Going Wild (The Wild Ones Book 2)(34)

I smile as I take another cut.

“She’s not a local. She’s a seasonal. Or used to be. She stopped coming two years ago. She’s a horror writer, and she came out here in the summers for peace and quiet to write gruesome death scenes. No doubt she was killing the Wilders in the books, because they obviously disrupted the peace and quiet she came here for.”

He laughs again, as I cut the wheel once more.

“So the Wilders don’t mind you tearing up their field?”

“Nah. They’ll come out here and join us if they see us.”

Just as I sling out of another donut, a loud shaboom rattles the air, sounding like a cannon, some crispy fireworks, and a Titan’s whip-crack all at once.

My chest vibrates and my body tingles as a pulse washes over us, and mud bursts into the air about a hundred yards from us, shooting up in a spray.

Fuckity fuck.

I gas the Jeep, driving like hell back toward the road.

“What the hell was that?!” Liam demands, his relaxed posture gone now.

“Tannerite. Warning shot,” I tell him quickly, just as another blast sends a pulse toward us, and another spray of mud flies up.

“The fuck? I thought you said they’d just join us,” he says in a much higher voice than usual.

My ass is clenched as the next pulse hits again, driving me forward. This is why those fuckers are wildcards.

“They would…unless they feel like being dicks today, which they clearly do,” I say, mentally noting some serious payback. “And they might not know I’m driving this shiny new Jeep either.”

“Motherfucker!” he shouts as mud sprays us, and a painful pulse has me driving that much faster. “This is a time when a phone would be a good fucking idea!”

I laugh manically, unable to help myself, as the pulses get less and less intense, letting me know they’re simply fucking with us now. I blow out a breath, but Liam is still watching the mirror, worried they’ll come after us.

“The Wilders don’t even have the Internet, much less a phone. Their main source of income is growing all the weed that our one cop deals to locals and various other towns. That’s how they make all their money. Only the Wild Ones are supposed to know that, so they keep everyone else off their land.”

He whips his head toward me.

“Then why did you just tell me?”

I go a little stiff. I honestly have no idea why I just told him that.

“Just felt like explaining what was going on,” I say uneasily.

Out of the corner of my eye, I notice his lips twitching. He knows I just slipped up by forgetting he wasn’t…here permanently.

“Why worry? Pot is legal in this state.”

“Not in the quantities people buy it in, and it’s still illegal to grow it. Plus, you make more money when taxes and licenses aren’t involved. We don’t do things like normal people, remember?”

We race down the road, getting out of Wilder territory. I don’t slow down until I see the sickening sight of a Trooper passing us, his lights and siren coming on in unison as he whips around and comes after us.

“Shit,” I hiss.

“What? It’s just a speeding ticket. I’ll pay it,” he says from beside me.

“That would be great…if I had a license.”

He groans. “You don’t?”

“Well, I did. It was taken away two years ago…in another state. Sort of forgot I couldn’t be an idiot anywhere but Tomahawk. The troopers aren’t supposed to be here yet.”

“I’m sure they were on their way to the Wilders’ place with all that shit blowing up too. Is Tannerite illegal?”

Fuckity fuck fuck.

“I don’t think so, but it’s safe to assume all things are illegal when the troopers are here. Pretty sure you need a license for explosives, and the Wilders will have no such thing. And the last place that needs investigating is the Wilders’.”

He pulls out his phone as I pull over on the side of the road. The trooper’s car stops behind ours.

“Glad one of us has a phone,” he says with a smirk. Then the phone is at his ear. “Hey, Killian, it’s me. The troopers are here. You need to get over to the Wilders’ place and warn them, because there was some Tannerite issues.”

He pauses, smiling over at me.

“Yeah. I promise to tell you later,” he goes on. “Right now, I’m going to have to keep Kylie out of jail.”

He glances back over his shoulder, and then he tugs me so hard that I almost slap him. Until I realize he’s shifting over me, staying on his phone. I quickly, and awkwardly, scramble to the passenger seat, buckling up like I’ve been here all along.