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I don’t know how I feel about them doing anything illegal to help me. It has to be a risk for them. From what little I’ve learned over the years we’ve been apart, they are all hugely successful in their chosen fields. Sawyer is an attorney, hence the attention to detail. Lake runs some sort of mercenary group that does rescue missions. Grant is a restaurateur. I’m honestly not sure what Nolan does. Clears camera footage, apparently.
I keep my head down as Sawyer navigates the city traffic with ease. I’d love to look out the window and watch the city go past, but I’m too nervous. I met Tripp while we were both in college at Columbia. He still has so many contacts in the city.
With every passing minute, I become more comfortable. Being with them brings a sense of safety and familiarity that I didn’t know to cherish before. My eyes start to droop. I start to drift off to sleep when I hear Sawyer ask me a question.
“Do you have anything with you?” His eyes meet mine in the rearview mirror. “I know you don’t have a suitcase or purse, but do you have a phone or anything?”
“No, I left everything in my purse in the car I wrecked except for my bus ticket, phone, and cash. I don’t even have my driver’s license.”
“You were in a car accident?” Nolan asks, looking at me critically again.
“Not exactly.” I run my finger over a pulled thread in my leggings nervously. “I pushed the car over a cliff a few miles outside of the town and grabbed the first bus in.”
They share a look at that revelation.
“Let’s just save it for when everyone’s together?”
“Fair enough,” Sawyer responds. “I’m going to have my private physician come check you out at my apartment. Is that okay?”
I focus on my sore ribs and nod. “Yeah, that’s fine.”
He pulls up to a sleek glass skyscraper. The valet opens my door first. Nolan moves close to me but without touching, which I appreciate. They walk me through the lobby, and I skid to a stop when Lake strides around the corner. Where Nolan and Sawyer look the same as ten years ago, he looks completely different.
His skin is still its natural deep bronze, and his black hair is short, but his muscles are twice as big. He has a scar from the corner of his left eye to his hairline. His jaw clenches as he gives me the same once over that I’m giving him. I stand there, frozen and unsure of what to do, when he walks up to me and gently wraps his arms around me.
I feel him give the top of my head a kiss as he breathes my name. It’s like he doesn’t believe I’m real and is afraid I’ll break. Soon he’ll find out that I’m already broken. I doubt any of them could destroy me any more than I already am.
The elevator dings, and I hesitate to cross the threshold. Metal boxes are not my thing anymore. Once again, my breathing becomes shallow and I see spots. The urge to flee the elevator as soon as I enter makes my fingers quiver. I'm so anxious I lunge forward to slam my hand into a lower floor's button just to get off.
“You’re having a panic attack,” Lake says firmly, stepping away from the wall to face me. “Tell me five things you see.”
I stand there for a second, shocked. My voice trembles. “Your shirt, Sawyer’s eyes in the mirror, Nolan’s watch, a fingerprint on the mirror, and the penthouse button.”
“Four things you hear.”
“Your voice, the elevator motor, Nolan breathing, my heartbeat.”
“Three things you feel.”
“The elevator moving, the blister on my foot, and my hoodie.”
“Two things you smell.”
“The elevator and Sawyer’s cologne.”
“One thing you taste.”
“Blood,” I answer as the door opens to their floor, “from biting my lip.”
“Good girl.” He smiles at me, flashing his dimples that I have never forgotten. He falls in step beside me. “When that happens, panicking, do that with yourself. It’ll help ground you and pull you through the hardest moments.”
Nolan stops at a circular table in the hall while Sawyer opens the first door on the left. “Okay, Livvy, that,” he points to where Sawyer is standing just inside a doorway, “is Sawyer’s apartment. That one next to it is mine. The one across from mine is Grant’s place. Lake lives behind door number four. You are welcome in any of them at any time.”
Sawyer holds open his door for me while Nolan and Lake disappear into their apartments to change. His shirt is tight across his back, his broad shoulders pull at the seams. He sets his keys down on an entry table and walks into an open living room area with a kitchen off to one side and floor-to-ceiling windows from end to end. The room is decorated nicely, which isn’t surprising considering Sawyer always had the best style of the guys. Then it hits me, maybe he’s not single.
The thought of any of them being with anyone else brings a pang of jealousy I wasn’t expecting. I can’t lay claim to them. I’m technically still married. If they’ve moved on, good for them.
“What are you thinking about, Liv?” he asks with his head tilted to the side.
