Page 44 of York

But my most vivid memories didn’t come back until the shock wore off and the pain settled in.

I stopped back at our motel to grab our things and wrap up my ribs. Then I was on the road again.

“To here.”

“I didn’t even stop at a motel to sleep,” I said. “I used bags of our clothing, bedding, and stuffies to fill the backseat like a bed and slept back there with Denny at well-lit rest stops.”

“But your bruises have faded.”

“Because I didn’t have an address for you. Just the Miami area. I was down here for over a week before someone even said they knew you. Took a little longer to get an actual address.”

He nodded at that.

“Do you think you killed either of them?” York asked, tone casual, like we were just discussing the weather, not murder.

“The cuts were too superficial. I didn’t get him in his neck or near the veins in his arms. I don’t know if I hit them hard enough in the head to kill them.”

He nodded at that.

“I’ll look into that.”

“What do you mean?”

“See if bodies were found. Might even have someone ride up there to check the house, in case they had it rented as a trap.”

“And if there are bodies?”

“Then I drive up there and get rid of them and clean the scene.”

“You’re saying that like it’s normal.”

“Remember the night we met?”

“Yes.” Even just the memory had desire blooming through me.

“I’d just gotten back from burying a body deep in the woods around that town. That was my job. I hid bodies. For the mob.”

He hid bodies for the mob.

It was so absurd, I wanted to laugh.

But after everything I’d been through, my parameters for what was possible and not had really widened. So. York was a former mafia body-hider and current arms-dealing biker. That somehow seemed even less crazy than me being chased across states by two crazed men for completely unknown reasons.

“So… you could hide the bodies. If there were any.”

“Yep. And it would never trace back to you. I’m assuming you didn’t take that job using your real information.”

“I don’t even have any real information anymore. I use a fake business name and new burner phones everywhere I go.”

“Good. I’ll look into it. And if that leads nowhere—and I don’t think there are bodies there—then I will get more information from you about what you were doing and where you lived in that first town, so I can look into local crews there who might be responsible for this.”

“You make it sound easy.”

“Not easy, no. But easier when you’re on the inside and know where to look and who to talk to.”

“It’s not dangerous?”

“I can take care of myself. And you. And Denali. Now that I know, I’ll handle this.”