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I woke with a groan. My shoulder felt like something had tried to take a fucking bite out of it. I raised a hand and felt the bandage on my shoulder. Right. Something had tried to take a bite out of me.
I sat up, sucking in a breath and letting it out while the world righted itself a little more slowly than usual. I was lying on the bed that took up one end of the camper. Someone had stripped me down to my sports bra and changed out my pants for soft sweats. The clothes I had been wearing were probably filthy and covered in blood.
I ran a hand over my face. Now one or more of my companions had seen me naked and knew all my secrets. Great.
I belatedly registered that the camper was swaying and bumping along at a slow pace. Someone was driving my fucking rig. I didn't let anyone drive my vehicles. They were too damned hard to come by and too expensive to repair.
Hushed voices were murmuring about the landscape and the changes that had occurred to the natural environment since the rift. Sighing, I pulled back the dated floral curtain that separated the bed from the rest of the camper. Conversation stopped, and several sets of eyes swiveled to stare at me.
I swung the blanket off my legs and sat over the edge of the bed alcove. Fin made his way over, hanging on to every available surface to keep from falling down. "Asshole hits every possible bump," he muttered. When he reached me, he gestured for me to turn so he could see my back. "Let me make sure nothing's oozing on the other side."
I pressed my lips together and turned away from the leprechaun, trying not to read too much into the clinical detachment in his eyes. He'd seen me in my bra. It was kind of obvious I had boobs. So...there went his assumption that I was a guy. Oh Gods, how much more had he seen while I was unconscious?
"Looks okay," he said, squeezing my good shoulder with a warm hand. "I got this out of your duffel bag. Hope you don't mind."
I turned to find him holding out a T-shirt. I took it and slipped it on, grudgingly letting him help me with the stiff left arm.
The others went back to their conversation, Emerson hunched over the little folding dining table as he spoke to the guy from the armored vehicle. I finally looked at Fin. "So...are you the one who changed my clothes for me?" My voice was tight. Defensive.
He shook his head. "Nah. I tried to help, but the white-haired pain in the ass wouldn't let anyone else touch you. Said you wouldn't like anyone seeing you like that." He didn't ask why it was okay for Angel to see me naked. His mossy green eyes met mine and he tilted his head, laying a hand on my knee.
"Is that why you ran off on me after what happened between us at your apartment? Why did you let me think you were a guy? I don't get it, Sam." He still didn't know the whole truth. Who knows what his brain was making of what he’d seen so far? I didn’t have the time or the energy to give a fuck right now.
I stood, the motion shaking off his touch. "Did you guys get the unicorn pelts and horns?" I moved toward the table, Fin trailing along carefully behind me. My cat-like balance made it easy for me to stay upright when we hit a bump in the uneven terrain, but the little guy had to cling to something sturdy.
Emerson smiled at me. "Glad you're okay, Sam. You scared us." He pointed at the ceiling. "The hides and horns are on top in the cargo box." He shuddered. "I never want to skin anything ever again."
I laughed. "Then maybe you shouldn't join up with hunters. Did you salt the hides like I told you?"
After Emerson nodded, I leaned a hip against the table and gazed down at the stranger, who was apparently hitching a ride with us. "And you are?"
He looked up at me with his electric blue eyes, his back ramrod straight, and wearing a different suit than what I'd last seen him wearing. The current suit was a charcoal gray that made his eyes and his chestnut hair stand out. There wasn't a single wrinkle on it, which was just fucking ridiculous out in the middle of damned wastes.
"I'm Theo," he said, holding out a hand.
I eyed him for a minute before I shook his hand. His palm was soft. No calluses. Perfectly manicured. He wasn’t someone who got his hands dirty. "What are you doing out here in the middle of nowhere in an armored car, Theo? You clearly aren't a hunter."
He smiled, and I didn't like the way it almost looked like a smirk. Like he was just full of secrets. "I'm from Golding. I was elected to the ruling seat of Westhold. My convoy was attacked by bandits and left to the unicorns."
