Maverick leapt on him, trying to drag him away from me and Dad twisted around, punching him in the gut and sending him stumbling backwards.
"That's enough!" Dad shouted, drawing his gun in a warning before glaring at me. "You two have been marked for the Harlequins your whole lives. And your friends are marked for that future too. Life ain't fair. You don't get to run off into the sunset with whoever the fuck you want just because you feel like it. You're my kids. And you need to grow the fuck up into the men I expect you to be."
"I'll never do a thing you say if you do anything to Rogue," I swore and he levelled me with a cutting look.
"Me either," Maverick said darkly. "You'll have to put me in the ground if you touch her, Luther. Because I won't stop coming for you until you're dead in payment for that."
Dad sighed wearily, but seemed to be considering our words as he carved his fingers through his hair. I shared a look with Maverick, hope raising its head in my chest.
"Fine," Dad spat at last and the air rushed out of my lungs. "But she can't stay in town. I'll send her to my cousin, Sandra, in Fairfax."
"That's fifty miles away!" I cried in horror as Maverick stiffened beside me.
"That's my offer!" Luther roared. "And you won't get another one. She lives. But she lives far away from here and you will both fall into line or I'll go to Fairfax personally and slit her pretty throat, you understand that boys?" He looked from me to Maverick and my heart bobbed in my throat, my hands curling up into firm fists as I grappled with the injustice of it.
I couldn't give her up. What he was offering was bullshit.
But maybe it was a chance. A small one, but it could buy us time. She could go to Fairfax until we had an opportunity to run and then we'd find her, free her and all of us could get the fuck away from this life and start a new one. Somewhere else, anywhere else but this shitty town.
"You're gonna stop playing these childish games, both of you. It's time you were initiated into the Harlequins," my dad delivered the final, merciless blow. "Call your friends and get Chase and Johnny James to come to the house. You’re sixteen now, you should be becoming men. I'm done waiting for you all to grow up. So now I'm taking it into my own hands."
W e were huddled together beneath an oak tree, defiantly refusing to leave our position waiting for Fox and Maverick as a storm blew in over the sea and thunder rumbled in the distance, promising a downpour. They were almost two hours late now, but I just couldn't accept the idea that they weren't coming. It wasn't possible. They'd sworn they'd be here, and they'd never let me down in all the time I'd known them. Not once.
"Rogue..." Chase said in a low voice, not for the first time but I just shook my head, refusing to move.
I didn't have anywhere to go now anyway. I couldn't go back to the group home, I couldn't run the streets of Sunset Cove. This place wasn't safe for me anymore so the only thing I could do was stand here and wait for the rest of my boys to show up.
"They'll be here," I growled.
"Pretty girl," JJ said softly. "There must be a reason they haven't turned up. If Luther-"
Chase's phone started ringing and I sucked in a sharp breath as me and JJ turned to him and he flashed us a look at the caller ID where we spotted Fox's name before he answered, putting it on speaker so we could all hear.
"I'm sorry," Fox ground out, sounding like the weight of the world was on his shoulders. "My dad figured out we were going to run and-"
"What happened?" I gasped, my heart leaping in fear. I didn't think Luther would ever hurt his prodigy, but Maverick... I knew he treated him as inferior in his home and I wasn't so sure he'd be as lenient with him.
"Nothing we can't handle," Fox said roughly making it sound like something bad had definitely gone down.
"Where's Rick?" I demanded.
"I'm here," he grunted. "We're okay."
"Everything is gonna come together," Fox said, sounding determined but not certain. "But...I need you guys to hide Rogue somewhere he won't be able to find her," he went on, talking to the boys like I wasn't there.
"But-" I began but JJ cut me off.
"Okay. I know somewhere. Then what?" he demanded, trusting Fox in a heartbeat as usual.
"Then I need you two to come meet me. Dad wants to see you at the house. I swear I'm gonna do everything to get us out of this, but we've gotta play along for now. We're still gonna run together. Just as soon as we can. Do you promise you'll wait for us, Rogue?" Fox asked, and there was just the smallest edge of panic to his tone which made me certain I needed to do as he said.
"Okay," I breathed. I knew I could trust him with all my heart. "If you swear you'll never leave me then I believe you, Fox."
"I swear," he growled. "No matter what."
"We're going to get you out of this, Rogue," Maverick added seriously. "I don't care if I have to kill again to do it."
I exchanged a look with Chase and JJ at that declaration, but Fox was already moving on.
"Once you're somewhere safe, promise me you won't leave until we come to get you, Rogue," Fox demanded.
"Okay," I agreed instantly. "But I don't know where-"
"JJ, Chase, hide her and then get here fast. Got it?" Fox cut me off again and I pushed my tongue against my busted lip as I tried not to flinch at his tone. He was never short with me, so it only gave away how serious this was.
"We're on it," Chase agreed. "We'll be with you within the hour."
"Be careful," I said quickly, sensing Fox was about to cut the call. "You boys are all I have. Without you I'm nothing. I've got nothing. Please don't put yourselves in danger for me. Promise me-"
"We got you, beautiful," Maverick swore. "Just hold tight and trust us."
"Always," I breathed and the line went dead.
"Come on," JJ said instantly, taking my hand and dragging me towards the bushes where he and Chase had hidden their bikes. "There's an old lodge up on Devil’s Pass that I found last summer. It won't let the rain in and no one knows about it."
I nodded in acceptance as thunder crashed in the distance again and the cold air tugged at my hair. The storm would hit soon and I didn't want to be caught out in it.
JJ got on his bike and waited for me to climb on the back, standing on the pegs which he'd had fitted to his back wheel so that he could take a passenger.
Chase scowled up at the sky through the trees before grabbing his own bike and the three of us took off, me clinging onto JJ's shoulders as he peddled hard and fast down the street, away from the crypt, racing down street after street until we were coming up on the cliffs that overlooked the bay. He swerved left, up the road towards Devil's Pass. No one went that way anymore, the old road which ran right along the edge of the cliff had been closed years ago after a rockslide had sent four cars crashing down to the sea below and taken a chunk of the road out with it. It had been condemned and a new road built to avoid it and no one sane ever went near it.