not seeing the incentive to lower my weapon.”

“Unfortunately for you, I have orders to bring you back alive.” Half his mouth curves into a demented grin. The other half remains flat. He’s had this condition that paralyzes the left side of his mouth since I was a kid. “Silas cordially invites you as the guest of honor for ascension.”

I shake my head. “Silas doesn’t believe in ascension.”

“Brother, you have no idea what you’ve missed since you skipped out on us. Forget what you knew about Silas. He’s a changed man, and he’s ready to watch the world burn.” He gestures at Noah with a flick of his finger. “Turn around.”

Noah does as told—which is totally a first. Has never taken orders from anyone, but I suppose having a gun aimed at his head forces him to look at the world a little differently.

“And your boyfriend is coming along for the ride.” Pike bridges the distance between Noah and hooks his free arm around his throat. He shifts the aim of the gun to Noah’s temple. “He’s earned himself a front-seat ticket to the big show.”

I waver between telling Pike the truth and letting him believe what he wants to believe.

The truth being Noah isn’t my boyfriend, although sometimes it feels like it.

He’s much too closed off to let me in enough to consider me anything more than a man he fucks.

And then sometimes, he kisses me, and it makes me feel more alive—and loved—than I ever have.

If I make Pike believe Noah isn’t important to me, maybe he would let him go.

The only problem? If my calculation is incorrect, Pike will simply unload a bullet into the side of Noah’s skull. It’s not a risk I’m willing to take.

Noah gazes into my soul, helpless. He’s the one who always saves me, but now I’m the one who must do the saving. My hands shake as I surrender my gun, slowly raising it above my head. Noah narrows his gaze on me, seemingly questioning my decision making.

“We’re clearly outnumbered,” I say, shifting my eyes to the open door behind Pike. “My only question is why is Silas here?”

Pike cocks his head over his shoulder, and it’s just enough time for Noah to jab him in the chest with his elbow.

Pike falters backward, grunting. He raises his gun, but it’s too late.

I pull the trigger once.

Pull it again.

He collapses to his knees, the gun slipping from his hand.

Noah kicks the gun out of the way as Pike falls onto his back, squirming on the ground with a bloody hand held over one of two bullet wounds. I bet he never thought he’d go out like this, lying in a pool of his own blood as two cock-loving men stand above him in their underwear.

“You stupid fool,” Pike coughs, ejaculating blood from the side of his mouth that can actually open. “Lucas… Peter…”

I step over him, placing a bare foot on either side of his trembling body. Aim the gun straight for his head as he lists the names of the rest of the enforcers. “I’ll give them the same warning I gave Magnus. The same warning I gave you. I’m not going back.”

There’s less resistance in the trigger this time.

Bang!

I don’t even flinch.

Noah approaches, inserting himself between the bodies and myself. He places a firm hand on each side of my face. “I could kiss you.”

“Please don’t,” I beg. “You have blood all over your face.”

“Pack your shit.” He swipes his jeans off the floor and hurries into them. “We’re leaving.”

He rushes into the bathroom, turns on the faucet, and furiously begins rinsing the blood off his face.

He leaves me along with the two bodies. Two hollow shells where souls used to lie.

Magnus always said I would pay for my sins in the weight of blood, but I never understood what he meant.

I get it now. The price isn’t my own blood, but rather the blood of others.

“Get dressed,” he commands, tugging a clean shirt over his head.

I give him a nod, letting him know I’ve heard him even if I’m not quite able to force myself to move yet.

My mind races as I attempt to retrace my steps.

We didn’t use a credit card to book the room, and as per Noah’s policy, we only ever stay where we can convince the front desk to accept a bribe in lieu of photo identification.

It doesn’t mean we’re in the clear, but it’s a start.

Ghosts are a lot harder to find than those who leave a physical footprint.

Dawn threatens to bring the sins of the night into the ever-seeing eyes of day as the sun rises ahead. It lights up half the sky in orange and pink tones, painted strokes of profound beauty that are no match for the dark clouds behind us.

What started as a road trip to end it all—Noah’s words—has become a road trip for survival. The goal is to drive, drive some more, and keep fucking driving until we find a way out of this mess.

Noah typically drives right at the speed limit. He says he doesn’t need unwanted attention because of the whole not wanting to be found thing. Now though, he’s racing down the dark, deserted highway with reckless abandon. Drives one-handed so he can chew on his fingernails.

“Noah, I need you to slow down.”

“Can’t do that,” he huffs. “I do my best thinking in silence, so please just let me think.”

“I didn’t see any cameras when we were leaving, but our handprints are on everything.”

“Everyone’s handprints are on everything. It’s a fucking motel that probably hasn’t been deep cleaned since the seventies.” He shoots me a quick glare. “You heard what your old pal said, so I don’t think the police should be what you’re concerned about.”

“More are coming,” I whisper to myself. “I still think you need to slow down. Any attention is bad attention.”

He nods with a laugh, but there’s nothing funny about the situation we’ve found ourselves in. Shakes his head and grits his teeth. “We got a man killed, Seven.”

“No, no.” I shake my head defiantly. The ghosts of what he’s done haunt him like a shadow he can’t outrun. I can’t let him take the fall for this too, because it’ll eat him alive. “That’s on me. Not you.”

“An innocent man is dead.” He shoots me a steely glare. “Does it really matter whose fault it is? He has a family somewhere, and if we hadn’t dragged him into this twisted thing we got going on, they’d be seeing him alive, not in a casket.”

“Can we please just focus on keeping ourselves alive for now? And part of staying alive is not getting caught. We don’t know what anyone saw or heard. It’s best to not draw attention right now.”

The engine roars as we accelerate. The needle on the speedometer inches higher, clocking in at almost eighty-five miles per hour. “This all started as a suicide trip, you know that, right?”

“I know…”

“Maybe it’s time. I can live with a whole lot of things, but I can’t bear the burden of that boy’s death on my soul. If you just—” He stops himself with a sharp exhale. “If you just?—”

“Just what?”

He doesn’t answer, opting to sit in silence as he races towards the precipice of an inevitable crash.

“I know this is my fault. I should have been more careful. I should have covered my tracks better, but I?—”

“I’m not talking about those people,” he says in a low voice. “I’m talking about Trent.”

And when he shifts his gaze to me, I swear there’s a fucking tear at the corner of his eye. A heaviness swarms my gut like the feeling of a hundred bricks pulling me beneath the surface.

“Why wasn’t I enough?” he continues. “What did you need from him that I haven’t given you?”

It’s a loaded question. One I’m not able to answer given the precarious situation we’ve found ourselves in.

The wrong answer could send him crashing into the next stretch of guardrail.

The truth is, the only thing I needed from Trent was to make Noah jealous, and mission fucking accomplished there.

Needed him to prove I was enough for him, that he could overcome the same obsession with sex that shackles the both of us.

He’d never say the words I so desperately want to hear him utter.

He’s too guarded and broken, bearing the wounds of endless scars.

Manipulation has always been a strength of mine, but this time, it has cost an innocent man his life. It’s cost me Noah, even if he hasn’t said it yet.

I’m saved from the double-edged sword of answering his question by the flashing of blue and red lights from behind.