There’s a longer pause, and I grow weak with worry, wondering if I’m about to be disconnected. I exhale in pure relief when she speaks again.
“Yes. I am going to tell you who took me, and you need to promise not to hurt them.”
“Okay. Okay, I won’t hurt them. Of course I won’t. I promise.”
I’ll do anything. Anything to get you back. I promise, Piper.
“No, they didn’t take me.” Piper’s voice sounds suddenly strangled with fear, as though she said the wrong thing, and is being threatened now. “They didn’t take me, Quill. They saved me. Believe me.”
“I believe you, Piper.”I’ll believe anything as long as I get you back.
“They saved me, Quill. Coltello took me, and they shot him. They killed him to save me, because they’re loyal to you.”
Logan’s eyes widen. He’s clearly heard the shocking revelation that Coltello is dead. But I don’t feel anything but a sudden uneasiness.
“I understand, Piper. Can you tell me who saved you?”
Another beat, and she at last breathes, “Liam and Dane.”
The confirmation sends blood crashing through my veins. I can barely hear her over the sound of my heartbeat in my ears as she continues, “They will give you my location. But first they need you to promise that you will not harm them in any way. Or kill them. They know your promises are sacred, and they want you to promise.”
I close my eyes, my entire body leaning against the car. She’s right. Loyalty means nothing to me. And yet, I’ve never broken a promise. Not because of honor. Because of something far deeper.
Believe me.
The words my mother once spoke to me are etched into my brain.I’ll never leave you. Believe me.
She destroyed my childhood with that broken promise. I swore to myself then that for all my cruelty, for all my psychopathic tendencies, I would never break a promise.
I couldn’t do it, any more than I could prevent myself from doing things in threes.
It has nothing to do with honor. It’s a tic. An urge. An obsession.
Dane and Liam know that, and they’re using my weakness against me.
“Quill,” hisses Logan, as I hesitate.
“Quill,” echoes Piper into the phone, her voice tight with fear. “Promise, Quill. Please promise. I need you so much, Quill. Promise.”
A sob makes her voice break, and it’s all I can do to not cry too. I need her just as much as she does. More. There’s nothingI wouldn’t do for her, and that includes binding myself in a promise to the actual devil.
It feels like I’m violating everything when I at last murmur, “I promise, Piper.”
She lets out a shuddering sigh. “Okay. Okay, Quill. They’re going to give you the address.”
_
“What the fuck was that all about? Are you fucking lacking in brain cells? Or do you just not give a shit about her?”
We’re speeding down the busted-up country roads toward the address Piper gave us, Logan keeping up a continuous stream of insults.
“You fucking numbskull. You complete idiot. You—”
“Hey,” cuts in Josh. “Maybe there was a good reason for it.”
“A good reason forhesitating?Hesitatingwhen we were just one word away from getting her location? Who the fuck cares? Just say what they want you to say, and then do what you want to do.”
“Well, we got the location,” shrugs Josh.