Chapter 56
Nix
I feel like an asshole. Why didn't I consider the fact that Ender's room is right next to hers? Damnit. I really hope this doesn’t lead to another one of his spirals.
He has been doing so good since I first brought Alara here.
The drinking stopped. There's no more partying, and he's been around the apartment more. Hell, he’s even been feeding Dave on his own.
It's clear he's been trying to impress her, too. The breakfast he was cooking this morning was proof enough of that. Even after hearing her with us, he still took the time to do that for her. I need to talk to the rest of the guys later and make sure nothing like that ever happens again.
Right now, I need to figure out where that little bird flew off to. The best way to go about that is to ask security. It’s kind of a built-in tracking system. She still has her privacy, but I can know where she is without seeming like a complete stalker.
I pop my head out into the hallway, nodding in the direction of the two security guards. “Can one of you text the guy that left with Alara and find out where they are?"
Less than two minutes later, I'm given the address they’re headed to. It’s not somewhere I recognize her going since I started taking note of her routine, which only piques my curiosity further.
I quickly pop into my car with a security guard of my own while telling myself that checking things out isn’t going to hurt anything.
I’m just making sure she’s safe. I always trust my gut.
It's saved this band countless times when it comes to Ender and the bullshit he always finds himself in, and right now it’s urging me to get eyes on her.
While I don't think Alara is deliberately trying to find trouble, the press is hunting her like some kind of sick prey right now, and I'm not about to willingly let anyone scare her.
When we arrive at the address, I spot her car immediately and take the parking spot behind hers. I step out and glance in the windows of a few buildings, but they’re all empty.
"Can you ask your guy where they are?" I ask the guy pretending not to follow me.
He rolls his eyes, pulling out his phone to type something quickly, and it dings. He opens his mouth to tell me, but I stop him when I hear someone yell, "HELP!"
Alara.
My eyes whip across the street to the building, and I immediately begin running toward the sound of her terrified voice.
"Where are they?!" I scream at my guard, hoping that the dinging sound right before hearing the word ‘help’ was a response to where they were .
"Third floor," he replies, and another moment later, I'm pushing the door for the stairwell open and striding up them. There's no time to wait for the elevator.
I try my best to keep my breathing calm as we hit the third floor, and I burst into the hallway.
A loud crashing sound has me turning to the right and sprinting toward the noise.
There's another man not far ahead of me who looks like one of the guards I've seen at the apartment. Why the fuck wasn't he with her?
One door after another, we push them open, hoping to see her inside, but they’re all empty. Finally, I get to a door and hear movement inside. I pound on it, but there’s no answer. When I burst into the room, what I see has my jaw on the floor.
I'm frozen in place as my brows furrow, and I try to process the amount of blood on the floor. There's so much. Not only that, but there's also a very large man gasping for air in the middle of the room.
Quickly, I move inside, pulling the door shut behind me and locking it before either of the guards has a chance to see what's inside. One of them pounds on the door, demanding I open it, but there's no way in hell that’s happening. The fewer people who see this gruesome scene, the better.
"I've got this under control. Just guard the door," I snap, eyes continuing to scan the room. She has to be in here somewhere.
My eyes find the pair of bloody scissors, and I kick them to the other side of the room as I make my way around the desk, careful to not step in any of the blood .
"Alara, honey, where are you?" I call out.
My eyes finally land on her, and my heart shatters. She’s curled under the desk with her head tucked between her knees and her arms covering her head. I fall to my knees immediately wanting to comfort her as she rocks back and forth, but she jolts away from my touch.
"Hey, it's okay. You're safe." I reach a hand to her. "I’m here.”
She lifts her head, tears streaming down her blood-covered face, and locks eyes with me. Pure terror fills her red-rimmed eyes. Aside from the rocking, her whole body is trembling and covered in bits of blood. I just need to know if it's all his blood or if she's hurt, too.
Her bottom lip flutters. "Nix?"
"It's me, love. Come here." I wave a hand in hopes that she will come out from under the desk.
