“Go to her,” I tell him. “Then come catch up with me later.”
He looks back at me and then at his cousin again.
His face twists as he tries to decide who needs him more, but I don’t allow him any longer to debate it.
With one final look at Emmie, I rip my eyes away and continue forward.
“Go,” I bark when Alex doesn’t immediately start to move once more, and although my body screams at me to do so, I never look back. I can’t, because if I lay my eyes on her again, I won’t be able to do the right thing and walk away.
7
EMMIE
My grip on my dad's waist tightens as I watch Theo disappear around the corner without looking back.
He left.
All the air rushes from my lungs as that thought hits me.
He came all this way, helped Dad and Cruz get to me, and shot and killed multiple Wolves, if the bodies littering the building as we made our way out were anything to go by.
Why would he just walk away?
Because he walked in on you getting off with another guy grinding on top of you, maybe?
“Are you okay?” Dad asks quietly, his grip on my waist the only thing holding me up right now.
“You’re here. Of course I am.” Stepping in front of him, I bury my face in his solid chest and breathe in his manly scent.
I’m safe.
Kicking myself for making such stupid, reckless decisions, I vow to start being smarter.
There’s too much shit going on around me to put myself—everyone I love— at risk like I did on Monday night.
“Come on, kiddo. Let’s get you home.” He drops a kiss to the top of my head before grasping my shoulders and pulling me from his body.
“We all good here?” he shouts back, and when I peer around his body, I find Cruz and Xander standing in the doorway to the building.
“All good, bro. Fancy leaving the Wolves a little present?” Cruz asks, a wicked smile tugging at his lips.
“You know it,” Dad confirms, pushing me in the direction we watched Alex and Theo walk only minutes ago.
“Hey, cous,” Seb says, stepping up beside me, his concerned eyes searching mine. I have no idea what he’s looking for, but he clearly doesn’t find it, because even after long seconds, his expression doesn’t relax at all.
“Is… um…” I hesitate, both desperate to ask the question on the tip of my tongue but equally terrified to discover the answer. “Is he okay?” I ask, my eyes shooting in the direction Theo vanished.
“Uh… honestly, I have no idea,” Seb confesses with a wince, pushing his fingers into his hair and pulling it back, exposing a splattering of blood covering his brow.
“Shit, are you okay?”
He rolls his eyes dramatically. “Obviously. None of those motherfuckers had a chance with me.”
“Your ego really is something else,” I mutter as footsteps pound behind us.
“Ready?” Cruz asks, stepping out of the building with Link right behind him, a wicked smile playing on both of their lips.
“What are they doing?” I ask, not directing the question at anyone specifically.
“No idea,” Seb mutters at the same time Link says, “Just wait, I think you’re going to like it.”
Dad keeps moving us backward, and the others join us, standing in a line.
“Theo and Alex are gonna be pissed they missed this,” Nico says, rubbing his hands together in excitement.
My lips part to once again ask what’s happening when a loud explosion before us makes the ground beneath my feet shake.
“Was that— Holy fuck,” I gasp as the building I was locked inside not so long ago goes up in a fireball. “Wow,” I breathe, watching as the burning hot flames lick up into the sky, the heat from them burning my skin. “That’s—”
“Beautiful,” Cruz sighs, sounding much like I imagine a father might when he lays eyes on his firstborn, not a house fire. But whatever. I guess it comes as no surprise that my uncle is… different.
“Just a shame that motherfucker Wolfe isn’t inside.”
“Or Ram,” Dad mutters.
A million and one questions about all of this dance on the tip of my tongue, but I force my lips to stay shut. There’s going to be plenty of time to analyse all of this once we’re in the safety of Dad’s house. Now is not the time.
“Right. Now, we can leave,” Cruz says happily, scrubbing his hand on top of my head. “Come on, Hellcat.” He winks at me, but my heart skips a beat and my steps falter at his use of that nickname.
Pain slices through my heart that Theo walked away.
I’m not sure what I was really expecting, but the second I saw him standing out here and realised that he was a part of this… hell, that he survived that crash… All I wanted was for him to pull me into his arms and tell me that everything was going to be okay. That he forgave me for walking away from him at school, for getting down and dirty with Dax, for letting him place that fucking tab on my tongue and allowing myself get swept away with the craziness he brought into my life in the worst fucking way.
“We’ve got you, kiddo. Everything’s going to be okay.”
Sucking in a deep breath, I pull on my big girl panties and force my mask onto my face.
I’m better than this. Stronger than this.
Luis Wolfe. Theo Cirillo. My own fucking grandfather. None of them can touch me.
I will win against all of them.
There is no other option.
“Oh my God,” someone squeals the second Dad pushes the front door open.
I look up to find three women running toward me.
Dad presses his hand to the base of my spine and pushes me forward, right into their clutches.
Arms surround me as the sweet scents of their perfumes fill my nose, wiping away that of the leather, smoke and destruction that’s emanated from my rescuers all the way home.
“I’m so glad you’re okay,” Calli breathes in my ear.
“I sincerely hope they let you shoot someone,” Stella adds, making me snort a laugh.
“Sadly not. I left that to them. You should have come.”
Stella pulls back from our embrace and holds my eyes.
“Someone had to look after Calli,” she quips.
“Hey,” Calli snaps out, smacking her around the head. “I was fine.”
“You were freaking out.”
“Our friend had been abducted. I was allowed to freak out.”
“We need to up your training,” Stella teases.
“All right, enough bickering,” Piper says, her hard expression at odds with the lightness she forces into her tone. “What do you need, Em?”
“A bath,” I say, stretching out my aching back. “And then sleep. And food.”
“We’ve got you covered,” Calli says, not giving Piper a chance to move and rushing toward the kitchen.
“Come on,” Stella says, lacing her arm through mine and pulling me toward the stairs.
“You okay, kiddo?” Dad’s voice pierces the air when we’re halfway up the stairs.
“I’ve got everything I could need,” I tell him with a smile, although my heart aches knowing that it’s not the truth. Someone is missing. And if I’m being honest with myself, he’s the only one I want beside me right now as I try to put myself back together.