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y jeans My pants are scuffed and scraped, marred with streaks of dirt and a smear of blood “You said it’s worse to just sit it out and wait”

“No” Marcus shoves his hands into his pockets, his shoulders going rigid “Under ordinary circu strategy we have is to keep you safe This isn’t a gaame of defense”

The hard knot in my stomach loosens a little at his words, and at the vehe Somehow, I feel more betrayed by him than by the other two, more hurt by the lies and secrets

Ryland has been part of this from the start, but at least he tried to stop it And Theo… I don’t know I don’t feel like he hid as much from me as Marcus did Like he lied as profoundly

“So we’ll stay here?” I switchto pretend I don’t notice the look of pain that flashes across Marcus’s face “For, what, six more hours? Where are we, anyway?”

“An old rental house on the south side of the city,” Ryland tells ot five of them spread around Halston, in case we need a place to lie low for a while”

“But we can’t stay here,” Theo adds, and the o tense again “It’s too risky We try to keep these rental units off the books, but they’re not untraceable Carson’s strategic, but he’s also a vindictive little bitch It won’t o after any of the other players until he takes his shot at us And he’s running out of tiht now”

My pulse picks up, and I glance toward the here the curtains are drawn “How long have we been here?”

“Aler ait, the more time he has to prepare his next move”

“Andlike he wants to spit on the floor “He’s already got that fuckwad Do his dirty work for hiet Gabriel or Asher on his side too Convince the field and give thee next year”

I don’t have any clue who these people are that he’s talking about, but I guess it doesn’t really h

“All right” I stand up We ht this second, but I can’t sit still any a hole in“Then where do we go?”

“That’s the fucking proble closer tome, but I can feel his body heat across the sled lock of hair behind ht that we need to play defense But we have to figure out a good way to do that Carson is after us—and he’s already taken you once Leaving you behind isn’t safe, but keeping you with us is dangerous too”

“She stays with us” Marcus’s voice is hard

I whiphis obsession rule his judge o