Page 144 of X's and O's

Hell, even if he had been, I would have said no. No sane person in my situation would have agreed to it. Levi and I were a hot mess with a lot of things to talk through and work out. But still, a part of me wanted my main character moment. I wanted this to be the grand gesture that went with the big grovel I was so used to reading in my romance books.

But Toby was peering around like we were getting mugged at any minute.

He was right to have not let me come here alone.

I pulled out my phone. “I’m going to call him. Make sure I’m in the right place.”

“Good idea.”

I found his number and went to call it, but the call didn’t go through. “Shit. No cell service. Can I use yours?”

Toby handed his phone over, but his was the same. Zero bars.

“You’ve got none either. How the hell was the map working?”

“I have it downloaded…” He sighed, shaking his head. “Because the cell service is so shit around here.” He cringed. “Kinda wish I’d remembered that earlier.”

I did too, but there was no point wishing for things we couldn’t change.

Voices came from somewhere behind us. Male. More than one of them. Definitely not Levi.

Toby dragged me deeper into a shadow. “The gangshave gotten bad around here, since the Sinners disbanded and the Slayers have taken a step back. There are new guys on the scene, fighting for turf.”

I stared at him like we’d never met, all while bitterly conscious the voices were growing closer. “How the hell do you know that?” I hissed.

He didn’t answer. His eyes flickered side to side, scanning the road behind us.

So I did the same thing. We both watched the group of men turn the corner. They passed beneath a streetlight that lit up the guns tucked into their waistbands.

“Team Jailbird is going to lose major brownie points with me if I end up with a gunshot wound,” Toby muttered.

I suddenly realized how much safer I’d felt the last few weeks, with X and Whip and Levi following me around. I would have given anything for X’s ice cream truck to come rolling around the corner right now. Even though there were four of them, I instinctively knew I wouldn’t have had to worry if he was here.

But Levi was a good second option. And there was every chance he was standing in that derelict building just a few feet away. That light sneaking out beneath the doors and through the high windows was a welcoming beacon of safety.

Toby seemed to come to the same realization I had. That we had nowhere else to go.

We moved like mice scurrying through the darkness. Near silently, avoiding the light, sticking close to the darkness until we reached the door.

A shout from one of the gang members was unintelligible, but there was no mistaking the tone.

They’d spotted us.

I slammed my weight down on the handle and yanked it hard, praying the door wasn’t locked and it would open.

I didn’t even have time to breathe a sigh of relief before Toby was shielding me with his body, pushing me inside, and slamming the door closed behind him.

I didn’t hear the shout from inside the building until it was too late.

An automatic locking mechanism on the door whirled, and the sound of locks engaging filled the space.

And I came face-to-face with Adam Dickson.

With no sign of Levi to be found, and his enemy staring at me with hate in his eyes.

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LEVI