Chapter 47
R iordan
Masonry from the spire landed with thuds around us, and I burst up with Cassie in my arms then sprinted down the side of the church.
Another chunk of rock narrowly missed us, and sparks chased our flight.
We emerged to a new scene at the front. When I’d left Jamieson, it was to an empty street, even the neighbours knowing better than to investigate.
Now, the flashing blue lights of police cars battled the yellow and orange flames, and a fire engine wailed, coming in hot.
A number of other vehicles blocked the road further down, Arran and Cassie’s brothers leaping out with looks of shared fear.
“Get out of my crime scene,” one of the cops yelled at Arran.
He ignored him, not spotting us yet, and said something urgent to Sinclair.
In my arms, Cassie stirred.
I hugged her to me, my body close to collapse from the desperate fear of losing her. From finding her. From never wanting to let her go.
“Thank fuck.” Footsteps pounded the track behind.
Jamieson swung around us, his frantic expression mirroring how I felt inside. He palmed his sister’s face then swung to holler at his family, “She’s here. Riot got her out.”
He guided me clear of the church wall. Her brothers rushed up, Sinclair’s expression crumpling then reforming as he took in the girl he considered a daughter.
The huge man reached for her.
I gave her up.
Watched as he cradled her then turned away, my arms empty, my heart even more so. I couldn’t go far. I needed to stare a little longer. I needed to know she was okay, even if I wasn’t the person who got to make sure of it.
I was nothing to her now, though she was everything to me.
One of the cops joined our party, and Sinclair lifted his attention from Cassie, his expression neutralising. “What the fuck do ye want, Kenney?”
Struan left the huddle and came to me. “Hurt?”
Dully, I shook my head. “I don’t think so.”
At least not physically. Emotionally, I’d died a hundred times today and wasn’t done yet.
A rumble came from behind us, and someone screamed.
“The rest of the tower’s going to go. Pull back,” one of the other cops yelled.
We beat it to a safe distance, near the skeleton crew cars, Kenney coming with us.
Cassie struggled awake. “There’s someone inside.”
She pushed at Sin’s chest. He let her down but kept an arm around her.
The tower shuddered and collapsed inwards, dust and heat reaching us even in our safer position.
The cop snorted. “If there was, they’re flame-grilled and tenderised now. Better for my crime scene if I don’t have to send anyone in on a rescue.”
Cassie hung her head, sorrow etched into her features and her arms bracing her brother’s. Then her gaze found me. Her eyes widened, and she broke away from him. I caught her in a selfish hug I had no right to claim.
“I thought I imagined ye.”
“You didn’t.”
“Ye saved my life.”
The hurt in my chest rebounded and echoed through me. I released her and shoved my hands into my pockets, forcing myself to back away. “Don’t mention it.”
Alone on the road, with scratches on her arms and fire in her eyes, Cassie stared at me. “What’s wrong?”
Everything. Everything was wrong.
“Go back to your family.”
“No. I want ye.”
My very soul ached. “We broke up. I’m not yours to want anymore.”
“No.”
“Yes. It’s over. I need to go.”
Cassie’s eyes filled with emotion, and she took in a rushed breath then turned and walked away.
Somehow during the course of the evening, she’d changed her mind over what happened between us. I had no idea how she’d come to be here, but I couldn’t stay and watch her take comfort from me only to break up with me for a second time when the shock wore off. It would kill me all over again.
I’d left my bike on the other side of the structure. Under the cover of the settling dust, the wailing of new emergency vehicles, and the building crowd, I’d retrieve it and get the fuck out of here.
Putting my head down, I passed her and the group. Arran called my name. Cassie was arguing with the cop. I kept going.
“Just give them to me, Kenney. I don’t give a fuck who sees,” she snarled.
I didn’t stop.
Then a light weight slammed into me, Cassie landing on my back. I twisted in surprise, bringing an arm up to hold on to her.
Something clicked around my wrist. Silver. Metal. Handcuffs?
Cassie leapt down, her expression fierce, and her arm raised as she pointedly linked the other end to her wrist. She’d handcuffed us together. Police-issue silver bracelets.
I stared in confusion. “What are you doing?”
Cassie’s bottom lip trembled, but she set her palm to my chest right over my heart and peeked up at me, her expression unlike any I’d ever seen her wear. “I love ye. Please don’t break up with me. Whatever I did, I’m sorry. Just talk to me. Don’t end this.”
Horror and outrage crashed into my pain. “I didn’t. You did. You fell out of love with me.”
“What? That isn’t true.”
“It is.” I reached for my pocket, jerking her arm with me where she’d secured us together.
I passed her the note.
