Chapter 10
Noa
Valli signed the contract, and I am super excited for our first chase.
I have never met a girl who willingly dug a hole with me, no questions asked.
We have been warning Cave to take it easy on her; we can’t risk scaring away the one girl who doesn’t look at us like we are freaks.
I mean, seriously, who would look at Cave and think that a grown-ass man who wears a scarecrow outfit every day and sleeps in a cornfield is normal?
But normal is overrated anyway. Who wants to be a sheep and copy what everyone else is doing?
I’m surprised Cave has sat here this long. Normally he will come into Ares’s bar, grab his food, and go. Yet today we all sit and wait, while I ask Ares every ten minutes if he has seen Valli arrive yet, and he is now simply shaking his head every time I look his way.
“She is probably running late,” I say to both of them.
“It’s been forty minutes,” Cipher says, and he is right. Five minutes is late; forty is something more.
I lean against the bar, angling myself toward the door as the music drifts through the air. It normally hypes up my mood, but not tonight. “Maybe something came up.”
Cipher just shrugs. “Or maybe she changed her mind. She signed the contract, but that doesn’t mean she has to follow through.”
Cave puts down his glass, and we both look at him. “Mine,” he says.
He doesn’t look at us when he says it; instead, he stares off into space.
“She hasn’t agreed to be yours yet,” I tell him.
He reaches inside his coat and pulls out a folded piece of paper, setting it down on the bar.
Reaching over, I pick it up and unfold it. Seeing that it’s Valli’s contract, I carefully refold it and put it back down. “Like Cipher said, she could still change her mind.”
Cave growls and picks his glass back up. I guess that is the end of that conversation.
The bar runs smoothly when Kayla is working. More people come in and eat, as there is something about her that draws people in. She really is in her element here.
We need to admit Valli isn’t coming tonight, and that’s okay. Maybe we came on too strong with the whole two-men-and-a-scarecrow situation.
The man sitting two seats down from Cave says something, though I don’t catch exactly what—something about the women who sign up for the island—but the word easy catches my ears. Kayla sets down the glass she is holding, and her eyes shift to Cave.
He moves without warning or sound, and it still baffles me how a guy that big can pull it off.
As quickly as Cave left us, the man is off his stool and in the air.
Cave has him held by his shirt with one hand, and a split-second later the man goes over the bar, hitting the shelves behind it and taking the bottles down with him.
You could hear a pin drop as Kayla places both her hands on the bar and vaults over it. In one pretty badass motion, she lands on the other side and turns to put herself directly in front of Cave with her arms outstretched. She is tiny compared to him, but it doesn’t seem to concern her at all.
Cave looks down at her, and she stares back.
Cave’s hand comes up and closes around her throat.
Shit. I jump up, but before I can move closer, the click of a hammer being pulled sounds loudly in the otherwise quiet room.
Clay stands at the end of the bar with a gun leveled at Cave’s head. “Let her go,” he says in a steady voice. “I have no issue cleaning your brain matter off the floor.”
Cave does not move. He doesn’t look at Clay; his eyes are fixed on Kayla.
Something passes between them, then out of nowhere, Vero drops from an overhead beam straight onto Cave’s back.
I had no idea he was up there.
Vero winds both arms around Cave’s neck, then leans down to bite him.
Cave lets go of Kayla’s throat and reaches back over his head for Vero, who is clinging to him like a spider monkey. Cave turns in a full circle, trying to dislodge him, and Vero’s legs come up off the floor as he spins, arms attached to a very unhappy scarecrow.
“I am not coming off,” Vero taunts him. “I have committed to dying but want to prolong it as long as possible. I live here now.”
“Vero,” Brawley growls, and Cave stops spinning. Cipher moves in and grabs Cave by his wrist.
Cave stills, which allows Vero to slide off his back and race over to stand behind Brawley.
Kayla looks at Cipher. “Want to share with the class how that worked for you while the rest of us were about to be slaughtered?”
“No,” Cipher says, still holding on to Cave’s wrist.
Cave stares at the door as I walk over and stand beside him. “How about we check on her? If she doesn’t want to see us, at least we’ll know she’s okay.”
Cave nods, then smoothly picks up Cipher, throws him over his shoulder, and walks toward the door.
I follow behind them but stop at the door and turn back to Kayla. “Um, sorry about all that.”
“Don’t sweat it,” she says. “I know a certain someone who knows a thing or two about making a scene in a bar.”
Vero protests loudly, but I don’t wait to hear the rest of his reply. Instead I chase after Cave as he makes his way to the hearse. He gets in with Cipher on his lap and waits for me to slide into the driver’s seat.
The trip is quiet. Normally I would blast the cassette, but Cave doesn’t seem like he’s in the mood for my shenanigans.
The drive feels like it takes forever, and in every scenario that plays through my mind, there is a logical reason Valli didn’t come tonight.
I’m rational enough to know she may have changed her mind; we are strangers—and weird ones at that.
