Page 140 of Lucky 14

Riley snorts.

Sawyer slowly turns his gaze on her. A slow smile creeps across his face before he moves, and in a split second, the gun is out and pointed at Riley. There’s an explosion, and I gasp as everyone darts to their feet, Manson darting in front of Riley.

Riley just raises an eyebrow and glances at the wall behind her, where there’s a bullet hole.

“Congrats. Three inches above my head when you’re like, ten feet away?”

Then she pulls a gun from her waistband, and before I realize it, she’s fired a round at the floor. Only, it’s not at the floor, it was at Sawyer’s feet.

He glances down, a hole an inch from his right foot.

“Oh wow,” he says in a bored tone. “You trust yourself so much, don’t you?”

“I would have gone for your nuts, but Rachel would kill me.”

“Sawyer,” Ryder barks, and Sawyer immediately turns. “She started it!”

Ryder turns to Riley. “Kindly don’t shoot my boyfriend, and I won’t have to shoot you.”

Manson’s hand drops to his weapon. “Wanna say that again, champ?”

Wyatt rolls his eyes. “None of you are useful to me dead. Save the killing until after Weston is dead.”

“Depending on who comes back alive.” Miles stares at the map. “There are what, thirty armed men? I don’t have a good feeling about this. They have the entire building to hunker down in. Food. Resources.”

“Oh yeah.” Riley checks her nails. “Forgot to say the villa’s on fire.”

Everyone turns to stare at her. She ignores them.

“It wasn’t when we left,” Manson growls.

Riley just shrugs.

“Your bathroom break?” Rachel gasps.

“Look.” Riley throws her hands up. “Do you really want Weston to have the high ground? Weapons, hiding places, and food? Killing him would be like trying to shoot a groundhog that keeps popping up in different places.”

There’s another long silence.

Miles blows out a breath. “Well, it being on fire is the best-case scenario. It would give us a leg-up.”

“And bring everyone here,” Wyatt says.

They continue talking, and I watch as Sawyer, Ryder, and Miles work together like a team, handing each other things before they ask. Manson and Riley share silent words with their gazes. Cali and Rachel hang with the ease of family. They’re like a mixture of lethal danger and family familiarity, and I find myself feeling…left out.

Which is the weirdest feeling, and I stuff it back down.

Left out? I should be trying to sneak out and get on the plane.

But I can’t stop watching the group, realizing that against all odds, I want what they have. I want the safety that comes with violence and the family that comes with love. I want physical and emotional safety that can only come from people who are willing to kill for you and who know you well enough to finish your sentences.

As I stare at the violent people in the room, I realize I’ll never be able to go back home and be normal. That plane could come and take me back, and nothing will ever be the same.

I will never be the same.

My chest swells with some sort of discomfort at that thought, but it’s followed quickly by satisfaction.

Good. I don’t want to be the same. That Holli was alone and invisible. Unable to protect herself. I’m not like that now. I’ll kill without a second thought.