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And even then, that didn’t include the underground war. I remembered that from some Internet articles I’d read. The claim of territories. The control of distribution. Creation. Civil services to instill trust in buyers. Factions sought to take out others and become more powerful. It was a battle that never made the news if they could help it. The war normal people never saw.
I’d ignored it, like everyone else who didn’t live among it, and then suddenly I was in the middle of everything I’d willingly blinded myself from.
It wasn’t until I was several blocks away that I slowed. My feet ached from running barefoot on the pavement, uneven bricks and the occasional gravel. The rain pelted against me, and rivulets of water ran from my hair down my forehead, dripping into my eyes. I wrapped my arms around my body, pushing the shirt against my skin, trying to keep in whatever warmth my body could produce.
I had to find a street sign to get my bearings and start heading south. If I could make it to the river...
But I was lost. The dim street lights and the houses that all seemed to look the same confused me. My panicked state wasn’t helping, but I couldn’t slow down. I needed help. It was so late and there wasn’t anyone driving by.
I was about to try heading east again but after another house, I saw a familiar-looking lake. I ran for it and by the time I got to the corner of the park, I could see the lights of a single high rise apartment building. The Sergeant Jasper.
My heart lifted. And at the same time, I walked slowly toward it. Nerves caught up with me. The boys would be angry with me. I’d have to hide forever. Marc might still be mad I shot him in the leg with the nail gun. Maybe they wouldn’t even believe me. After what I’d done, I wasn’t sure I could explain.
But I had nowhere else to go, especially if Wil was in danger already.
I continued to wipe at my face, taking the long way around the lake. The area was barren now, but a few lights reflected on the surface in shimmers and it rippled with the rain. It broke up that better world I had imagined earlier, becoming a nightmare of strange shadows and colors.
I entered the building from the back door. The shirt stuck to my skin, and dripped to the tile floor. It didn’t at all mask my nakedness underneath. The black boxers were jacked up high on my hips and stuck in places I didn’t want to think about. I must have looked like a royal mess. I wondered if security would even let me upstairs.
To my surprise and relief, the security guard wasn’t at the podium. Either temporarily in the bathroom or checking out another problem elsewhere. Either way, I dashed to the elevator, hopping inside, and pressed at the button for the seventh floor.
I stood outside of apartment 737, shaking. In my head, I was trying to come up with excuses. I ran through scenarios. I was trying to come up with lies and my frantic brain wasn’t able to piece together a good enough story. I thought if they wouldn’t let me in, if they sent me away, I’d at least beg for clothes or a ride back to the hotel. I’d ask for my things back. I’d go back to the hotel. I’d find Wil. If I had to, I’d make him go with me to another hotel or something. Whatever I had to do.
I stared down the door, willing it to tell me the mood of anyone inside. It wasn’t answering, so I knocked. My rattling bones shook, leaving me unable to knock too strongly. I wasn’t sure anyone would hear. I wrapped my arms around my body as if to hold myself together against my shivering.
I was about to knock again when the door opened. Brandon materialized. He wore a blue T-shirt and black boxer shorts. Part of the T-shirt got hung up on his side, revealing part of the golden tanned abs near the waistband. His eyes were slits, as if I’d woken him. His hair was mussed, the short, sun-kissed strands pressed against his head.
I thought Brandon would be the last one who would want to see me. I supposed that’s why I went to Marc’s apartment first, to avoid him. If I had any warmth in me, I was sure my cheeks would have heated up, embarrassed about running away and forced to return.
But Brandon took one look at me, and his eyes adjusted from sleepy to recognition. “Kayli?” he whispered, his voice choked with surprise.
My heart thundered. This was it. He’d slam the door. He’d curse me out for daring to come back.
I was about to say never mind and leave but he jumped out.
His arms threaded around me, taking me in. Without questions of where have you been, or why did you leave. Instead, his arms strengthened as he pulled me in, drawing me to his body. He locked me into him, as if not daring to let go or I’d disappear again. His head bowed until his cheek pressed against my wet hair.
If I had never known what it was like to be truly missed, this would have told me.
