Page 326 of Power Play

Briggs took another drink. “You want the updates?”

“No.”

“Okay.”

He accepted the answer so easily that irritation scratched beneath my skin. “You’re not going to tell me anyway?”

“You said no.”

“Since when do you listen?”

“Since you tried to rearrange my face.”

“You needed the improvement.”

“Probably.”

He turned to leave, and the pressure beneath my ribs tightened until I couldn’t let him make it through the doorway.

“Wait.”

Briggs stopped without looking back.

I hated that he knew I would ask. I hated the part of me willing to trade another piece of dignity for proof that Charm survived the night.

“Is she okay?”

Briggs turned. “No.”

The answer entered cleanly, without reassurance or a promise that Bliss and Aura had everything under control. He told me the truth because I demanded it from everyone the night before, even when the truth was the thing cutting me open.

I looked into my coffee. “What happened?”

“After you left the chat?”

I nodded.

“Easton and Aura were at the ABC apartment when she got there. Cade, Bliss, and I showed up a few minutes later.”

“Was she driving?”

“Yeah.”

“Was she safe?”

“She made it there.”

“That isn’t what I asked.”

“She was hysterical, Ry. I don’t know how safe anybody is driving like that, but she made it.”

My jaw locked.

I had watched her walk into the hallway unable to keep her knees steady. Then I climbed into my truck and left town knowing she would try to drive somewhere. I could have called Aura or Easton and told them to watch for her.

I didn’t.

I cut the tie without checking whether the other person survived the bleeding. The thought should have made me feel guilty, but the guilt couldn’t reach deeply enough to overpower what she did.