Chapter 31
GRAYSON
Icould hear the figure moving through the undergrowth behind me. Good. As long as they were focused on me, Micah was safe. I couldn’t let anything happen to him.
My plan was to lead them away from the apartment building, into the woods, and then…who knew? I hoped luck would be on my side. We needed some fucking luck after this nightmare of a year.
Through my goggles, I noticed another path and a glint of water.
I spun to the left, the undergrowth tearing at my clothes as I ducked under a low-hanging tree branch.
Up ahead was an open space, and I moved faster.
I needed to reach it before my stalker caught up with me, and then I could use it to my advantage.
I sped up, sprinting through the trees, and the second I hit the open space, I wheeled around to face the dark, shadowy figure.
We lunged for each other. Before we connected, there was a cry from behind them, and the figure went down, their body slamming into the dirt. I stumbled, ducking out of the way, and came to a skidding halt.
Another figure appeared, looming out of the darkness, and my heart stopped for a second. I took a step backward.
“It’s me,” they hissed.
Micah? Breathing hard, I stared at him. He’d taken down my would-be assailant like it was nothing.
My gaze caught on a glint of metal out of the corner of my eye, and my body twisted on instinct as the figure on the ground rolled, their hand sweeping out. There was a loud crack that echoed around us, reverberating off the trees, and then a hot, searing pain in my thigh.
“I know what to do.”
“Take his pants off.”
“Gray. Are you okay?”
At the last voice, my eyes flickered open. “Hi,” I croaked, meeting Micah’s concerned gaze. “What the fuck— Oh.”
Everything came flooding back to me all at once.
The pain. Micah tackling the assailant, wrestling the gun from their grip while I lay there uselessly, clutching my leg.
By the time I’d staggered to my feet, Micah had possession of the gun, but the assailant had broken out of his hold, swerving around me when I lunged for them.
I groaned, burying my head in my hands. “Shit. I ruined everything.”
“Don’t be so hard on yourself, Cross. Hold still, I don’t wanna accidentally cut your balls. Unless you piss me off.”
Lowering my hands, my gaze slid to Cruz, who was standing at the side of his bed—wait…
I was in Cruz Martinez’s bed?—with a sharp-looking knife in his hand and a smirk curving over his mouth.
Before I could ask him why the fuck he was talking about my balls, he took the knife and sliced a line straight through my sweatpants.
What the fuck?
I opened my mouth but closed it when Ava appeared in my line of sight, nudging Cruz out of the way.
She bit down on her lip as she parted the material Cruz had just cut before gently pressing a cool, damp cloth against my thigh.
It immediately soothed the sting. Lifting her head, she spoke to Micah.
“Can you soak a cloth in soap and water while I apply pressure to the wound? We need to make sure it’s clean. ”
“It’s fine. It’s just a graze,” I grunted, lifting myself onto my elbows as I stared at the red, angry wound. “I can fix it. You guys don’t need to do this. Martinez, you could go after the fucker who shot me.”
His mouth thinned. “He’s long gone. I already checked when you were passed out on the bed. Remember that? No? You fainted and Micah had to drag your heavy ass back here.”
Fucking hell. I had fainted. He was never going to let me live that down. I lifted my middle finger and he chuckled.
“Let us take care of you, Gray,” Ava said when Micah returned with the wet cloth.
She carefully cleaned my wound and applied some ointment, before Cruz took it upon himself to bandage it.
I bit down on the inside of my cheek when he slid his palm over my leg, focusing on the pain that had now faded to a dull ache.
“It’s only a graze. You won’t even notice it after a day or two,” Cruz told me when he was finally done. “You got lucky.”
“Lucky, except I got shot and we have nothing to show for it,” I muttered. Aware that I was acting like an ungrateful asshole, I exhaled and forced myself to look at him. “Thank you.”
He gave me a small, but genuine smile, and for some weird reason, my breath caught in my throat. His dark gaze held mine. “Anytime, Cross.”
Micah squeezed my arm, and the weird moment was gone. “We do have something to show for it. I got the gun and we have the footage from the motion sensor cameras we set up. And we know it was a man, probably a similar height and build to you.”
“I also got to fool around with Ava,” Cruz interjected. “Want to see what I have to show for it?”
Ava punched him on the arm, and I grinned at his sound of outrage before sobering again. “Yeah. Thanks, all of you. I’m just pissed at myself. I was trying to lead him away from Micah, and I fucked up.”
“It’s not your fault, Gray.” Micah’s fingers slid between mine, and Ava nodded as she took my other hand. Cruz rolled his eyes but eventually nodded too. He sat on the bed next to Ava, wrapping his arm around her waist, and rested his free hand on the bed. His fingertips were touching my shin.
Rubbing my palm over my face, I sighed. “Okay. I guess we need to go through the footage and then see if we can get anything useful from the gun.”
“Later,” Ava said. “Let’s rest now. It’s been a long night.”
Cruz glanced down at his bed with a grimace. “Let’s go to yours, princess. I don’t think any of us wants to be here after the shit that just happened.”
He didn’t say everything aloud, but I knew what he was thinking. Ava’s house was somewhere we felt safe. Somewhere we could be ourselves, without judgment. Somewhere we could rest after everything we’d been through.
Ava nodded. “Yes. Let’s go to my house.”
Once we were all tangled up in each other in Ava’s bed, sleep came easily for us all.
It was surprising, but I guess if I thought about it…
Maybe it was the crash after the rush of adrenaline.
Maybe it was the relief we felt that we were all here and safe—for now, at least—and our efforts hadn’t been in vain.
When I woke the next morning, Ava and Micah were on either side of me, their bodies curling into mine, and Cruz was lying on his side next to Ava with his arm slung across her waist. A smile tugged at my lips as I let my eyes close again.
It was the first time we’d all slept together. Somehow, I had a feeling it wouldn’t be the last.