2. Lucas #2
The moment the words left his mouth, regret flashed across his face.
Too late.
Lane appeared at the top of the stairs, holding Emery against his side while Avery stood partially behind him, both girls wide-eyed and frightened.
Ethan looked sick.
Served the little punk right.
“They became our responsibility the second we brought them here,” I said coldly.
Lane shifted, pulling Emery closer to his side, exhaustion written all over his face even as he squared his shoulders. “I can protect my sisters.”
The defensiveness in his voice made my chest tighten painfully because he shouldn’t have had to say it in the first place.
He was barely more than a kid himself.
“I know you can,” I said, forcing some of the bite out of my tone. “But you shouldn’t have to do it alone.”
Avery stepped closer to Lane silently, her fingers curling into the back of his shirt while Emery watched all of us with eyes that looked too old for a child her age.
Ethan scrubbed a hand over his face hard enough to redden the skin. “I’m not staying behind while Lila’s out there.”
“Yes, you are.”
“The hell I am.”
“You think charging blindly into the woods is going to help her?” I snapped. “Right now, all that does is leave them”—I pointed toward the girls—“with less protection if something happens here.”
His jaw flexed hard enough that I thought he might actually swing at me.
Part of me wished he would. I needed to let go of some of the rage I’d been carrying for months.
Instead, he looked away first, which told me everything, because Ethan knew I was right.
“I would’ve stopped her if I’d woken up,” he muttered quietly.
The anger had mostly burned out of his voice now, leaving something worse behind.
Fear.
The boy wasn’t all bad, and I knew it. It’s just that lately my patience has been wearing thin.
“You couldn’t have.” I placed a hand on his shoulder. “And honestly? Nobody could’ve.”
Once Taryn made up her mind, it was a done deal, and Lila would never have let her go alone.
The room fell quiet for a few seconds, broken only by the creak of old wood and the faint hiss of grease still popping in the cooling pan below.
I tightened the straps on my pack and headed for the stairs before anybody could argue again.
“Lucas.”
I stopped halfway down.
Ethan stood in the hallway behind me, jaw tight, eyes bloodshot from too many nights without enough sleep. “Bring them back.”
I nodded once and kept moving.
The house felt uncomfortably warm as I moved through it, the lingering heat from the stove mingling with the tension I was carrying.
For half a second, a memory shoved its way forward.
Heat.
Sweat.
Pain.
I’d woken up shaking so badly I could barely breathe, every inch of my body burning while the room spun around me.
Taryn had been there.
I remembered that part clearly.
Her hand was against my forehead.
Cool fingers pushed my hair back while exhaustion hollowed shadows beneath her eyes. “You’re okay,” she whispered when I tried to sit up too fast. “Stop fighting me for five minutes.”
I’d barely managed to focus past the fever, but I remembered seeing Beck standing near the doorway behind her, arms crossed, watching me with that same hard expression he always wore at school.
And Adrian—Adrian had looked worse.
Not physically.
Emotionally.
Something in his face had shifted the second he realized I was awake.
Relief.
Sharp enough to almost look painful.
The memory blurred slightly after that, then snapped forward again.
The farmhouse kitchen.
A couple of weeks ago.
Rain hammered the windows as Lane quietly split his eggs between the twins. We'd all done it ourselves a time or two, so none of us said a word.
“You’re coming with me,” Adrian said flatly.
Beck leaned back against the counter, arms crossed. “No.”
“We need to find out what’s out there,” Adrian insisted.
“And I’m still not leaving her.” Beck raised one eyebrow.
The room tightened instantly.
Taryn sat near the fireplace, cleaning one of her knives, not looking at either of them, but I could tell from the tension in her shoulders that she was listening to every word.
Adrian stepped closer to Beck. “We need supplies.”
“We need to stay alive,” Beck shot back immediately. “Those signs could be a trap.”
“I know.” Adrian held his gaze.
That seemed to catch Beck off guard for half a second. Because Adrian rarely admitted uncertainty out loud.
“Then why the hell do you want to go?” Beck asked belligerently.
“Because those two little girls are hungry,” he said, motioning to the twins.
The words landed hard enough that the entire room went quiet.
Emery stopped eating altogether, and just like that, I hated both of them a little. Beck, because he still looked torn. And Adrian, because he was using the girls to get his way.
“We’re running out of food,” Adrian continued, his voice calmer now. “And if this place is legitimate, then we need to know before winter hits.”
Beck’s jaw tightened hard enough that I thought his teeth might crack. His eyes shifted toward Taryn automatically, and Adrian’s followed.
My anger ratcheted up a notch. These two didn’t give a shit about anything but her.
Beck brought his eyes back to Adrian. “Why don’t you take your buddy?” He motioned toward me.
“Because he’s better equipped to help with the girls.”
I rolled my eyes at the obvious lie. We all knew why he wanted to take Beck.
“I don’t trust leaving her here with him.” The punk nodded in my direction.
The possessiveness in his voice made irritation crawl up my spine instantly.
“Fuck off!” I barked. “I don’t have to like her to protect her.”
Adrian looked unimpressed with both of us. “Taryn doesn’t need any of us for that. She’s perfectly capable of protecting herself.” He looked over at her, pride in his expression.
What an absolute kiss-ass. I used to have more respect for him.
“That’s not the point,” Beck growled.
“No,” Adrian said coldly. “The point is that you don’t trust anyone else around her because you’re a selfish asshole.”
The room went still.
Dangerously still.
It wasn’t a secret, but I didn’t expect Adrian to admit it out loud. He was so desperate to have her that he'd take whatever Taryn offered him.
Taryn finally looked up from her knife with an exhausted expression. “If the two of you start fighting over me again, I’m going to stab somebody myself.”
Their eyes never broke contact, and the silence was heavy with tension.
And I wondered if they saw what the rest of us did. Because underneath all the hostility, all the territorial bullshit, and constant tension, there was something else there too.
Recognition.
Like they saw too much of themselves in each other.
I hated it
Hated the way Beck watched her as if she already belonged to him.
Hated being pissed off because neither of them thought I was a threat to the relationship they both wanted… I saw the way Taryn looked at me when she thought I wasn’t watching.
Maybe the two cocky bastards should pay more attention.
“You’re coming,” Adrian said finally
Beck stared at him for another long second before exhaling sharply through his nose. “Fine. But you owe me.”
Not really an agreement so much as a warning.
Adrian nodded once, as if he understood the difference.
The memory dissolved completely.
I shoved it all away hard and stepped outside, knowing that distractions led to eating brains and to my dick rotting off. Neither was on my top five list of things to do.
Cool air hit my face instantly.
Good.
I needed it.
The woods stretched out ahead of me, dark and endless beyond the dead fields surrounding the farmhouse. Somewhere out there was Taryn, and I needed to find her before she got into something even she couldn’t handle.