"So then where are you taking me?
"My family has land near here. We can hide out."
"I need to get my sister."
He shook his head. "I just went through all that to get you. You're crazy if you think I'm just going to let you go."
"I thought you were helping me."
"I am. Did you want to be used by the Reine? Do you realize how many men you'd have to answer to?"
I shuddered.
"Sorry. I didn't mean to put that image in your mind, but it's true." He rested his hand right next to my leg on the seat. "Isn't it better to just be mine?"
"How did you do it? How'd you convince them you wanted to join the Reine?"
"It wasn't hard. Plus I paid him more than the usual initiation fee."
"You had that kind of money?" I asked with surprise.
He turned away from me. "I may have borrowed it."
"From where?" I felt suspicion set in.
"That house. Your sister's house."
"You bought your way into the Reine with Benjamin's money?"
"I used it to save you."
"Is that why you took it?"
He pressed his lips together tightly. "No."
"Please. Help me get to the city."
"You were supposed to be Ethan's." He spoke so softly I barely heard him.
"You know Ethan?"
He nodded. "Yeah. We're cousins."
"Oh." Cousins were almost as rare as siblings nowadays.
"He used to brag about it. Pissed me off."
"Why did it make you mad?"
"Cause why should he get you? Why should he get a girl when I knew I couldn't?" He gripped the wheel tightly.
"Yeah well, he left."
"He wanted more than the Rurals could offer I guess. So stupid. He gave you up for no reason. I don't mind it here."
"He wanted more than me," I said softly.
"I don't. I want only you." He moved his hand onto my leg. "I'm going to protect you."
"I can protect myself. I need to get to Quinn and Bailey."
"That's not an option."
The rain pounded down on the Humvee. I had no idea how Bolton could even see well enough to drive.
"Then you might as well let me out. I will not come with you willingly."
"I don't want to rape you, Kayla. I'm not like that."
"Then take me to the city. Help me get them back."
"Then you'll be mine?" His eyes, full of longing, set on my face.
"That's what you want?"
"Haven't you been listening to me at all?" He returned his eyes to the road.
"We don't have anywhere else to go," I admitted. "We will come back with you."
"No. You're not just coming to live with me. You're coming to be with me. The two of us, we know what family is. Not everyone does anymore. I want that."
"Family? In this messed up world?"
"You want it too." He wasn't asking a question.
I shook my head. "No. I don't. I want to help Quinn raise Bailey and hope that by the time she's our age things have changed."
"You're scared."
"Who knows what could be happening to them. We have to get them back." I rubbed my wrists together.
"That's not what I mean. You're scared you're a breeder too."
"I'm not. I know I'm not."
"You can't know that." He watched me again. He should have been keeping his eyes on the road.
"It doesn't matter."
"It does matter, but you'll find out one day."
"If I live long enough."
"Keep that up and I'll tie you down and drag you home."
"Excuse me?" I turned in my seat.
"I'm just saying I'm not taking you to the city if you have a death wish."
"I don't have a death wish. I'm just thinking realistically."
"Thinking realistically, we have to find a place to stop. We can't keep drive through this." He leaned forward in his seat so he could see better.
"We need to hide the vehicle. What if the Reine are looking for it?" Just the thought of the Reine sent off a new wave of fear in me.
"We're too far from my house to go back, besides they may trace us back to it. But I told you we have land here. There's also a truck."
"Do you have shelter there?" We needed to stay out of sight if we were stopping.