That did it. I broke. I buried my face into his shoulder and clung to him like I was going to die without him, not caring that I was soaking wet. My fingers gripped at the material of his T-shirt, bunching it into my fists. I tried to say something, but my voice came out in a choking sob and I cut it off quickly.
He never released me. He picked me up by the waist until he could cart me inside, and then he kicked the door shut. “Are you okay?” he asked. He buried his face into my hair. “Did you walk here? Are you hurt?”
I wanted to answer, but a shiver took over.
“Who is it?” Raven mumbled. I caught sight of him over Brandon’s shoulder. He wore only a pair of gray sweatpants. The tattoos covering his chest and stomach. It attracted my attention for a moment, distracting me from all the lies and questions in my brain. Even as I stared, I couldn’t really make out the pictures. My eyes were too blurry and burned with tears and exhaustion. But it didn’t matter; it was Raven. Raven. My heart dared to be happy that he was there. It was sinking into my brain that I was back and the guys may not kick me back out into the street after all.
“It’s Kayli,” Brandon said. He carried me over to the sofa, where there was a blanket and a pillow splayed out like he’d been sleeping there. He picked the blanket up, wrapping it around my shoulders. “Kayli,” he said to me, tucking the blanket tighter around my body as he kept me near. “Where were you?”
“I...” I said.
Raven started talking, and at first I tried to jerk my head around because I thought he was talking to me.
“We found her,” Raven said. When I turned, I realized he was talking into a cell phone. “No, she’s here. She’s like half naked and soaked. She walked here. No, I don’t think she needs a doctor.” He pulled the phone away from his ear. “Do you need a doctor?”
I shook my head.
“She doesn’t need a doctor,” Raven said. “Just get over here.” He hung up.
Brandon captured my chin, drawing my attention back to the depths of those cerulean eyes. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” I said, my teeth starting to chatter. “I’m just cold.”
“No shit,” Raven said. “You were walking in the rain naked.”
“Get her some clothes,” Brandon said.
Raven left for his room and returned a moment later with a T-shirt. He went into Marc’s room and returned from there with a pair of pajama bottoms. “Marc’s on his way.”
“Where are they?” I asked.
“Out looking for you,” Brandon said. “We took shifts.”
My head jerked back in surprise. “Looking for me?”
“Axel figured you’d come back,” Brandon said. “But when a night passed and you never showed up, Marc had us looking for you. He had Axel watching Wil and the hotel in case you showed up there. Raven and I had been at the malls all day. Then he started checking out ... all over, I guess.”
“Let her put some clothes on,” Raven said. He marched forward and collected my elbow in a firm grasp. “Take that blanket from her.”
Brandon removed the blanket from me. He started folding it up carefully since it was wet.
Raven tucked an arm around my waist and nearly carried me to the bathroom door. He planted the new clothes on the counter and pushed me inside the bathroom. “Hurry,” he
barked at me.
I didn’t know what I was in a hurry for, but I guessed that he meant the sooner I changed, the sooner I could come back out and warm up again. I thought about a hot shower, but didn’t want to wait for warm water. I just wanted to get under a blanket and fall into bed.
My body trembled as I removed all my clothes this time. It was slow agony to even move now. My muscles were solid with chill. Even with the wet clothes removed, I was shaking too hard. I had to press a hand against the counter to steady myself. I gasped, trying to draw up the strength to shift my bones. They hurt at every small movement I made.
“Where were you?” Raven asked through the door.
There was a thump on the other side. “Leave her alone,” Brandon said. “Wait until she gets dressed.”
“She can talk and put clothes on at the same time. I’ve seen girls do it.”
My mind flew into all of the things to tell them without knowing where to start. After a moment, trying to put my legs into the pants without falling over from a shiver, I remembered something they’d said. I flung myself at the door, pressing to it to steady myself, but also because I needed him to hear me. “Raven!” I called to him. “Call ... someone. Whoever is closest. Axel was at the hotel?”
“Yeah,” he said.
“Call Axel. Have him stay there. Get Marc to go there, too.”
