Page 48 of Scorned
“Do you want to head over to see Drag’s niece?” Peach asked as we reentered the camp. “You haven’t seen her yet.”
“I’m not big into babies.”
Peach’s brows rose as a shocked look took over her face. “You don’t like babies?”
Lyric shook her head. “Sage has never liked them.”
“What do you expect? They cry and poop a lot. I’ll stick to my cat.” I grinned nervously at the two women who stared at me like I was a foreign object. “Umm, but I’ll go with you guys.”
Peach let out a small laugh. “It’s four miles, so let’s drive.”
She led us to the side of a cabin where a brand new Jeep Wrangler awaited. It matched the color of the one I’d left at Venom the night of the attack, but this one had four doors.
My heart palpitated in excitement that I hadn’t felt in a while when I ran my hand down the smooth sting-gray coat of paint. “Whose Jeep?”
“Isn’t it beautiful?” Peach asked as she opened the driver’s door and gestured her hand. “Check it out.”
I slid into the seat, the smell of a new car filling my lungs. “This is so nice! Mine was the basic factory model, but I still miss her.”
Peach held out the keys to me. “She’s all yours.”
My eyes bulged, my mouth falling agape. “You can’t buy me a car, Peach. I can’t accept it.”
“I didn’t. He did.” She pointed toward the passenger side and when I turned to look, Marcus opened the door, grinning as he slid in.
“Do you like it?”
“Marcus, I—”
“Before you go saying I shouldn’t have done it, like you have some idea on how much money I have, don’t bother. I have plenty of funds. So much so, when I cleared out my bank account after the battle, I didn’t know what to do with it all. I had been looking for the perfect one for a while, and I actually paid cash for it. That’s how much money I have, Sagelynn. And you can drop the shocked look off your face because we aren’t taking it back. Not only are you going to need it for this mission, you’re the closest thing I have to a child. Plus, I do what I want.”
My gaze left Marcus and went to the smooth leather steering wheel beneath my hands. “Why do I need this for the mission?”
“I’ve been helping Winnie map out White Sands and everything around it. Jeeps are perfect for off-roading. If something happens, you can flee in it.”
I whipped my face back to Marcus. “If you think I’d leave you if something happens, you’re delusional.”
He laughed before his face turned serious. “If we get caught and have to flee, those vans we have might not make it far in the sand. You’ll have to take as many people as you can in this thing and run. That’s why we got the four-door.”
My mind reeled with different scenarios as I counted out the seats versus how many people would be going. “There’s only five seats. Even if we stick two in the trunk area, that’s only seven. There’s nine of us once we find Luka and ten if we find Strike.”
“Luka and Erik will have to take the front since they’re bigger. Winnie, you, Lyric, Lynx, and Strike will have to fight over the back seat or trunk.”
“Wait. That’s only seven. What about you, Ravage, and Zeke?”
“We’re the elders. We’ll figure it out.”
“First thing, you’re only forty-one, so you aren’t that old. Second, we aren’t leaving you, so come up with a better plan.”
“I agree with Marcus,” Peach said through the window.
I rolled my eyes and sighed. “Of course you do.”
“This is a worst-case scenario, Sagelynn. Everyone else has hesitantly agreed to the plan.”
I put my elbow on the door handle and leaned my face against my fist. “It’s a stupid plan, Marcus.”
“And what do I always say?”
