Page 93 of You Can Make Me

Cooper put his fingers to my neck. “Your pulse is racing, Denny. You need the hospital?—”

“We have to stop Evans. Soto told me. Evans won’t stop hurting our people until he gets what he wants.”

Something moved in the periphery of my vision, and I leaned over to look at the floor. “Holy shit! How did this get here?” I reached down to grab the 8 Ball. I held it up for Cooper. “You’re seeing this too, right?”

Cooper’s eyes flared. “How?”

“Hey, Walter? You haven’t picked up a Magic 8 Ball lately, have you?”

Dane turned to look, and he gasped.

“I have not. Ask it a question. We need all the help we can get right now.”

I blew out a breath. “Can Charlene help us?”

I shook the plastic menace and waited for the triangle to settle in the window.

You may rely on it.

“You’re headed the right way. I’m just going to get a little shut-eye.”

“Stay with me, Denny.” Cooper’s order was one I intended to follow, but as I closed my eyes, my situation seemed a little more dire than I’d let on. The shivers came on strong and every nerve ending felt like it had been ignited by Soto’s torch.

As I drifted off, I prayed I could keep my promises to Cooper, and I cursed my body for its weakness.

Please, let me make it to the other side of this mess…

Twenty-Four

Cooper

The drive took an achingly long time—almost thirty minutes despite Walter speeding—and Denny’s breathing grew shallow as we began to climb the grade into the Grapevine at Castaic Lake.

“Walter, I need you to drive like the devil is after us.”

“The devilisafter us,” Dane said, turning to look down at Denny. “He doing okay?”

“I don’t think so. He stopped shivering, but his breathing is shallow and his pulse doesn’t feel right. I’m not a doctor, but I think he’s in shock. Walter?—”

“Charlene was a medic. If she can’t help him, we’ll call an ambulance when we get there.Holy shit. Hold on.”

Traffic came to a quick halt, and Walter had to pull onto the shoulder to avoid ramming the car in front of us. I held on to Walter to keep him from rolling forward, but he didn’t open his eyes.

“That was close. Dane, text Ryan and see if they’re okay. They hit the guardrail.”

Denny didn’t move. I shook him a little and got no response. I patted his cheek. Nothing.

“Walter, he’s not responding. Can you go around?”

“Ryan says they’re fine. Go! Go!”

Walter proceeded to do some terrifying driving, but that didn’t scare me as much as Denny’s cold skin. I willed the truck to go faster, to get us to whomever this woman was who they were putting their faith in, otherwise I was about to lose the most precious gift I’d ever been given.

Walter took a corner too fast and the truck bucked, as if his tires lifted, and gravel sprayed everywhere, then he fishtailed up a long driveway that looked like it would dead end in the side of the hill. But we rounded a bend and Walter slammed on the brakes in front of a small house tucked out of sight and surrounded by brush.

“Let me carry him inside,” Walter said, as he flung open the back door. Together we pulled Denny out, and Walter tossed him over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry. Denny moaned, which gave me hope.

Dane took my elbow and helped me hurry up the drive toward the house. Ryan and Kal came screaming up behind us a second later, and Kal was out the door before Ryan shut off the engine.