Chapter 288: Chapter 288 The Highway To Hell

Liam pointed at the bed with a deadpan expression as Dickson struggled to pull his pants up. “Are you just going to leave them like that?”

Dickson glanced at the three naked girls still tangled in the sheets behind him and furrowed his brows. “What, you allergic to girls or something?”

Liam shot him a glare. “No. I’m allergic to idiots.”

Dickson rolled his eyes dramatically. “Bro, you break into my room like some deranged vampire, and now you’re judging my lifestyle? Let me live.”

Before Liam could reply with something scathing, a soft vibration buzzed through his jacket. He reached into the inner pocket, pulled out his comm, and slipped it into his ear.

Vanessa’s voice came through instantly. “Where are you?”

He rubbed his temple and answered, “Over at Dickson’s.”

“Good,” she said, rapid and focused. “I’m sending a location to Dickson’s phone. I need you to check it out.”

Liam’s eyes narrowed slightly. “What’s over there?”

“I don’t know yet. Might be nothing. But I saw crates being moved early this morning on the east cameras—same ones that caught the last serum shipment.”

“Serums?” Liam asked, already knowing where this was going.

“Possibly,” she replied. “But I can’t confirm. It’s just a hunch. Worth checking though.”

“Alright,” Liam said with a sigh. “I’ll look into it.”

Just before Vanessa ended the call, her voice returned—but this time less commanding and more urgent. “Also, get me food on your way back. Real food. I’m starving.”

“Is that a professional police request?” Liam asked.

“It’s a survival request,” she snapped. Then the line clicked off.

He slipped the comm back into his pocket and turned to speak to Dickson—only to get tackled halfway across the room.

“Wha—Dickson, what the hell?!”

Dickson practically pounced on him like a rabid toddler looking for attention, knocking Liam off balance. They stumbled into the edge of a chair, Liam nearly falling as Dickson fumbled around and pulled the comm back out of his jacket.

“Bro,” Dickson said, holding it up like it was made of gold. “Who was that?”

Liam gritted his teeth and yanked it back from him. “You could’ve asked nicely, idiot.”

“I don’t trust ’nice,’” Dickson said, backing away slowly. “Nice doesn’t come with this level of secrecy.”

“It was Vanessa,” Liam muttered as he tucked the comm away again.

Dickson’s face twisted as he tried to remember the name. “Vanessa… Vanessa… wait.” His eyebrows jumped as realization hit him. “Vanessa Carter? That hot police chick with the tight shirt?”

Liam gave him a slow, knowing nod. “That’s the one.”

Dickson grinned, like a raccoon who just found an unlocked trash can. “Damn, she’s fine. Way out of your league, bro.”

“Thanks,” Liam said dryly.

Dickson leaned forward like he was about to share government secrets. “So… are you guys fucking?”

Liam’s brain short-circuited for a second. “Jesus Christ, Dick…”

“I’m just saying,” Dickson continued, wiggling his eyebrows, “I see the way she looks at you. All serious and bossy like she’s trying to arrest you and jump your bones at the same time.”

Liam rubbed his forehead, exasperated. “Shut the fuck up and pass me your phone.”

“Ooooh, it’s like that,” Dickson teased as he reached over to the cluttered desk and handed Liam his phone. “You’re not denying it. That’s how I know it’s true.”

Liam ignored him, unlocking the device and waiting for Vanessa’s message to come through. Behind him, Dickson kept muttering nonsense.

“I mean, damn, man. First Ann, Lana, my cousin and now Vanessa? You collecting women like Pokémon cards?”

Liam stayed focused on the phone screen. “I swear, if you don’t shut up, I’m gonna collect your front teeth next.”

Dickson threw up his hands. “Damn, alright! Relax. Somebody’s in their grumpy ’I-haven’t-eaten-or-had-sex-today’ mood.”

“I literally just saw you naked with three women and somehow I feel bad for you.”

“Jealousy is an ugly color on you,” Dickson said with a wink. Then he glanced over his shoulder toward the bed and grimaced. “Although… I don’t remember two of their names. I think one of them’s called… Peach?”

“Peach?” Liam asked, deadpan.

“I don’t name them, man. They name themselves.”

Liam looked like he was strongly reconsidering their friendship.

The phone buzzed in his hand and the screen lit up with a message from Vanessa—a location marker dropped on the outskirts of town, near one of the abandoned docks.

“There it is,” Liam muttered.

“Lemme guess,” Dickson said as he grabbed a shirt off the back of a chair. “Another shady, life-threatening mission with almost no backup?”

“Basically.”

“And yet, somehow,” Dickson continued, pulling the shirt over his head, “I’m the one being judged.”

“You slept with three strangers in your childhood bed,” Liam reminded him.

“Correction. Young adult bed. And it builds character.”

Liam stood, handed the phone back, and shook his head. “You’re one STD away from turning into a science experiment.”

“I’ll die doing what I love,” Dickson declared proudly.

“Being a degenerate?”

“Exactly.”

Liam headed for the door as he checked the time. They had work to do. The tone in Vanessa’s voice hadn’t sounded panicked, but it had definitely carried weight.

Whatever was at that location… it mattered.

