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“He’s been systematically going through the country,” she observes, no trace of emotion in her voice. The light that was in her eyes moments ago already dimmed. I hate myself a little more for not giving her this day off.
I nod in agreement. “I think he’s been searching for you.”
“He has,” Charles declares. I startle for a moment, having forgotten he was even in the room.
Luca turns dark, steely eyes on him and for a moment I worry we are about to have another fight on our hands. But he stops at just the glare. “Explain.”
“My father is nothing if not thorough. But there is nothing, and I mean nothing else to explain that pattern of behavior besides his obsession getting away from him.” He points to the still rolling tide of red dots. “He’s always wanted to find her and he’s using that business as a means to do it.”
The dots stop in Northern California, in Cherry Hills, where we just were. “He’s getting closer to her.”
Luca shakes his head. “I already knew they were closing in,” he admits. “There were whispers about her for the first time in a long time last year but they hadn’t reached these parts yet.”
“Technically, still haven’t,” I add. Is it helpful? Based on the baleful look Luca throws my way, probably not. “There’s more though,” I continue as I tense. This is the worst part. Scar never worries about herself as much as she worries about others. This will both devastate and piss her right the fuck off. I can’t help but study her as I hesitate in delivering the blow I know will diminish the rest of the light in her eyes.
“Get on with it, Noah,” she snaps. I sigh, but don’t take it personally.
“We have eyes on all our people, especially the east coast ones.” She nods in agreement, her body tensing as she knows what's coming. I don’t beat around the bush. Pulling up another graphic I made and show her what I found. “The blue dots are Josie, the orange ones are employees of CGK corp.” They overlap far too much for anyone’s comfort or to be a mere coincidence.
“They have eyes on Josie,” Scar seethes, her entire face transforming into a mask of rage and violence.
“She’s been able to make a few trips without being followed from what I can tell. Including both her recent trips out here. We can at least determine it’s not someone in her inner circle.”
It doesn’t make her feel better. She looks about half a step away from flipping a table. I can’t even blame her. When I realized it was happening, I almost lost my shit.
Luca pulls her into his chest and wraps her tightly in his arms. “She has guards on her,” he reminds her. “We’ll send more. I promise Josie will be okay.”
* * *
Scar starts thrashingat my side, immediately jarring me awake. “Shh, baby girl,” I console, sitting up and pulling her into my arms. She whimpers in her sleep, her eyelashes fluttering as her body tenses. I rub her arms and gently shake her. “Wake up, baby girl. It’s just a nightmare. I’ve got you. Come back to me,” I murmur a litany of soft reassurances, knowing better than to try a more direct approach. It only makes her nightmares worse to forcibly try and wake her.
“No, no, no, no. Please,” she begs and curls into me. I hold her close to me and continue to murmur sweet nothings even as a tear escapes her tightly closed eyes and slides down her cheek.
My chest aches with a hollow and useless feeling. Nothing makes me feel worse than this. Not being able to help her. Knowing I can’t take away her pain and struggles and carry them myself.
An ear-piercing scream breaks free from her lips, the broken sound a knife right to my chest. I hold her tighter as an even more devastated scream tears from her throat. More tears stream down her face and my own eyes prick with moisture. Rocking her back and forth in my arms, I continue to try and gently pry her out of the hands of her demons from the past. Minutes pass, each one feeling like an eternity as she refuses to wake up. She whimpers again as she begs to be saved and I wish I could. Wish I could do something more than just try and comfort her, even as I begin to shake her harder in an attempt to wake her up. I’ve never seen one of her nightmares last this long before. She usually isn’t this hard to wake up from them. They’re becoming more frequent again too. It all worries me. Facing her demons seems to be dredging up all the suffering they caused.
Just as another pain-filled scream fills the air, the door is thrown open and Kade’s large frame fills the doorway. He wastes no time in stripping out of his bloodstained clothes and climbing into bed with us. Rather than pulling her out of my arms and into his, he pulls the both of us towards him so she’s sandwiched in between us.
Her scream fades and her body gives a little shudder as she melts in between us.
“How long?” he demands, his voice strained and gruff as he runs his hand over her hair.
“At least ten minutes,” I admit, tears working their way free to spill down my cheeks as I watch her tense all over again. I know the whimpering and begging is about to start. Lines of tension mar Kade’s face as he watches her.
He gently kisses her forehead before carefully wiping her tears from her cheeks. “She’s strong as hell for surviving what she did,” he says before reaching out and wiping off my tears. “We have to be strong too.” I nod, but it sounds like a reminder to not just me but himself as well. I take a deep, shuddering breath and blink away the last of the moisture in my eyes. Our girl needs us.
Kade closes his eyes tightly and kisses her head again and a weight seems to lift off of his shoulders. Somehow, I just know that he’s decided to let his past with Charles go in order to be there for her. He starts softly humming a familiar tune to her. As her whimpers turn into begs once more, his humming shifts into lyrics. I recognize the words and join him as we both softly sing to Scar. He rubs her arms and pets her hair, as I squeeze her hips and trace designs on her thigh. Both of us keeping her tightly pressed between us.
Her pleas die off, but no scream comes this time. More tears spill free and she begins to shake herself free of the nightmare. Her eyes flutter open and she looks up to Kade. I’d sigh in relief except the tendrils of her suffering lines every inch of her face.
“It hurts so bad,” she sobs, the onslaught of emotion wracking her whole body and I know she isn’t fully with us. Not quite yet. We squeeze her tighter between us, my hand now resting over Kade’s back as we practically wrap ourselves around her. Our singing morphing back into murmuring sweet nothings. Anything and everything we can think of to try and soothe her.
I’m not even aware of half the words coming out of my mouth.
“I can still smell it,” she whispers, followed by a gag. “The vodka, the blood, the smoke.” I’ve seen Scar in a lot of different ways, after nightmares, enraged, lost, on the verge of breaking, feeling shattered, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen her so fragile. She looks like a little girl. Like she’s morphed back into who she was on that night.
“No, no, no, no.” She isn’t awake yet. Her eyes are wild as they dart around the room, but never landing on Kade or me.
