Chapter 36 #2
A door creaks open behind Rayden. Then another beside Kayla and I. Voices begin to murmur. My cheeks heat as attention falls on us; airing my dirty, fucking laundry on the street is attracting a goddamn crowd.
“You can do better than him,” Ray shoots.
“Precisely!” Sam snaps, jabbing a finger in my direction. “Don’t stoop so low!”
“Stoop so low? It’s my fucking body! I’ll do what I want with it!”
“It’s only because we care,” Ray insists, tone soft.
I stare at him, incredulous. “So it’s okay for you to sleep with Nina, but I shouldn’t do the same?” I scoff, stepping back and crossing my arms, needing some kind of barrier between me and them.
Ray’s mouth opens, but Sam gets there first. “Mils, come on. Zac doesn’t even care about you.”
All the breath is sucked out of my lungs, an ache stirring in its wake, deep and humiliating. I feel it show, just for a second, before I mask it, forcing my chin up and meeting his glare.
“I don’t care!” I snap.
Ray reaches out, his fingers closing around my arm, and before I can even react, a voice cuts through the air.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
Zac’s there, his hand seizing Rayden’s shoulder and wrenching him away from me so hard that he stumbles.
Zac shoves him back, stance wide and dangerous, brown eyes blazing with a darkness that’s nothing like the fiery amber I crave.
Something feral lurches inside me anyway, enjoying this sight almost just as much.
“Get the fuck out of her face, prick.”
“Don’t call me a prick,” Ray snarls, stepping towards Zac.
Zac doesn’t even flinch. “Don’t fucking test me, dickhead,” he growls, low and lethal, fists flexing at his sides like he’s one second away from losing control.
“Zac…” I reach for him, grabbing his jacket. He glances down at me and something in his expression shifts. He nods, stepping back, but still watches Rayden with murder in his eyes. Over his shoulder, I spot Jordan and Claudia, slowly coming to a halt behind us.
“You okay?” Zac asks, rough but quiet. He slides an arm around me, pulling me into his side. I’m surprised, but I don’t push him away.
“Yeah,” I breathe.
“She deserves better than you,” Sam says, his tone sharp, though I hear it waver.
“I agree,” Ray mutters, glaring at Zac.
“Will you two just stay out of their business?” Kayla snaps.
Zac drops his arm from around me, but not before his hand brushes my back, making my skin pebble with goosebumps. He steps towards them, every inch of him a warning.
“You’re asking for a punch in the fucking face,” he says, voice low with promise.
“Go on, then,” Rayden dares, smirking.
“Zac!” Claudia suddenly exclaims.
Everyone ignores her.
“Rayden, go home!” I snap, stepping in front of Zac, my hands pressing against his chest to keep him from lunging at my old fling. I swear I can feel his heart beneath my palm, pounding wild and erratic.
“Shit!” Jordan almost yells, panic laced through his tone. “Zac!”
Both Zac and I spin towards him. “What?” Zac snaps, but Jordan doesn’t answer; he just points.
And the world freezes.
“Fuck…” Rayden breathes, the fight draining out of him.
Down the street, a group of Enforcers is storming towards us in dark green uniforms, their boots pounding against the ground in perfect sync.
The metallic flash of pistols at their hips catch in the fading sunlight.
My heart slams against my ribs, and around me, fear oozes.
Not too far away, some front doors slam closed.
“What are they…” Heidi’s voice trembles, trailing off as the Enforcers close in, their gazes searching the entire group. One of them raises a hand, and the others stop in formation behind him.
“Zachary Hastings?” The name falls like a guillotine, slicing through the air.
Zac’s jaw tightens, his entire body tensing, but he doesn’t flinch, doesn’t look away.
“Yeah,” he says, voice steady as he pushes me back with a firm hand to my stomach.
Four Enforcers close in around him.
“Kayla Thomson?”
Kayla stiffens, still only two feet away. Only now that Zac’s pushed me back, she’s beside him, not me.
“Y-Yes,” she stammers. Two of them grab her by the arms before she can move, so tightly that she yelps.
“Wait, what are you…” Sam’s voice cracks as he stumbles back, terrified.
“Zac?” I choke out, panic clawing up my throat as one of them twists his arm behind his back.
Zac tries to wrench free. “Get your fucking hands off her—”
A fist slams into the side of his face. The crack of it echoes down the street, and Zac’s head snaps to the side, blood almost instantly trailing down his chin.
The lead Enforcer’s voice booms through the street. “As members of the Enforcers, acting on the orders of Commander Elissa Germain, we’re arresting you for breaking Law One and committing infidelity on the fifteenth of June this year.”
For a second, I can’t process it. The words don’t make sense. But then they do and the world caves in.
“What?” I snap. “No! That’s not… It wasn’t… You can’t!”
“Take them,” the Enforcer orders.
I don’t think. I just move.
“No!” I lunge forward, trying to claw my way through their line.
“Jordan!” Zac yells, struggling against the men. One of them shoves him hard, and two others tighten their grip on his biceps until he grunts in pain.
My fingers brush Zac’s sleeve just as an arm clamps around my waist and Jordan drags me back.
“Let me go,” I snap, thrashing and trying to kick free.
Kayla cries out as they yank her down the street, her feet barely touching the pavement. Zac curses, jerking against their hold again, but another Enforcer slams a baton into his gut. He doubles over as much as he can whilst being held in place, his face a grimace of pure agony.
“Zac! Kayla!”
“I’ll be fine! Emilia, it’s okay,” Zac yells back, voice ragged. He jerks against the Enforcers’ grip, but there are too many of them.
“No!” My throat burns as I push against Jordan’s hold, fingers tearing at his sleeves. I’m shaking too hard to break free, and when my knees give out, Jordan goes down with me, still holding on as though he thinks I’ll run if he lets me go.
Zac and Kayla disappear out of sight.
“Emilia!” Claudia’s voice cuts through the haze. She crouches in front of me, gripping my face between her hands. Her fingers are cold. “Emilia, look at me!”
I force my eyes to hers, and only then do I realise my vision is blurry, my face wet.
“He’ll be okay,” she says firmly, voice breaking on the last word. “Do you hear me? They’ll be okay.”
It’s an empty promise.
A fairytale.
A fucking lie.
All I can see is the empty street where Zac and Kayla were dragged, reality shattering in my chest.