Chapter 13 #2
“He’s not in here,” Aiden says, turning from the car. “His tracker shows him right here but I don’t see his watch in the car. I don’t think he would have taken it off.”
“I’ve told him enough times never to do that. He wouldn’t have gone anywhere voluntarily.”
I jog for the tree line, the words of the men fading to a muffle in my head. In place of the birds, the twigs snapping below my feet, all I seem to hear is a throbbing pressure in my ears.
Wah, wah wah.
My feet catch on a large stick, and a hand catches the back of my shirt mid-fall, keeping me from going headfirst into the pine needles. My head whips to the side to see Jesse holding onto me.
I’ve never seen his eyes this color, a perfect storm. If fear could somehow look violent, it would match the way Jesse’s seafoam eyes vividly scream both.
“Noah,” I call, walking on my own again, and I hear how desperate his name sounds on my lips. “Noah, please, let us know if you’re out here.”
I strain to see anything, hear anything, but all I see are a thousand trees and shadows behind each one.
“Noah!” Jesse shouts, his deep voice rumbling through me as I lose the ability to stay calm. He has to be in here, I can feel that he is. Jesse directs the other group to head further down, to start a canvas.
What would I do if…?
Jesses almost topples the both of us when I stop suddenly, and he careens straight into my back. “Look,” my voice breaks. Between the trees, a divot in the ground cover slices a path through the trunks, like something had been dragged right through this space.
“Oh, fuck,” Jesse spits, as Liam screams for the others. I can’t wait for them. I rush forward, following the disturbed path. Broken twigs, dragged dirt, and then? A leaf, tiny and orange, splashed with blood.
“Noah!” I scream. “We’re coming, please hold on. Please,” I beg, I sob. And then I see it, the back of his black skeleton hoodie standing out against the spruce needles and fallen leaves.
Liam shouts, but none of the noises around me register as I fall to my knees behind Noah’s body, my hands fretting as I try to take in every detail of the scene at once. I need to roll him, and I try to do so gently, terrified to see his face. To see his eyes staring vacantly up at me.
But thank fucking god, they’re not. They’re closed, at least, but swollen shut, his face a map of deep bruising and blood. His nose looks broken, lip busted, brow split.
“Noah,” My voice breaks, “What happened to you?” I cry as I take him in, scared to touch him, to hurt him. If his face looks like this, what would the rest of him look like?
“Aiden, get the fuck over here!” Liam screams, jumping to his feet. At first, I’m confused why everyone’s following his lead, but then Jesse does the same with his gun drawn.
Oh, of course. This could be a trap. A lure, and here we are taking the bait. The realization does nothing, though. They could try to drag me away from Noah's side, and I would never let go.
I gently take his hand, noting the broken nail, the swollen finger that looks like it might be fractured, and when I turn it to study his wrists, there’s a glimmer balled inside.
Jesse notices it also, and unclenches Noah’s fist, where a delicate gold necklace sits in his palm. The tiny crystal sun that hangs from it is now marred by dirt.
Jesse’s eyes meet mine. “Your gift.”
Pain. My chest aches as he lies beneath my hands, broken and bleeding. “Noah, please. Please wake up.” I slide my hand under his hoodie and shirt, and for a moment the world stops until I find the soft beat of his heart.
I nod at Jesse when I find it and there’s several sounds of relief as his family and friends breathe just a slight bit easier knowing that we haven’t recovered his corpse.
Men start showing up next to us, crouching down to lift him.
It’s slow work back toward the car trying not to jostle his injured body, but pained groans come from Noah, regardless of how careful they try to be.
The questions begin to pile up as we wind our way back to the car. How did they find him? I spin, searching the trees for the sight of any stranger, anyone who might be waiting for us.
Jesse looks back and shouts my name, and I trip again trying to catch back up because my eyes are locked only on Noah as he’s tugged into the backseat by Jesse and Aiden,
“Miss?” a man says, indicating the second car. “We need to get back to the house immediately.”
I don’t know his name, but I simply nod and climb in. Somehow, the short drive is enough for me to shift from fear to panic to rage. Then just as fast as it flares inside me, it fades into numbness that I’m not sure what to do with.
It’s my…Noah. My person. I have no title for him, because what he is to me is undefinable. He’s somehow become as constant as the moon in my life, just ever-present. The man who forces the real me to stand front and center, who refuses to let me hide.
I need him. I need him to be okay.
When we reach the house, they’re already carrying him through the front door.
I hear Emily’s shouting as I rush up the stairs behind them.
Bo’s frantically throwing the dining room chairs to the side to make space for them to place Noah’s body on the dining room table.
Emily fights her way toward the front, trying to get to her son but Liam pulls her back, tucked against his chest. “Call the doctor and tell him it's an emergency. He’s alive. He’s going to be okay. ”
She nods, rushing back to the kitchen and I suddenly feel out of place.
Useless. I want to be at his side, but what right do I have over his parents?
His family? Over the men of Mercy? I have no claim on him.
I’m just…well I’m just the woman he decided to kidnap, and that he seems to have grown fond of.
I step back, my fingertips spreading behind me on the wall as I watch them cut his shirt free, revealing more injuries on his chest.
“He must have been jumped,” someone mutters.
“Why would he not have had his weapons? He’s always armed.”
“They could have taken them.”
“Okay, but how? This is the second safe house, nobody but the upper ring knows he’s here.”
Eyes cross over the table. They all trust each other. They’ve all known each other for ages, but someone did it. Someone must have told.
Whoever sold us out, who stole the videos, they could be here. He could be outside, or one of the men on their way for dinner. Hell, he could be one of the men in the house right now.
I take another step back, Bo grabbing my hand as the room sort of falls silent. The realization hitting us all that we still have a rat in bed with us, even with us only sharing our location with the highest ranking ring of members in Mercy.
But then a groan from the table breaks me from that thought as Noah tries to sit up and roll to his side.
“Where—” He winces, eyes slamming shut as pain radiates through him. “Where is she?” he grits out, voice low.
I look around for Emily, but she’s gone, trying to reach the doctor. When I look back, his face is afraid. Frantic. Those amber eyes, bloodshot, it doesn’t matter. He’s alive, and he’s here.
“I said, where is she?” His gravelly voice is all I hear as Jesse takes my wrist and tugs me forward.