Cassie took it, opening it like she’d never seen it before. Her gaze tracked the words then lifted to me. “I didn’t write this.”
My indignation shook. “But those words.”
How could anyone else know exactly how to destroy me? I didn’t finish my sentence. Couldn’t.
Cassie gulped then sagged against me. I caught her.
Arran appeared at my side. He frowned at the cuffs then gestured to the crowd. “We need to leave. There are other gangs creeping up. Shit’s about to go down.”
In my arms, Cassie stirred. “I’m only going where Rio goes.”
My boss barked a laugh. “Think we all got that, Cass. Now move it.”
Together, Cassie and I jogged to my bike. There was no way I could drive with one hand behind my back, but Cassie had another solution in mind.
“Pick me up.”
She wrapped her arms and legs around me and buried her head in my neck, allowing me to sit on my bike with her clamped to my front like a koala. She extended her wrist back to give me enough play to start the machine, and the engine rumbled beneath us.
For a brief moment, I buried my face in her hair, hardly daring to believe I had the right. Another rumble came as the front wall of the church disintegrated with a rain of fire.
It hid the roar of my engine as I got us on the road.
Unlike my careless, desperate drive over, I took it steady on the way back, letting myself just feel Cassie’s body against mine and being careful for her sake because she was precious to me.
At the warehouse, Cassie’s family and the skeleton crew arrived with us, filling the car park, with the club’s neon-pink signs highlighting expressions of relief.
Cassie lifted her head from my shoulder, sighting Arran and Sinclair. “My apartment. Five minutes. I need to talk to ye all.”
We went on ahead. Climbed into the lift. I held Cassie close the whole time.
Only when we were inside the front door of the apartment did I finally say the words I so desperately needed to get out.
“What if you forgot you wrote the note?”
“I didn’t. It isn’t mine. I don’t know how someone knew to write those exact words.”
I carried her to the kitchen counter and perched her on the side, standing between her knees. Then I grabbed up a first aid kit I’d stashed there and set about cleaning her wounds. I needed action. I needed to keep moving so I didn’t wake up to this being a lie.
Cassie watched me, her arm shifting with mine thanks to her handcuff trick. “I told my therapist about being scared to lose ye, but there’s no way she could’ve written that note.”
“Would she have told anyone?” I wiped dirt from her cheek with damp kitchen roll. It came away grey with smoke stains.
“Surely not.” Cassie took a rushed inhale. “I made the call in Arran’s office. If that isn’t secure, he’s a fucking idiot.” She closed her eyes and dropped her forehead to my chest. “Or I am. I’m so sorry. Someone tried to break us up, and I gave them the ammo to do it.”
“Who?” I wondered.
Her gaze shot back up, and her eyes filled with malice. “Your ex-ghoulfriend, Moniqua. Wait until the others get here and I’ll explain what I know.”
I couldn’t make sense of anything. I’d lost her. Twice. Once to love and once to fire. Now I had her back, I had whiplash from the change.
Cassie’s free hand cupped my cheek. With gentle pressure, she brought my face down to meet hers. Kissed my cheek softly. “I did a whole lot of soul-searching over ye because I didn’t want to lose ye. My therapist told me that specific triggers were what killed my infatuations in the past, and I knew that ye saying three little words could be the end of us this time.” Her gaze beseeched me. “Say it again.”
“I don’t want to in case it does something bad.”
“Please?”
I forced the words out. “I love you. I’m so fucking in love with you it’s killing me.”
Cassie smiled. “I love ye, too. All that’s happened is the obsession gave way to true love.”
My chest ached. I asked what I had when she first told me, when I’d basked in the feeling of being adored. “Describe it.”
“You’re the centre of my world. As important to me as my family or maybe even more because it’s different. It’s like ye shifted up to their level then shot past into someplace new. I didn’t know this was possible. I had no idea this feeling could be real, and I spent the day wallowing in trying to make sense of it.”
My heart hurt. I notched my forehead to hers. “Don’t say it if it can’t be true.”
“It is. I’m in love with ye, Rio. I’m never letting ye go.”
I gave a strangled laugh. Shook the handcuffs.
Cassie laughed, too, then kissed me.
She tasted of ash and happiness, destruction and devotion. My world stopped and started again with that kiss. The broken pieces of my heart mended, stronger and better, fixed by my wild girl’s love.
Finally, my mind accepted the change, and I cupped her ass to bring her tight against me, the act securing her wrist behind her back. I liked her in this position. I needed to tear off her clothes and see how pretty she looked chained to me.
Someone knocked at the door.
“Can I send them away?” I asked.
She sighed. “I wish, but there’s too much to discuss. We’re at war, and I intend to win.”