CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CLOVER
“You should come to bed. It’s getting late.” I patted the bed beside me, trying to entice Daire to stop pacing the house.
He’d been all over the house, from the top to the bottom and back again. I was pretty sure he’d checked every window and door at least a dozen times by now. That didn’t seem to be good enough for him. I understood his concern, but I was exhausted after the day I’d had. I could barely keep my eyes open.
“I can’t sleep right now. They must know where we live. They knew exactly who we were when they came looking for us on campus. Maybe it’s not safe to stay here anymore. It might be time to find a new place.” Daire pulled out his phone, clicking around as he looked for potential places for us to occupy.
“Well, we can’t do anything about that tonight. You might as well try to get some rest.” I tried for a flirtatious grin. “I’m pretty sure I can help you relax.”
He paused next to the bed. Curving a hand around the back of my neck, he leaned down to kiss me. “If your eyes weren’t fluttering closed with every word, I would happily take you up on that. You need to sleep.”
“Me being asleep has never stopped you before,” I teased. Falling back against the pillow, I tried one last time. “Just lie with me for a while. You’re going to make yourself crazy.”
“Too late for that, Angel. I left crazy behind a long time ago. You should get some rest. I’ll keep watch. Someone has to.” Daire stared out the bedroom window. He waited until I got comfortable under the blankets before leaving the room to do another round through the house.
He was probably right. It wasn’t safe for us here anymore. If these people had our personal information, they would find us anywhere, unless we were able to use fake names. Where would we even go?
Once I settled in and closed my eyes, I promptly fell asleep. My dreams were a mess of images that bombarded me from earlier in the day. I kept reliving the moment when that man burst through the stall door in the restroom and attacked me.
Every so often, I would wake up enough to roll over and check the bed beside me. Still empty. Then I would doze off again, back into a fitful sleep. It was still dark when the sound of shouting woke me.
I came out of slumber groggy and disoriented. I wasn’t sure what was going on or if it was all in my fragmented dreams. Daire rushed into the bedroom, shouting at me that I needed to get up. That we needed to leave right now.
“What’s going on?” I rubbed my tired eyes, trying to focus.
Daire grabbed my arm and dragged me from the bed. “There’s a fire in the basement and another in the garage. We have to get out now.”
Those words brought me wide awake. Panic engulfed me. I stood there frozen, not knowing what to do. Daire shouted at me again to get some clothes on and get out of the house. He was already on the phone to 911.
I hurried into a pair of sweatpants, grabbing a hoodie and the backpack that held my laptop. I remembered to snatch my phone off the night table before fleeing the room. Smoke was already climbing the stairs. Blaze and Cash were right behind me. Daire brought up the rear.
He held a gun in one hand as he threw open the door. When he saw one of the neighbors standing on the front lawn, he quickly tucked it into the back of his pants. They had also called for emergency services. Sirens echoed in the distance.
My heart pounded in my ears as we spilled onto the front lawn. This couldn’t be happening. Forgetting our little spat from earlier, Blaze pulled me into his arms, holding me protectively. I huddled against him, seeking his comfort.
“Did everyone get out?” asked a neighbor.
“Yeah,” Cash nodded.“We’re all out. Thanks.”
We moved back toward the street, watching as smoke began to seep from the front door. I couldn’t believe that just moments ago I had been sound asleep, oblivious to what was being done to our home.
There was nothing we could do but watch and wait as the firetrucks pulled up and took over the situation. Thankfully, the fire seemed to mostly be contained to the two areas where it had been started. The house wasn’t a goner, but it would suffer significant damage. We would be moving out, whether we liked it or not.
“How did they access the basement?” Cash asked, keeping his voice low.
“They broke a window,” Daire explained. “I heard the glass break. I was upstairs. I checked the camera, but the only thing it caught was a masked man in black fleeing the scene. Motherfucker is long gone by now.”
Not knowing what else to do, I ventured down the street a few yards and called Raina. It was after four in the morning. I wasn’t expecting her to answer. She didn’t. A minute later, however, she called me right back.
