Page 75 of Ravaged

CHAPTER 23

Teagen

I stared down at the harp necklace in my lap, trying to process what had just happened. The car was moving. We were leaving Dad behind. I looked out the window: Axe had his hand on Dad’s back, leading him into the airport.

“We’re going to leave them behind?” I asked.

Ethan grunted, and I raised a brow.

No cuffs. No other Adlers. In fact, we were even leaving behind an Adler.

“And now we’re off to deliver me?” I asked.

Ethan shook his head. “You’re free. I can drop you off anywhere you want.” He paused, checking traffic before pulling back onto the highway. “After some distance. I’ll stay close. Make sure you’re safe.”

Free? Free, like I wasn’t a prisoner anymore? I looked down at my bare wrists and ankles. It dawned on me then that I was sitting in the front seatwithEthan, like we were equals. The whole thing was strange.

What was going on with Dad?

“You brought my dad to the airport?” I asked. Ethan didn’t say anything. “Is he being delivered to the people he stole from?”

“No.”

“Where is he going, then?”

Ethan paused, still looking at the road. “I imagine he’s going somewhere sunny.”

I rubbed my forehead. “I don’t understand,” I said. I wished I hadn’t put on the perfume. It was all I could smell in the front of that car. “What’s going on?”

“You asked me to save him.”

“So you did?” I asked slowly.

“Yes.”

He said it so matter-of-factly that it left me confused. After beating up my father, and adamantly refusing to promise his safety the night before, Ethan had randomly decided to drop my dad off at the airport?

I didn’t have any choice but to sit there and go wherever Ethan was taking me.

No. That was the opposite of what he had said.I can drop you off anywhere you want. Those were his words, as if it didn’t matter what he wanted. It was about me. My choices. And he might not even stay when we were done. Not if I didn’t want him there.

“Where are you taking me?” I asked. I must have been driving him crazy with so many questions, but I had to know.

“The better question is,” he paused, glancing at me before turning back to the road, “where are we going together?”

I raised a brow and smiled. “Okay. Where are we going?”

“Somewhere.”

“Where?”

“Where do you want to go?”

“I don’t know. Where do you want to go?”

“Damn it, Teagen.” Ethan threw a look at me. “This is about you. Make a damn selfish decision. Where have you always wanted to go?”

I was shocked. What was I supposed to say? I didn’t know where wecouldgo. I leaned over, looking at the dashboard. The gas indicator showed the tank was nearly full. I let my head rest on Ethan’s shoulder for a second, but then I straightened. Just because he had saved me, didn’t mean he wanted me.