I frowned. "Why is Golding importing a ruler for Westhold?" Usually that kind of thing was handled with local elections through local councils.
He sat back and gave me an easy smile. "It's part of an initiative to...enliven the community of Westhold." He shrugged. "None of the local candidates were even remotely qualified."
Westhold was kind of a shithole compared to Golding. But it was my shithole. I wasn't sure I liked the idea of some other high-class city sending their people to govern. But politics were lost on me. I didn't have time to pay attention to those sorts of games. Political crap was for people who had too much money and too much spare time. The rest of us down in the trenches of life were too busy trying to survive on a daily basis.
I crossed my arms over my chest. "And you're traveling with us now?"
He held up his hands in a helpless gesture. "My vehicle was out of commission. And your friends kindly offered to assist."
I snorted. I'm sure they did. Cause all we needed was to be responsible for some rich brat who was too dumb to survive the wastelands. If something happened to him while we were on the way back to town, we were going to get blamed for it.
This was why I worked alone. Although, I would have had a shit time getting everything skinned and loaded up with my shoulder wound.
Then again, I thought, narrowing my eyes at the asshole driving my camper, I wouldn't be injured in the first place if I wasn't dealing with extra people. I made my way to the front of the vehicle and flopped down into the passenger seat.
"Pull over," I demanded. "You know no one gets to drive my shit but me."
Angel glanced at me, then returned his attention to the landscape ahead of us, navigating at a slow crawl. "You can't drive with your shoulder all torn up, Sam. Just let people help you once in a while. I'm being careful."
I growled. "Oh, you're helping me now? Cause last I checked you were fucking me over and selling me out."
He sighed. "Don't be like that, Sam. The midget said you went to your mom's house. You know why I did it, and you'd do the same damned thing."
"Don't call him that!" I snapped. "And I wouldn't have done the same thing. I would have found some other way. I wouldn't have used you like that. I wouldn't have let you believe I cared, when it meant nothing."
His gold eyes met mine. "That's not how it is, Sam, and you know it."
"Pull over," I snapped.
He shook his head. "Stop being so damned stubborn."
Fin joined us, standing between the seats. "Everything okay, Sam?"
Angel darted a look at the redhead, then focused back on the road. "So, you're the one Sam's all twisted up over? If you turned Sam down, you're clearly as blind as you are short. You don't deserve someone so amazing."
Fin puffed up, clearly ready to put a bullet between Angel's eyes. "This coming from the asshole who screwed us all over. You think you deserve Sam? After you hurt him and betrayed him."
I rolled my eyes. "Neither of you deserve me. Now pull the fucking camper over, Angel, or I will break both your arms. I'd like to see you drive then."
The siren pressed his lips together in anger, then hissed when that re-opened the nasty cut on his full bottom lip. Pressing the back of his hand to his mouth to stop the trickle of blood, he pulled to a stop. "Fine," he hissed. "Strain that shoulder and slow your healing. Since you so clearly love playing the victim, I'm sure you'll love being laid up for a week when we get home."
He unbuckled his seatbelt and stood, pushing past Fin and flouncing to the back of the camper. I scooted over and took the wheel, feeling slightly more in control.
Fin slid into the passenger's seat. "What's up with you and that weirdo?" I could feel the underlying accusation. Why did you tell him about us?
I scowled. "We grew up together."
Fin glanced over his shoulder to make sure the others were engaged in their own conversation. "And you've fucked him, right?"
I gripped the steering wheel so hard it was a wonder it didn't break. "'Cause that's your business now?"
He shrugged. "He's got jilted lover written all over him. If he wasn't clearly a complete douche, I'd be worried."
I sighed. "You've got nothing to worry about, Fin. Because he's not my boyfriend. And neither are you. Now shut the hell up or go away."
I wasn't going to admit that Angel might be right. Already, using my left arm to turn the wheel was a strain. It was going to be a long couple of days back to Westhold.
Especially with my current company.