“I’m not going anywhere,” I assured him, hanging in the doorway as he glared at me from the corridor. “I’ll see you tomorrow. I need to sleep.”
Rolling his eyes, he gave in and spun around, heading off. “Fine.”
But then guilt nipped at me. “Wait.”
He stopped and turned, his white T-shirt wrinkled and his black pants stark against his pale, bare feet.
I felt a smile pull at the corners of my mouth. “So, what’s his name?”
A gleam hit his eyes. “Ivarsen.”
Ivarsen. My heart warmed a little. We had another boy running around. Kai’s son, Madden.
Needles pricked my throat. I’d missed Winter giving birth.
“Next gen, huh?”
“Get your ass moving and catch up,” he teased.
Yeah. I didn’t see kids on my horizon any time soon, but…someday.
He started to leave, but I stopped him.
“Where are we?” I asked.
He met my eyes again. “North of the border,” he said. “We’re cruising the coast, and we’ll pass under Deadlow Island and arrive home in the morning.”
So, Canada, then. Where the hell had they gotten this train? And there was a tunnel underneath the seabed between Deadlow and Thunder Bay? No one ventured to the small island off the coast of our town, beyond Cold Point, because it was surrounded by an impassable reef.
It was deserted, or so I’d thought.
“Sorry it took us so long to get there,” he told me. “We had a find a way in undetected, and some of the track was in bad shape.”
It’s fine. I didn’t need them there any sooner, but I wouldn’t tell him that.
“Just make sure…” I paused a moment. “Make sure she doesn’t actually jump off the train, okay?”
She could be that stubborn, and I knew what I had said to her, but I was mad. I didn’t want her dead.
And I definitely didn’t want her to end up in Aydin’s hands again. He’d had enough influence over her in five short days.
Damon struggled to hold back his smirk before he turned and left, and I closed my door, the phone in my hand forgotten.
Trailing over to the bed, I ran my hand over the black suit laid out, shivers running down my spine at the long-lost feel of good clothes.
Then I spotted my mask sitting on the bed, as well. I reached over and picked it up, the familiar texture filling me with memories and a charge of excitement in my veins at all the moments I wanted to keep, despite the ones I wanted to leave behind.
For a second, I felt like the old me, and I gazed at the white mask with the red stripe down the left side, suddenly ready for a thousand more adventures.
I smiled. Whatever was I going to do with Emory Scott when we got back to Thunder Bay?
Emory
Present
I knocked on the door, pretty sure she was going to slam it in my face, but I needed some clothes, and I didn’t really know the other women enough to ask.
When there was no answer, I knocked again. “Alex,” I called.
Her name was posted on the door.
But still, no answer.
She could be asleep. I hadn’t located a clock, a phone, or a computer between hiding at a dark table in the empty dining car and now, so I had no idea what time it was, but it was still dark.
Twisting the handle, I entered her cabin, a shot of fear hitting me, and I didn’t know why.
She might not be alone.
What if she was with Will?
Deep down, I knew that was ridiculous, but I couldn’t help it.
Moonlight streamed through the windows, casting light onto the small space through the little curtains, and I looked around the empty room, closing the door behind me.
The coast was clear, so I didn’t waste time. Stepping over to her closet, I opened it and pulled out some jeans, a flannel, and some sneakers.
I needed underwear and a bra too, and I almost blew it off, but I pulled open a small drawer in the cabinet, spotting lacy things.
A shot of heat rushed under my skin.
Setting my hand inside, I felt the black corset bra, kind of angry I’d never experimented more with clothes. When I lived at home, I didn’t want my brother to see anything he wouldn’t approve of, but in the years since I’d been gone, it never occurred to me to take an interest.
Without thinking about it, I pulled out the corset and some matching panties and donned them both before quickly pulling on the black jeans and buttoning up the blue plaid shirt.
The train whistle sounded again, and I looked out the window, squinting into the night. I wish I had my damn glasses.
I slipped on the shoes, tying them up, and then found Alex’s brush and smoothed out the tangles in my hair. She had makeup and a little jewelry in there, always prepared for anything. I didn’t know her like family, but I knew her well enough.
Closing the closet, I left the room and headed out of the sleeper car and down the train. I trailed through a corridor of more private cabins and crossed into another car with chairs facing the windows, and refrigeration units holding wine and champagne.
Darkness and the slight rocking under me were all that greeted me as I went from one car to another.
Where was everyone? I needed to find a phone to check in with the world.
As soon as I entered the next car, though, I looked up and saw some of the guys.
I stopped. The sconces on the dark wood walls barely lit the room, and I scanned their faces, a little hidden in shadow, but did not see Will, Misha, Micah, or Rory among them.
Michael sat in a chair, his eyes locked with mine as he lifted a glass to his lips, while Kai stood at the windows with his arms folded, and Damon rested against the bar, holding a glass of something amber colored. I couldn’t see his eyes, but I knew he was staring at me.
Next to Will, I was most sorry about him. I’d helped him bury a body that I’d watched him murder, and he never told anyone about my involvement. When we got back to Thunder Bay, he might have his own vengeance in mind for me.
“I didn’t want to hurt him,” I said. “I didn’t want to hurt any of you. I just wanted to protect her.”
They didn’t move or speak, Michael taking another drink.
“I made a mistake,” I told them, feeling naked as they glared at me like I was prey. “I thought I was alone.”
My voice softened to a whisper, but no matter how much I hated this, and never in a million years dreamed I’d be groveling to them, it needed to be done. They deserved an apology. At the very least.
“I’m sorry,” I murmured. “I am very sorry.”
Kai turned and stepped toward me. “You think that erases anything?”
I shook my head. “No.”
“You think we would ever trust you not to do something like that again?”
“No.”
“You threw us to the wolves,” he growled, and I could see his white teeth shining in the dark room. “You think your words mean anything to us? Your apologies? Your explanation? Your excuses?”
I forced the lump down my throat, keeping my spine straight, but my mouth shut.
“You’re weak,” Michael said. “There’s no way we can trust you.”
“You had years to come forward,” Kai pointed out.
I nodded. Yes. Yes, I did.