Miscreants: Next Generation (Badlands 8)

He watched me stand up but didn’t say anything else, returning to his conversation with Poet and Brody.

“How are you two?” Takara asked the second we were out of ear shot.

“I’m not sure. We haven’t had an actual opportunity to talk anything out. Not even going to the Savages’ compound yet.”

She followed me into the ladies’ room, catching the door so it didn’t swing shut on her. “How do you feel about going back?”

“I haven’t sat down and thought about it.”

Truthfully, I wasn’t ready to think about it now that it was almost a reality. I surveyed the stalls, judging their cleanliness. Three of four were open. I chose one on the end and went to handle my business. It wasn’t a space I wanted to examine too thoroughly. My vagina begged me not to.

Whoever occupied another stall flushed and exited. I could hear the jingle of a buckle as they walked.

Checking the toilet paper holder reminded me that I never got our bags back from the redneck assholes that had kidnapped us, which in turn made me think of Cherry. Had she made it off that roadway? Or had she died from the head wound that caused her to hesitate too long?

Feeling the beginning of a headache, I shut my eyes and quietly sighed.

“We’ll figure everything out,” Takara soothed.

I smiled and wiped, rising from my toilet bowl squat, using my boot to flush. Upon exiting my stall, I went to the sink to wash my hands. At first glance at the girl beside me, I didn’t think much. She had shiny ash blonde hair that hung to her waist. That’s what initially caught my attention. But as I lathered my hands, I caught sight of her tattoos.

Various ink ran up and down her arms, the devil’s mark standing out like a beacon. I lifted my gaze to her mirror and found she was already watching me, one tiny, inverted cross beneath her left eye.

I froze for a split second, unsure what to do. There’s no way it wasn’t her, but just to be sure…

“…Addy?”

“Lilith?”

She spun and assaulted me with a mixture of a tackle and a hug, nearly knocking me into the nearby wall Takara was leaning against. I was caught off guard by her excitement, more than a little shocked.

She leaned back so that she could see my face, still not letting me go. “You’re so grown now! I didn’t think he’d really show up with you!”

“Who?”

“Samael. He didn’t tell you?”

“No,” I replied exasperatedly. “What are you doing here?”

“We’re hitching a ride with you guys.”

Could I have one day where I wasn’t confused or lost as shit? Why would the Savage princess need to hitch a ride? Better question:

“Who is we?”

She finally released me, a bright smile on her pretty face. “Wow. He doesn’t tell you much. Typical of the men we must put up with.” Her gaze bounced to Takara. “Who is this?”

“That’s Takara, my friend. She’s been with me for a while now.”

“Right. I’ve heard your name a few times,” Addy said, surprising her too. “Come on. Let’s not talk in a bathroom.”

The three of us exited together and walked back to the main area of the diner. Samael met my gaze as we approached the booth but showed no outward reaction to me discovering Addy in a damn diner bathroom.

There was an extra person at the table—a large guy that looked so much like Brody I automatically knew he was his twin, Ice.

I glanced down at Samael’s half-eaten burger as I reclaimed my seat, making room for Addy beside me.

What kind of meat was that? I wasn’t sure I genuinely wanted to know.

Right now, before anything else, I wanted an actual explanation as to what the hell was going on.

My brain was on going and on as if it were running track in a repetitive circle. Would knowing everything imprison me? Or would it make me feel freer somehow?

The explanation for Addy being here wasn’t anything spectacular.

She needed distance from the guy she was with, and he wouldn’t have allowed her to simply walk out the door. Without her spilling all the details, I could tell our situations were remarkably similar, the largest difference being how Addy and Zane wound up together.

I’d never met him personally. I’d seen him a few times when he interacted with Creed, and there was a point in time his younger brother was essentially a hostage. I didn’t know him too well either. Samael made sure he and I stayed apart.

“Are you mad?”

I opened my eyes and tilted my head so that I could see some of his face. I thought he’d fallen asleep. We’d been back in the room hugged up for at least an hour after I took a shower, chilling in silence. I was wrapped up in a bundle with my throw from the Brabus, head on the unharmed side of his chest.