She jumps toward me, gripping my shirt as I wrap my hand around her, not caring one bit about getting blood on me. I squeeze, putting pressure around her to try to calm her nervous system as best as I can.
We stay like this for a few minutes while I glance over the desk every now and then to make sure the man on the floor hasn't moved. I'm fairly certain he's dead because the gasping sounds stopped a minute or two ago.
"Can I look at you?" I whisper in her ear.
She whimpers, but allows me to let go of her enough to take a step back and take her in.
Most of the blood doesn't appear to be hers.
There are red spots on her face that look like they might bruise, but nothing too serious.
One large slice across her palm is bleeding, so I rip a piece of my shirt off and wrap it around her hand to keep pressure on it.
"Is anything broken?"
"I don't think so." Her voice is faint. She turns her head in an attempt to glance at the man on the floor.
"Don't look at him, keep those pretty eyes on me." Instinct tells me this is the best way to keep her calm. "I need to make a call. Can you sit on the desk for me?"
She looks down and nods before stepping backward and allowing me to lift her onto the top of the desk. I tuck the hair behind her ear and press a kiss to her cheek, watching as her eyes flutter closed. She's still afraid, but at least I can give her a little bit of comfort.
"I'm going to go check his pulse. I'll be right back."
"Nix," she panics as soon as I step away from her, "please don't leave."
I stop. If my girl doesn't want me to leave, I'm not leaving.
Pulling out my phone, I scroll to the group text between me and the guys and FaceTime them.
They're going to wonder what's going on, considering we never FaceTime each other or even call each other as a group, but I have no clue what the fuck we should do.
Plus, I'm hoping that seeing their faces will help calm Alara.
Each of them answers quickly, confusion on all of their faces.
"Hey?" Lane questions.
"What?" Ender huffs .
"Yeah?" River hums.
"We have a problem." I turn the phone to the dead guy on the floor before briefly showing Alara, who is picking at the material of her fishnets, before bringing myself back in frame.
"What the fuck happened?" Ender's jaw tics.
"I don't know, but he's dead. She was yelling, and I found them like this."
"He hurt me," Alara whispers.
"It's okay, nobody is going to hurt you," I reassure her before turning my attention back to them. "What do we do?"
River's eyes fall closed for a moment, and when they open, he looks different. There's a cold indifference to his face when he says, "Who’s been inside the room, and who knows where you are?"
"Besides Alara and me, just our two security guards. I locked them out of the room before they could see anything."
River nods while the other two stay quiet. "Good. Don't let them inside. I'm going to make a call to get this all cleaned up. It will be okay. Just make sure Alara is good."
"What do you mean you're going to make a call?" My brows furrow.
"It doesn't matter. Just listen to me for once. Let me do this for her." His nostrils flare, and his eyes narrow enough for me to lay off.
There's already so much going on, I can’t worry about why he’s acting differently. We will just have to get an explanation once this is all figured out .
"I'm coming to you," Ender blurts out.
"Yes, someone should take them a change of clothes and a few garbage bags," River interrupts before I can tell him not to. "Just make sure you leave your phones at home. Give me a minute. I’ll be right back."
"You can’t call them, Riv," I hear Lane say.
"Now isn’t the time. We will talk about things after."
"Fine," we all mutter harmoniously.
"Let me see her," Lane insists, so I hand her the phone. "Hey, Tambourine."
"Lane?"
"Yeah, I'll be there with you soon. I'm so sorry we left you this morning. We should have stayed in bed."
"He is the same guy." She bursts into tears.
"That's enough for now." I pull the phone away, tucking her under my arm. I'm not sure what she's talking about, but I don't let her cry any more than she has to.
"Hang up the phone and turn it off. Don't let anyone in the room unless it's one of us. We will be there soon," River says, and I reluctantly nod.
With that, I hang up, power it down, and set it on the desk next to me.
I'm not sure what the hell kind of shit River is going to pull, but he seems confident enough to get this taken care of.
I'm actually thankful that someone else is taking control for once because it means I can focus on our girl.