Ride or Die (Rejects Paradise 4)

I break out through the door, and my feet take me faster than I could ever imagine. The Audi has been moved, and for a fleeting second, panic surges through me until I notice a small parking lot off to the side.

Relief settles through me, and I race toward it, hoping to god that nothing has happened to it. Around here, when someone sees a nice car, it doesn’t take long for them to decide that it’s theirs to do with as they please, but I guess being a Wolf has its advantages. Anyone would be stupid to steal a car from this lot.

I unlock the Audi in record time and start the engine before my ass has even hit the seat. I reverse out of there, and within moments, I’m flying down the very highway that I should have taken Friday morning instead of stopping here, but as it is, I can't bring myself to regret my decision even though I know I should. I just hope the other Widows are left out of it.

After half an hour of driving, I calm myself enough to realize that in the center console, there’s a phone charger, and I let out a soft sigh. Why didn’t I realize that sooner? Of course there’s one in here. Colton wouldn’t have it any other way.

I feel around on the passenger’s seat for my discarded phone when I come back with Colton’s. I know I should probably charge mine and figure out what I've missed out on, but the curiosity of the boy’s responses to my message on Friday night has been sitting heavy on my heart. I never got a chance to read them after speaking to Colton, but a part of me was grateful.

I’ve been fearing their responses because I know they’re going to hurt if they were to turn their backs on me.

I plug in his phone and wait the agonizing few minutes for it to charge enough to power up. Why can’t someone just invent a phone that never dies?

It finally comes to life, and within seconds, his phone starts buzzing with all the notifications. I struggle to enter his passcode with one hand, but I’m determined. I need to know what they said.

Realizing there’s a mess of messages he’s missed over the last few days, I have no choice but to pull off on the side of the road to find what I'm looking for. After scrolling through the unread texts, I finally find the group message I sent on Friday night.

Opening it up, I find Kai’s response first.

Kairo - O, come on. Don’t be stupid. Just walk out of there, and we’ll sort this out. We love you. We can fix this.

Next up, Eli.

Elijah - Understand? I don’t fucking understand. You walked away from us, from everything we had. You’re supposed to be a little sister to us.

I skip over the rest of his response because I know how Eli gets, and it’s not good. It’s only going to tear me apart as he works through his anger at me. So instead of letting it cut me like he’d hoped, I move onto the final message and find five simple words that hurt me more than anything else ever could.

Sebastian - We will always love you.

A fat tear rolls down my cheek and splashes against the dirty school uniform that still dons my body. I haven’t showered in three days, simply because I have nothing to change into, and I’ll be damned if I was to ask any of the Wolves for help. Besides, getting naked in that place? No thank you.

I can’t wait to get home and feel human again, but before I can do that, I have to ease their minds. They have to know how much I care for them. I hit reply on the text.

Ocean - I’m on my way home. Maybe we can talk things through and I can tell you everything that’s been going on.

I watch the message go, and as all three of the guys receive and view it, I wait, hoping for even the smallest olive branch from just one of them. One minute, two minutes, three, four, five.

Nothing.

My heart shatters, but I hold back my emotions, not allowing them to take over as all that matters right now is getting home to Mom and Colton.

Putting the phone down, I hit the gas and pull back onto the highway, fighting my tired eyes the whole way. As I'm finally pulling into the Carrington driveway, I lean out my open window and hash the code in for the massive iron gates.

They slowly peel back as my patience wears thin. Finally, when they’re wide enough for me to squeeze the Audi past, I fly down the long drive in desperation.

By the time I finally make it and cut the engine, my mom is halfway down the grand stairs of the Carrington mansion. I hurry out of the Audi and race around to her, feeling the exhaustion of the past few days beginning to catch up to me.