Her voice was thick with sleep. “Is everything okay? It’s definitely not like you to call me at this time.”
“Definitely not okay,” I said, my voice shaking. “Whoever sent those men after us at the school just tried to burn our house down. We’re standing out on the street with the firetruck right now.”
Once I had calmed down earlier, I’d filled her in on what happened on campus. She had told me that the police came to check out the body in the restroom. The campus had been temporarily locked down. This was a horrible nightmare come to life.
“Holy shit.” She sounded more awake now. “Are you guys okay?”
“We’re fine. There’s going to be a lot of smoke and water damage though. These people know our names. They know how to find us. We’re going to have to lay low for a while. I don’t think I need to tell you that I’m scared fucking shitless.” I watched the huge hose blasting the house with water. At least I got my electronics out.
“You can come here,” Raina said. “As soon as you’re able to leave there, come to our house. You’ll be safe here.”
I shook my head, wary of her idea. “I really appreciate that, but I don’t want to do anything to endanger you.”
“Oh please,” Raina scoffed. “We laugh in the face of danger. There will be strength in numbers. I can get my dad to send a few men to watch the place from the outside as well. It’s the safest option.”
“Only if you’re sure. I don’t want to impose. Gods and Angels under one roof might be risky.” That was putting it lately. Even though Raina and Daire had managed to find some sort of peace, I doubted the Gods would want us living in their house.
“Too bad. We’re the queens, and they’ll do whatever we damn well say. I’m not taking any crap from any of them and neither will you. You guys can take the basement. There’s a bedroom down there, a bathroom, and a living room. I’ll get things ready for you. Call me when you’re on your way.”
She didn’t give me a chance to argue. Other than crashing at some seedy motel to hide our identities, we didn’t really have any other options.
When I returned to where the guys stood near the yard, Daire was speaking to one of the firemen, answering a bunch of questions. There would be even more questions to come once it was determined that this had been arson. Although Daire wasn’t about to tell them that. Bringing the police into this wouldn’t help us.
“Raina said we can crash at their place,” I said when Daire rejoined the rest of us.
He opened his mouth like he was about to shoot that down, then paused to reconsider. “Yeah, I guess that will do for now. We need to get off the street. The fireman said we can go. The paramedic thinks we should get checked over for smoke inhalation, but I told him we’re all good.”
I glanced over to where the paramedics waited in case we needed them. Other than a raging headache from the stress and adrenaline, I felt all right. My gaze strayed up and down the street as I wondered if we were being watched. Did they know their plan to burn us alive had failed?
What would they do next? How long would this go on?
Since all three guys thought it was best to bring their vehicles, they all drove in a convoy to the Gods’ house. I jumped in with Cash. The short drive was tense as we kept expecting someone to speed out of a side road and crash into us. Thankfully, that never happened.
Raina hadn’t wasted any time. A blacked out car filled with mafia men sat in front of the house. She was there to meet us at the door. A tired, unamused Havoc was with her.
Crushing me into a painful hug, Raina gushed, “God, I’m so glad you’re all right. This is so fucked. Are you sure you’re okay?”
I nodded, too tired to even cry. “Yeah, I’m sure. Scared. They’re going to keep coming, aren’t they?”
“We won’t let that happen,” she assured me. “You guys aren’t in this alone. We’ll find out who’s in charge, and we’ll make this stop.”
She sounded so confident and certain. I wished I felt so strongly.
“You can stay as long as you need to,” Havoc said grudgingly, like he wasn’t too thrilled about this plan.
“Thanks. We won’t forget this.” Blaze shot a pointed look at Daire and Cash, silently forcing them to voice their gratitude as well, which they did, almost as grudgingly as Havoc.
“Come on. I’ll take you downstairs.” Raina waved us along.
As we followed her down to the basement, I couldn’t shake the sensation of being trapped. We’d been forced from our safe space, forced to run. These people wouldn’t give up until we were dead.
What the hell were we supposed to do now?