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“H,” I say softly. He turns to look at me, his chest rising and falling rapidly. “Talk to me. What’s going on?”
“What’s going on is I’m going to kill the motherfucker!” he roars. “I’m going to figure out who the fuck is sending us this shit, and I’m going to fucking kill them!”
Fuck. “Okay, I get that. But how about we calm down first so we can try figuring it out without breaking anything else, okay?”
He shakes his head, the adrenaline rush speeding up his movements. “No. I can’t calm down. I don’t want to anymore! This son of a bitch has taken enough away from me. And now they have the nerve to threaten my sister?”
His fist flies into the wall, and it reminds me of the night things finally exploded between him and me. At least this time, he doesn’t hit a nail. He simply pulls his hand out of the drywall and turns back to me with flared nostrils.
“I’m going to become exactly the monster you thought I was,” he growls. “I’ll rip their fucking head off and dump their body in the same place I—”
Shit, Riley!In a move out of sheer panic, I lunge at him—shutting him up my pressing my lips to his. His hands grip my waist as I pull him against me by the back of his neck. Riley makes a noise of disgust while Mali huffs out a laugh, but all I can focus on is the way it feels to have his mouth on mine again.
He whimpers into the kiss, tightening his hold on me and bringing me impossibly closer. Since the day I came back, I never got that coming home feeling. But right now, standing here and kissing him like this, it’s so goddamn strong.
It’s like remembering how to breathe or settling into a warm bed after the worst day of your life.
It’s everything.
Knowing we have an audience, I break the kiss and he rests his forehead against my own as he catches his breath. I stare up at him but his eyes are still closed.
“Better?”
He nods, finally releasing me and stepping back as he starts to calm down. I look over to find Mali and Devin staring at me, both completely shocked. Riley isn’t in the room anymore, probably back downstairs where she belongs. And Cam? Even he doesn’t have a complaint.
“Well…thanks for doingthatso I didn’t have to,” he tells me.
I chuckle, letting my eyes fall closed as I shake my head. But when I open them, it’s time to get serious. I walk over to Devin and put my hands on her shoulders.
“I know you hate me, and that’s fine. I understand that. Your feelings are valid.” I tell her. “But you have to trust me when I say that you need to get out of here. Go back to college and take some summer courses. Travel the world. Do whatever you want, but you need to get the hell away from Calder Bay, at least until we figure out who is behind all of this.”
She shakes her head. “I can’t. I don’t want to.”
“I know, but you have to.” I glance over at Hayes, seeing him stare out the window. “I will not be responsible for taking away another person he cares about, and I’ll never forgive myself if something happens to you. As soon as it’s safe, we’ll tell you, but you have to go. It’s the only way you’re going to be safe.”
Somehow, I manage to get through to her, and she sighs. I pull her in and to my surprise, she actually hugs me back. When I let go, she goes over to Hayes and hugs him goodbye. But before she leaves, her eyes meet mine.
“Keep him safe,” she says. “Even from you.”
I nod. “I’ll do everything I can.”
She goes down the stairs and I walk over to the window, standing beside Hayes. We both watch as she rounds the corner and gets in her car. She waves to us and smiles sadly just before she drives away.
Once she’s gone, I sigh in relief. It’s hard enough worrying about all of us, but Devin is like the little sister I never had. We weren’t always super close, but when Hayes and I broke up and we were both worried about him, she was a godsend. Which is why she needs to be far away from the dangers that we’re dealing with here.
I sit on the floor and curl into a ball, resting my head on my knees. “We really need to figure this shit out.”
“You’re telling me,” Cam says.
Looking back at Hayes, he’s already got his eyes on me while he plays with his bottom lip. “Andyouneed to be more careful about what you say.”
His brows furrow, showing us he has no idea what he did. Thanfully, Mali tells him so I don’t have to. Those words are still hard for me.
“You almost said what happened withyou know whoin front of Riley.”
His eyes widen in shock. “Seriously?” We all nod. “Fuck.”
“Don’t worry,” Mali chuckles. “Laiken did a pretty good job at shutting you up.”
