“Fuck.” Kaige swore so loud I startled on the bench. He leapt up and smacked his fist into the doors, making them shudder.
“Hey!” Gideon protested. “A lot of money and work went into this vehicle.”
“And we don’t want to be drawing attention to it,” Rowan added, looking at the bigger guy with concern.
Kaige spun around. “Don’t you see? Maybe Axel’s guy is doing exactly what he’s been ordered to. Ezra’s heard about how popular Glory’s getting. What if he wants to get in on the drug trade now?” The fury in his voice showed just how much that idea disturbed him.
Wylder stood up too. “Calm down. There’s no point in jumping to conclusions like that. My dad’s never been interested in dealing drugs before now.”
“But now there’s Glory. And we never thought he’d order you to kill Mercy either, did we?” Kaige stomped from one side of the van to the other, his face flushing. “Where’s that intersection? I should head right over there and pummel that fucker and every other piece of shit involved in this into pieces.” He slammed his fist into his open palm.
“Kaige,” Wylder said with a warning note, “get yourself together and sit the fuck down.”
Kaige swung toward him. “And do nothing? While they’re poisoning the whole goddamned city?”
Wylder grabbed his arm and held his gaze steadily. “And how is charging in there going to help anyone, huh? How well did that work out for us last time? Your hotheadedness got us caught with Mercy, and the time before we were nearly nabbed by the cops. So chill the fuck out now.”
Kaige stared at him. He’d gone still, but his whole body was rigid, his face still red.
Wylder dropped Kaige’s arm but kept his gaze fixed on his friend. His tone hardened even more. “I know you’ve got shit from your past to deal with, but I can’t tolerate you flying off the handle constantly. Going off the rails only hurts the rest of us. If you want to be part of this team, you need to get yourself under control.”
“Maybe I should just leave, then, since all I do is screw things up,” Kaige yelled abruptly. He shot a fierce but guilty look at me. Then, without another word, he shoved open the back doors and leapt out of the van.
“Kaige!” I said, but he’d already slammed the doors behind him. By the time I got them open again, he’d stormed out of sight. I turned back to the others, my heart heavy. What Wylder had said wasn’t untrue, but I’d never seen Kaige so upset he’d leave us behind. “Is he going to be okay?”
Wylder sighed and dropped down on the van’s floor, rubbing his forehead. “I’m sure he’ll be fine. It’s better if he clears his head instead of raining all that thunder down on us.”
“But what if he runs into the Storm’s people—what if he really does try to take them on all by himself?”
“I wouldn’t worry about that.” Wylder gave me a crooked smile. “Knowing him, he’s headed for the train station. There’s one place he always goes when he gets too close to the edge. I just hope this time he leaves a lot more there before he comes back.”