And while Dickson could joke all he wanted, Liam knew the game they were playing was turning darker by the day.

Still, having someone like Dickson around—even if he was a walking disaster—was better than going at it alone.

“Come on,” Liam said, tossing a spare jacket at him. “You’re driving.”

“Me?” Dickson blinked. “With which car?”

Liam smirked. “The one I just stole from Lilith.”

Dickson lit up. “Fuck yes. Let me grab my shoes and my dignity—oh wait, I left that somewhere under Peach.”

Liam groaned.

—-

Liam barely had time to yank the seatbelt across his chest before the tires screeched around a corner hard enough to slap his skull into the window.

“ARE YOU TRYING TO GET ME KILLED, BITCH?!” he shouted, his voice barely punching through the engine’s roar.

Dickson cackled from the driver’s seat, gripping the wheel with one hand while shifting with the other. “Don’t you heal every time you get hurt?”

“That doesn’t mean I want my spine rearranged by a lamppost, you maniac!”

But there was no stopping Dickson once he was in his zone. The car whipped between lanes like it was built for a racetrack instead of a city road. Every corner was a gamble, every acceleration a lawsuit waiting to happen.

Liam sighed and slumped back into the seat. “You know what? Fine. I give up. If I die in this car, I’m haunting you. Forever.”

As if on cue, the shrill sound of a siren lit up behind them.

Liam glanced back through the window, instantly groaning. “Of course. Of course you attracted the cops.”

Dickson blinked like it was a surprise. “Nahhh. They’re probably just admiring the car.”

Liam stared at him like he’d grown a second head. “You’re going twice the speed limit!”

Dickson shrugged and slowed down. The car eased into a casual coast like they’d just popped out for groceries.

Liam shot him a horrified look. “Why the fuck are you slowing down now?! Do you want me to get caught?!”

Dickson looked genuinely confused. “Caught? Caught for what?”

Liam looked him dead in the eye. “I’m a wanted man, Dickson. Don’t ask how. It’s a long story”

Dickson blinked again. “Wait, for real?”

“Yes, for real! Just—drive. However you want. Lose that cop car!”

Dickson’s face lit up like a kid who just got permission to destroy the living room. “Say. Less.”

His hand grabbed the gear and slammed it into drive, then he mashed the accelerator.

“YES SIR!!” he howled with pure joy as the car rocketed forward.

Liam immediately regretted everything.

They shot between traffic like they were on a game show. Horns blared. People cursed. A hotdog cart wobbled and tipped over behind them.

“Dickson!” Liam shouted as they barely missed clipping a public bus. “The left lane! THE LEFT—”

Dickson spun the wheel hard right instead.

“Oh god. I’m going to die in this car,” Liam muttered as he gripped the ceiling like a prayer rope.

Then came the real problem.

A massive delivery truck was blocking the intersection ahead. There was no space to go around it. No way to stop in time. Nothing but steel and death waiting in their path.

Liam reached over, grabbed Dickson by the collar, and screamed, “STOP DRIVING, FUCKER!”

Dickson didn’t blink. “Hold my drink.”

“What drink?!”

“Exactly.”

Then he pulled off a stunt that made Liam’s soul try to escape through his mouth.

He jerked the handbrake, spun the wheel, and drifted the car sideways through a tiny alley barely wider than a coffin. The tires scraped walls, sparks flew, and Liam screamed something that might’ve been a prayer or a curse in Latin.

When they exploded out the other side—alive—Liam was frozen, wide-eyed, clutching the dashboard.

“I saw God,” he whispered.

“I am God,” Dickson said, beaming.

Liam slowly reached over and slapped the back of his head.

“OW! What was that for?!”

“For putting me in a Fast & Furious spinoff without my consent!”

Dickson just laughed. “Bro, you told me to drive however I want. This is the real me.”

“Your real self belongs in a straitjacket.”

But they weren’t out yet.

The cop car had found a detour and was chasing again—sirens louder than ever.

Then came situation number two.

They turned onto a street—and suddenly, a garbage truck was reversing directly into their path.

“NOT AGAIN!” Liam roared as he slammed both feet into the passenger floor like that would help.

Dickson grinned wildly. “Don’t worry. I got this.”

“You said that before the bus! And the alley! AND THE FIRE HYDRANT!”

Dickson didn’t reply.

Instead, he turned the wheel, accelerated toward the oncoming trash truck, and then—at the last possible second—spun the wheel while pulling the handbrake again. The car rotated backwards into a perfect 180, drifting in reverse past the shocked sanitation crew as the rear bumper kissed the pavement.

They came out clean on the other side, smoke curling from the tires.

Liam was holding his head in both hands.

“I regret everything. I regret ever calling you. I regret giving you the keys. I REGRET GIVING YOU FREEDOM.”

Dickson just cackled like a hyena. “Say it again!”

“I regret EVERYTHING!”

“That’s the name of our next album!”

Finally, after what felt like a ride through purgatory, Dickson cut into a side road, killed the headlights, and ducked into an underground parking garage.

The sirens faded into the distance.

Silence.

Liam was still frozen, staring ahead blankly.

Dickson clapped him on the shoulder. “See? Easy peasy.”

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