She realized she’d been gawking at the silver vehicle worth more than she used to make in five years combined. Maybe more than five.
Between the blood, the shakes and the car, he had to be a drug dealer or something close. Had to be. “I’ll get you inside and then I’m gone.” Her damned conscience pinged. “And you need to get on a phone. Get to a hospital.”
Sebastian unfolded into the passenger’s side he opened. “No hospital. Just...inside...”
“Hey Sebastian?” She shook his shoulder and unresponsive, he slumped forward. “Bast?”
Shit.
Alice looked around. Despite being outside a crowded nightclub, no one else loitered in the parking lot. An unconscious man slouched inside an insanely expensive car next to her. They were alone at night in what wouldn’t be classified as the best part of town. She could leave him and hope to heaven someone with a kind heart found him before he died. Maybe he wouldn’t even die; his car might be stolen with him left on the cold ground in nothing more than his shirt, but that was okay, right? He’d be alive at least.
The night had begun to chill noticeably, and she still hadn’t picked a place to sleep until morning. She couldn’t stay here and wait for him. Her own survival took precedence.
Alice scanned the lot again, let out a breath and studied Sebastian’s profile.
Double shit.
Chapter Two
Alice slid into the driver’s side then stared at the keys in a jumbled heap next to Bast’s feet. Every time she reached down to retrieve them, her insides began to quiver so badly, she gave up the thought. If she had to, she could do this. She knew how to drive. The lack of a driver’s license didn’t stop that from being true.
No—it was the thought of what could happen should she venture onto the road that made her tremble. The license had been taken with good cause, a fact she could grudgingly admit two years later. Still, she hadn’t had a seizure in a long while, she didn’t think. Hard to tell because of their subtlety. They probably weren’t permanently gone, but no news was good news, right? No real hope for getting better, but she’d take “not getting worse” any day of the week.
She ran her hands over him again. A quick pat-down for anything that might be dangerous—or perhaps worth hocking. Her fingers hooked inside shirt and pants pockets, but nothing surfaced. Damn it to hell, not even a dollar bill.
Alice chewed on her lip while staring out the windshield. She considered whether it would be worth trying to get into his back pocket. Bonus points for getting to cop a feel on a delectable ass, but mostly she wanted access to any wallet that might be tucked away there. Guys like him held on to thick leather wallets, the bills inside crisp and hardly used. If she could get him leaning forward. Maybe...
She eyed his bulk. No, not by herself. She’d have to get him out of the car. There simply wasn’t enough room inside it to maneuver. Maybe if she dropped him off at the hospital, she could help herself to a lost-and-found fee. Surely he wouldn’t mind.
“Lincoln and Fourth.”
Caught up in scheming, she’d failed to pay close enough attention to him. His words wrangled half a scream from her. “I thought you’d passed out.”
Bast raised a limp hand. “Drive.” It sounded as if saying that one-syllable word cost him energy he couldn’t afford to relinquish. “To Lincoln and Fourth.”
Trying not to think about the sticker value of the Ferrari, she shook her head. “I don’t have a license, and I’m not supp—”
“Please...”
Whatever else he might have said withered on his lips as Bast slumped forward again.
“Sebastian?” When he didn’t respond, Alice reached between his legs and forced her fingers to curl around the keys. “Shit,” she muttered. Her latest best friend of a word.
She took a moment to fasten the seatbelt over his torso, whispering a few quick prayers under her breath as she did. His skin was like fire, almost hot enough to make her snatch her hand away. This dude was sick and needed some medical attention, like, yesterday. She didn’t know what was at Lincoln and Fourth—a residential area, if she recalled correctly—but that couldn’t be their destination.