“A scout?” It must’ve come off a little bitchy, because Maddox frowned.
“He was looking for you, Dallas.”
“I’d say he found me.”
“Yeah,” he nodded. “He found you and he got a little too excited. Which was good for us.”
“Good for…” My brow furrowed. “Wait. Why good?”
“Because if he’d waited for backup first we’d both be screwed.”
My hero drove us onward, winding through a nexus of back alleys and sidestreets to make sure we weren’t followed. I stared numbly out the window, watching as we headed clear past the strip toward the far end of town.
“They found us because of last night, didn’t they?”
“Uh huh.”
“So now they know where we live…”
“Yup.”
I was still numb, but I regained composure enough to pull out my phone. Maddox noticed immediately.
“What are you doing?”
“Calling Kane and Austin,” I said. “Obviously we have to warn them. If they show up—”
“Kane and Austin aren’t coming back tonight,” he said, closing his hand over mine. “Besides, after tonight we’re gonna need all new phones. All new everything.”
Before I knew what was happening he took the phone from my hand and tossed it out the window. Then he shook his head in frustration.
“I should’ve done that miles ago.”
It was insane, living like this. I knew what it was like to not have a place, a home, a family. But over the past few weeks, I’d somehow found all of those things again.
“So that’s it?” I asked angrily. “We just ditch? We never go back to—”
“I didn’t say that,” Maddox interrupted. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.” He looked at me for a moment, then squeezed my hand reassuringly. “Trust me Dallas, we’ll get this all sorted out. But for tonight? We lay low.”
My shoulders relaxed, but only a little. If he was trying to show me there was a light at the end of the tunnel, it looked more like a pinprick.
“So what did he say to you?”
I thought back. Ran the whole terrifying scenario through my head again, trying to remain calm.
“I heard him talking. Saw him screaming.”
“I crushed his foot,” I said.
“I know. I almost caught him because of that.”
“Almost?”
“Yeah,” he admitted sheepishly. “The fucker had legs that were four feet long. Every two strides he took were three of mine.”
I nodded consolingly. “Should make figuring out who he is pretty easy,” I pointed out. “Not many people that tall.”
“Solid point,” Maddox conceded. “So… what did he say?”