Chapter 14
FOURTEEN
Liam tries to coax Noah to lie back down on the table, but Jesse flings me forward and his eyes finally lock on mine. I try like hell not to break down as he sees me and immediately scans my body to check for harm.
Tentatively stepping forward, I reach out for his hand as he completes his assessment. A fresh trickle of blood starts to run from his nose, and I swipe it away with my trembling thumb.
“Are you okay?” His hands bracket my face, tugging me closer to where he sits on the table's edge, looking down at me while I fret, a second away from breaking down in his arms.
I nod, moving to brush the blood from his lip. “What did they do to you?” I whisper.
“Who did this to you?” Liam says, asking the more pertinent question.
Noah pulls my head to his chest, holding onto me like his sanity requires it.
“There were maybe five of them, all wearing masks. I can only assume it was Bundy’s men.
They wanted—” His voice falters and his hand absently smoothes my hair.
Someone approaches with a first aid kit and opens it, starting to work on his face.
“They wanted Emma. And Bo,” he adds, flicking his eyes to where Bo stands, Jesse frozen at his back.
Noah flinches as butterfly tape is pressed to his brow, his free hand going to his ribs.
“You need to lie down, Noah,” I whisper against his collarbone. He ignores me, still clutching my head to him like he’s afraid to let go.
His mouth lowers to my hair, and I feel the way his heartbeat races.
He’s afraid, and because Noah is the way he is, he tries to hide it completely, the only proof I have is my hand over the thrumming in his chest. “I thought I was too late. I thought they had gotten here and taken you.” I simply shake my head, reminding him I’m fine, and he looks back up.
“They’ll be back. We need to clear out. Someone gave us up again.”
Emily reappears. “You need a doctor,” she says, taking in Noah and his death grip on me. “Noah, please.”
The front door bangs open, and we jump as Landon and Patrick rush in.
“Boy’s got news, you need to hear this now,” Patrick says.
Landon clears his throat, looking around at the group of men.
“Rory’s the rat. I saw the messages myself that confirm it, and confronted him, just now this morning.
He told them where we’d be today, and it looks like he’s been in bed with Bundy this entire time.
Told me straight to my face he doesn’t want to defend this—” Landon’s eyes cut to me, my face burning as he decides not to finish the sentence.
Oh. The weight of his incomplete statement chokes me. I’ve caused this, my presence. How ridiculously unfair, as if I wanted to be stuck here, to be protected by Mercy. I haven’t asked for any of this.
I hadn’t even come to them voluntarily.
I try to step back, but Noah’s grip on me only tightens further.
“No,” he says, looking down at me before nodding at Landon. “Where is he now?”
“I tried to stop him…” He indicates his broken nose. “He’s gone, I don’t know where.”
“Fuck!” Aiden yells, making me jump as he picks up a glass ashtray and flings it across the room. “God knows what information he’s passed on. He’s been in half the meetings this year. Bundy could know everything we’ve planned, every contract we have right now.”
“Emily, grab a bag,” Liam says, pointing at her. “I want her taken now to the lockdown house,” he says to another associate. “Take her straight there and don’t stop anywhere.”
She stares at him for a moment, an unspoken conversation taking place. Words aren't needed, it’s clear as day they understand each other without them. She looks at Noah then heads for the stairs.
Aiden turns to the rest of the room. “Everyone, we’ve got ten minutes. Get anything you have and we’re out. Head for the clubhouse by the hills ‘til we find out just how much they know. If you have a wife, kids, they go also. Now,” he says and a bustle ensues as the room clears out.
It’s just the leaders that remain. Their sons, Bo and me. Patrick and Landon know without needing to be told they are included in hearing these final instructions.
He turns back to us. “The four of you are going to the safe-house by the cavern. Noah, you know the way. Do you think they’re broken?” he asks, pointing to his ribs.
Noah shakes his head. “Maybe bruised. I’m fine, we can patch me up when we get there.”
“Good. Nobody but the people in this room know where you’re going. You’ll be safe. Lie low there until we have a better plan, yeah?” We nod as Patrick snaps Landon’s nose back to center with a grunt.
Jesse’s hand curls around the back of Bo’s neck, guiding him to the stairs. I, however, am still frozen in place. We're running again, and I’m already tired of it. Clothes mean nothing at this point. All I need is Molly and for these men to be safe.
Although, they’d be safer if I wasn’t here.
