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“You’re not going to die. You and I are going to live to be one hundred and then we’re going to die in each other’s arms.”
Because that’s the only way that’s acceptable. I can’t leave her unprotected, and I can’t live without her. That’s why I’m standing here right now, that’s why even when she begged me to go I couldn’t.
“You don’t know that.” She sighs, tearing her eyes from mine only for long enough to look at the men currently poking around under her seat. “I love you, Everett. I loved you when we were just kids and had no concept of what those three words meant. I loved you when you kissed me on my eighteenth birthday and then disappeared into the night. And I loved you even when my heart could barely beat it was so broken.”
Her words make my heart stop as I process them. I’ve only ever heard those words from her lips once, and it was when I took her virginity, one final selfish act before I left without a trace. All these years I thought that would be the only time she would say it, that even when I inevitably came back and tried to explain why our time apart was necessary, that she would always resent me for leaving her. “I love you too, dove,” I whisper, barely able to breathe through the emotions crashing through my body like a wrecking ball.
Wynter gives me a broken smile as the two men start talking around us. They need to be perfectly still and be able to communicate flawlessly for this to work, and us finally sorting our shit out isn’t going to help that. I look up at Storm who is pacing backward and forward a few feet away. There have been few times in my life that I’ve seen the man look so worried, but most of them have been concern for his family. There’s a reason he’s here and not with the rest of them in the bunker at the estate. He’s the true leader of this family, and there’s nothing he won’t do for them, including be blown up by the bomb they’re sitting above.
“You guys should go,” Wynter whispers so quietly I barely hear her.
“No,” I growl under my breath. Soon enough she’s going to understand that I’m not going anywhere. She’s stuck with me and there’s nothing she could ever do to change that.
“We’re just getting ready to diffuse now,” one of the guys tells us and Wynter squeezes her eyes shut as quiet sobs claw their way out of her throat. I tear my eyes away from her only long enough to see Storm has stopped pacing and is staring at us with barely contained horror.
There are long moments of silence where the only sound is the men removing cords, or at least that’s what I assume they’re doing. I’ve dabbled with bombs before, but only in a controlled environment when creating the weapons of tomorrow, not under a high-pressure situation where we could all very well die in the next thirty seconds.
Wynter and I stare at one another and I swear neither of us breathes, too scared to make a move just in case it’s what sets this thing off. I hold my breath for so long I’m not sure my lungs will hold air again, and then the most wonderful words I’ve ever heard come out of the technician’s mouth.
“All clear, get her out of here.”
29
Wynter
Ihear the words, but I can’t move. The thoughts raging through my mind feel like they’re taking over. What if these guys work for Russo? They seemed to know so much about the device, maybe they were the ones that planted it in the first place.
“Dove,” Everett says quietly as his hands cup my cheeks.
“I can’t.” I shake my head, petrified to move a muscle despite them saying it’s safe.
“Yes you can, little dove.” The man moves from under my seat and Everett is there in a second, his thumbs moving carefully across my cheeks wiping the tears away as they fall. “Do you trust me?”
I nod quickly, because despite everything, despite all the pain he caused when he broke my heart, I trust him more than anyone else in the world.
“Okay, here’s what we’re going to do. I’m going to lift you out of that seat real slow and then as soon as you’re clear, we’re going to get out of here and go home. How does that sound?”
No one would ever expect Everett to be so gentle. Most would expect him to be rough and rowdy considering the size of him, and the muscles that protrude even through his suit. But the way he looks at me, takes care of me, it’s like I’m the most precious piece of china in the whole world, and he’s holding me in his hands, promising not to let me break.
“Okay.” The word leaves my mouth before I have time to think it through, but for some reason when he looks at me like this, I lose all ability to deny him anything. He could take me anywhere, do anything, and I would let him.
Everett smiles softly as he leans in and presses a kiss to my forehead. His lips hover against my skin for a few moments as he breathes me in, reminding himself I’m still here and that I’m going to be okay. And then a moment later he’s carefully sliding one arm under my knees, and the other behind my back.
“Ready?”
“Yes.”
I press my head into his shoulder and before I have a chance to rethink my answer he’s swung me out of my seat and turned his body so his is between me and the car. My mouth drops open and I hold on to him so tight my arms ache, because he just put himself between me and a bomb that could blow at any minute. A second later he’s running across the carpark so quickly I wonder how it’s possible considering his size and my extra body weight.
“Has this car been checked?” Everett barks at someone.
“Yes, I checked it myself,” Storm says as he steps toward us. I don’t open my eyes but I can feel him standing close as the silence drags out for what feels like forever. “Are you okay, Wynter?”
“Of course she’s not okay,” Everett snaps. “She was just sitting on a bomb, unable to move for two fucking hours. You find me someone that would be okay after that.”
“I’m okay,” I whisper, but I keep my eyes pressed closed and my hold on him tight. I’m alive and that’s all that matters. Their attempts to take us out have failed today, but if we’re already at bombs, I’ll hate to see what it will be when they inevitably escalate.
“Let’s get you home, little dove.” Everett holds me so tight the pressure borders pain, but I need it. I need the pain to remind me I’m alive, and that’s exactly what I’m going to need when we get home.
