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“I don’t need a babysitter,” she replies.
“I don’t give a fuck what you want, Grim. We don’t know what we’re walking into and you are not fucking going. He’ll be here in two minutes.”
Beast and Grim exchange looks and it’s at that point that I suddenly realise this might be more than my mum having a relapse and an accidental overdose. Beast knows more than he’s letting on right now. She nods, conceding to him in the moment. As I pass her by, she squeezes my arm in solidarity. She doesn’t say a word. She doesn’t have to. There are no words of comfort in a situation like this.
“Lena, are you still there?” I ask, rushing up the stairs and out into the cold morning air. The gravel of the driveway crunches underfoot.
“Yes.”
“What’s Gray doing?”
“He’s giving mum mouth to mouth… Oh, God… Please… Please… Please...!” Lena screams and I feel her pain cut right through my chest and bury itself in my heart.
“Lena, it’s Xeno. I want you to go into your bedroom and lock the door,” he says as we climb into Beast’s seven-seater Mercedes MPV. “You’re not to come out until we get there.”
“Why?” she questions, her voice cracking.
Swallowing the rising nausea in my throat, I reiterate what he’s said. “Lena, just do it, okay? Go into your bedroom and lock the door. We won’t be long.”
“Please don’t let her die. Please…” she mumbles through the thickening sound of her pain.
“Lena. Are you in your bedroom yet?”
“Yes,” she replies.
“Good. Now lock the door and wait for us.”
“What? Why? What’s going on, Pen?” she asks, her voice trembling with fear as well as sorrow. I can hear her teeth chatter, and I fist my fingers, my nails digging into the palm of my hand.
“We’ll be there soon. Just keep talking, Lena. Let me know you’re okay,” I reply.
Dax grasps my hand, whilst Zayn and York take the seats opposite us and Xeno sits up front with Beast. We don’t talk to each other for the whole journey, all six of us just listen to Lena as her heart breaks and mine goes numb.
It takes Beast six minutes to get to my mum’s flat.
When I enter the flat, I head straight for Lena’s bedroom, passing by the living room where Gray is still giving my mum mouth to mouth resuscitation. Flicking off the call and tucking my mobile into my back pocket, I knock on her door.
“Lena, it’s me. I’m here now. Open up,” I say gently.
“Pen!” she cries, yanking the door open and throwing herself into my arms, knocking us both backwards. She sobs into my hair, her legs giving way beneath her as we both collapse to the floor. I clutch her to me, stroking her hair and rocking her back and forth. Zayn and York stride towards me, and one look from Zayn tells me all I need to know.
“I’m sorry,” he mouths, sorrow filling his eyes as he passes us by, a gun clutched in his hands as he checks the bathroom and my mum’s bedroom.
York grits his jaw, love and sadness in his eyes as he crouches beside us both. “She’s gone,” he says gently, resting his hand on Lena’s back.
“No!” she cries, yanking herself out of my arms and rushing down the hallway to the living room. Dax steps out of the doorway and clutches her by the shoulders.
“Sweetheart, I’m sorry,” he says gently.
Lena screams, pounding her fists against his chest, the sound tearing through me. I stagger to my feet, barely able to keep myself upright as York wraps his arm around my waist and Dax hugs a sobbing Lena to his chest.
“Take Lena into the kitchen. Keep her there,” Xeno says to Dax who nods, maneuvering her into the room. He shuts the kitchen door, closing us out.
“The flat’s clear,” Zayn says, stepping out of my mum’s bedroom as he looks at York, a silent conversation passing between them.
“What?” I say, forcing myself to remain upright. “What’s going on?”
“Pen, you don’t need to see this,” Xeno says, blocking my path as I try to step into the living room.