Noah just holds me to him, petting my hair like it will reassure him I’m alive. “I’m sorry. You were right. It’s time to let go of this. It’s not worth losing everything.” His head falls and he shakes it. “Fuck, I don’t want to let Lily down.”
His torment cuts me deep. I hate this, for him, for the family. I hate that in real life, evil flourishes and chokes out the possibility of justice for the corrupt men who spread it and protect it.
Most of all, I hate that sometimes the good guys don’t win.
“Em,” I hear Bo call as he comes back down the stairs. “Take five and grab all your stuff. I’ve got Molly in her crate here. Jesse’s going to drive him and I’ll take you, ‘kay?
I nod, but Noah looks as if he wants to reject that plan until his uncle cuts him off. “Save it. You can't drive like this.”
His hand releases me and I turn, rushing for the stairs. I fly to the room, heart pounding, feeling like I’ll float away.
Again. Again. We’re running again.
Bundy wants to find me. But why? It makes absolutely no sense. We’d only met one time, yet his men have been here. Threatening us all once more, harming Noah.
Because of me.
Does he want me for Eric? For himself? Maybe he just wants to find me because men seem to love taking things that other men have, and I’ll just be slaughtered the moment he manages to get me out of here.
It doesn’t matter, really. I can’t let it happen again.
The entirety of Mercy has been shaken up once more.
Instead of helping people like they’re meant to, they’re stuck dealing with me.
Noah could've been killed. My stomach rolls at the thought. I don’t have to let this keep going on. I could never forgive myself.
Noah. Bo. Jesse. Maybe I’m not meant to be a sharp shooter, or an expert grappler. I can still make a difference and keep them safe, just by leaving.
“He’ll kill me if you do it.” Jesse’s voice comes nonchalantly from the doorway and I turn.
He takes in the tear tracks on my face, the torment clearly written in them.
Walking to my side, he gently brushes them away with his thumb.
“Hey, Em, stop. Doing what we do has always been dangerous. There’s always been a risk of getting hurt or killed.
Noah knows that.” He forces my eyes up to his.
“Now he just has something worth making the risk for.”
My lip trembles. “I could stop all this. Bo would be safe. Your family. This doesn’t make any sense. You don’t even have to tell him you saw me leave.”
He snorts. “Please, tell me I haven’t been such a jackass that you think I’d let you throw yourself into Bundy’s grasp as some kind of sacrifice.
You wouldn’t be saving anyone. Noah would never stop thinking about what was happening to you until it drove him insane.
” He looks at the necklace still gripped in my hands and flicks the tiny, beautiful sun that Noah must have thought represented me somehow.
“Don’t throw your life away for nothing, ‘cause I fucking promise you that Bundy having you in his hands would be a fate worse than death.”
I grit my jaw and nod. “Ugh, okay. We’ll figure it out.”
“Good. I’m packing his stuff now, we need to go. Grab whatever you can and Bo will help you in the car.
I throw my things together, trying to remain thoughtless as I pack, because if I start to process what's happening I might just fall to pieces. I don't want to be more of a pest than I already am.
I help drag my stuff out to the car and throw it into the trunk, watching as Jesse holds the back of Bo’s head and kisses him.
It’s desperate, but Bo lets him steal that physical reassurance he needs to keep functioning.
After a moment, Jesse drops his forehead to Bo's, their eyes just an inch away, and plants a sweeter kiss at the corner of his mouth.
“Follow me, and do not stop for any reason. Okay?” he orders, and Bo nods. “I love you.”
Bo just calmly takes the keys in his hands. “We’re going to be fine, Jesse,” he says, then his voice softens. “Love you too.”
Before they can take off, I creep over to check on Noah, but he’s sprawled in the backseat of the car and looks as if he’s passed out again.
I hope in this state he’s at least finding an escape from the pain.
Quietly, I open the door closest to his head, and drop my lips to his temple.
I would give anything to go back to last night, when he’d pressed my body into the sheets and made it shake with delirious need.
“I’m sorry,” I say. “I’ll make it up to you, I swear. I swear.”
I will. I’ll find a way. Maybe I’ve been torn from my life and shoved into this new one, full of violence and retribution, but it’s time to accept that this is where I am now.
There won’t be another day where I sit nervously on the sidelines while this battle is fought, the people I care for at the frontlines. This is my life now.
They are my life now.
Bo waits for me to put my seatbelt on and then holds my hand with his, slowly following Jesse’s car into the path along the woods.