Also, she could have felt pressured into signing and really didn’t want us.
We are used to rejection, but it still stings a little because I thought she liked us.
When we pull up in front of her house, the lights are on, and my stomach twists uncomfortably. I much prefer being rejected from a distance, but Cave needs this closure. At least now I know he likes the sound of my voice—so that means he somewhat likes me—and I will have his back.
Cave is out of the car before I even manage to get it into park, having slid out from beneath Cipher and jumped to the curb.
Cipher and I race after Cave, and I try my luck by placing my hand on his arm, hoping I don’t die. “Let me knock first. We are not kicking her door in. Let’s show her we are normal people who can act civilized.”
He stares at me with a raised brow.
“Relatively normal people,” I amend.
Cave nods, and I knock on the door, calling out: “Valli, it’s Noa.”
Nothing. My gut churns again. “We are here to check on you. You don’t have to open the door, just please tell me you’re okay.”
I look at Cipher, and he motions to the lock.
Cave slides aside a flowerpot, revealing a key, which he slides into the door handle.
We walk in slowly, and I glance around, but nothing seems out of place.
Cave points toward her room. “Cry.”
Shit, I don’t know how to handle an upset female. I don’t like tears; they make me want to cry too. I’m an emotional man—I can’t help it.
We ascend the stairs, and Cave pushes open her door. We can now see Valli sitting on the edge of her bed fully dressed, as if she was on her way out.
She looks up at us and wipes her face.
“Hey,” I say quietly.
“Hey,” she replies.
Cipher moves into the room, glancing around for what might have upset her, while Cave stays in the doorway. He is so freaking tall his head barely fits under the doorframe. Cave stares at her for a second, then ducks to step into her room and walks forward to take a seat at the end of her bed.
“You don’t have to explain anything to us. We just wanted to make sure you were okay,” I tell her.
“I want to,” she says, peering down at her hands.
“My brother was here when I was getting ready. He shows up whenever he wants. Since the man who . . .” She pauses.
“Since what happened, he has come around more often with the excuse that he is checking on me. He’s in trouble—he always is, but this time it’s worse.
I’m just so tired of bailing him out, tired of being the one who fixes everything.
Tonight, I lost it. And that isn’t the worst part. ”
She picks up her phone from beside her and turns the screen toward us. A video starts of Valli walking out of a café in her uniform—she is being filmed without knowing.
“I was sent this video tonight. The man who took me hasn’t shown up, and his boss is not happy.
I don’t know what to do.” Her voice breaks on the last sentence.
“I have tried so hard, but no matter what I do, Rowan keeps getting himself into trouble, and when he can’t pay, they come after me. I’m just so fucking tired.”
The tears roll down her face, and Cave turns toward her and wipes them away.
“Beautiful,” he says.
She chuckles. “I’m not beautiful right now. I’m a mess.”
Cave reaches out and wipes the tears from her face again, his thumbs dragging across her cheeks. Then, without warning, he scoops her off the bed and cradles her to his chest.
“What are you doing?” she gasps out. “Put me down.” He ignores her as she pushes against his chest. “Cave, seriously, I’m fine, you don’t have to—”
A growl rumbles from him, and he wraps his arms tighter.
“Okay,” she says, losing her fight as he walks out of her room. Cipher nods, and we follow behind him. I guess when the big man grunts, we all just follow.
“Valli . . .” I call, and she turns her head to look at me over Cave’s arm. “You don’t have to have it all sorted tonight. Let us take you back to the island. There you can have something to eat and a sleep.”
She huffs.
“The video and your brother can be dealt with in the morning. But you are not safe here right now. I hate to say it, but if you choose to stay here, Cave will not budge either. People could die if they come here, your brother included. If you haven’t noticed, Cave is not one to use his words.”
“You don’t say. Fine, but I have nothing packed.”
“I’ll grab it,” Cipher offers, and he disappears back into her room before she can protest.
“You’re allowed to let people help you,” I chide gently.
Her shoulders slump in Cave’s hold. “But I barely know you guys. I can’t ask you to fight this battle for me. Rowan is my brother, and I have to figure it out.”
“You didn’t ask; we offered. Cave doesn’t like many people—I thought he didn’t like me until recently. Besides the people in this house, there are only one or two other people he sort of likes, and he strangled one of them tonight because he was worried about you.”
She slaps Cave’s arm, and his amber eyes shoot up to meet hers. I open my mouth, but she beats me to it. “You cannot hurt your friends over me. That’s not nice. Who did you hurt?”
Cave looks at me, and I laugh. “You’re in trouble, big guy. You’re on your own for this one.”
Valli stares up at him and waits. He opens his mouth and tries to form the word. “K-Kayla,” he finally gets out.
Valli gasps. “Absolutely not! You cannot hurt her, Cave. She helped me, so you need to apologize.”
I snort as Cipher comes out of her room holding a bag. He simply glances between us all and heads toward the door.
I guess we are going back to the island with the girl.