Chapter 29
Chapter twenty-nine
MICAH PRESCOTT
Fuck. I reread the texts Jude sent me, thumb scrolling up and down like the words might change if I look at them enough times. They don’t.
You have no idea who you’re messing with.
I know exactly who he plans to sell her to if you keep poking around.
He’s a bad fucking man, Micah.
If you show up, I will kill you myself. All of you.
My stomach sinks lower every time, like there’s no bottom to it. That was almost an hour ago. I tried calling him immediately—once, twice, six fucking times—but I was blocked again. He reached out long enough to rip my heart out and shove it back in my chest sideways.
The fucker.
Heather is nestled into my chest on one corner of the couch, fast asleep.
Her arm is draped over my stomach, her breath warm and soft against my throat.
Emma and Adela are curled up on the other end of the couch under a shared blanket, watching Howl’s Moving Castle.
I guess it’s Emma’s comfort movie. She watches it whenever she’s sad, or overwhelmed, or trying not to think too hard about things.
I’m not much of a cartoon guy, but fuck, it’s actually pretty good.
The colors are soft, and the music is gentle. I like that right now.
I never told Emma or Heather about either time he contacted me.
I feel like an asshole, but I don’t want them scared.
Not when they finally feel hopeful that we have a shot at helping him.
I did tell Rafe, though. He just told me that they’re definitely fucking around in Jude’s head.
Either Jude genuinely doesn’t want to be saved, or he’s too scared of us getting involved.
I really hope it’s the latter. Rafe also added that when someone is driven to the point of near-insanity, they inflict the most damage.
He’s interested to see the monster Alexei has ripped out of my best friend.
He said that everyone has a monster on the inside, but some of us just hide it better.
Rafe’s a crazy motherfucker, but he’s the right kind. Adela matches him perfectly. She’s darkness wrapped in a hot body and an intelligent brain.
Nico’s pacing the dining room with a laptop, muttering to himself like an insane person with wild eyes and restless energy.
Meanwhile, Kieran is dead asleep in the oversized chair, mouth open, arms crossed, like nothing on this earth could disturb him.
He seems to be the one out of all of them who gives the least fucks about anything.
Heather shifts against me, letting out a soft little sound into my neck. My dick twitches automatically. Jesus Christ.
I tighten my arm around her instinctively, savoring her warmth, her weight, and the reality of her being mine. This woman flipped my entire fucking world upside down, and I don’t regret a second of it. Thank hell for that.
Emma laughs at something Adela says, and it hits me straight in the chest. Sunshine in human form, that girl. Looking at her next to Adela is almost funny. Heaven and hell are sharing a fuzzy fucking blanket.
I try to stay here. I really do. But I can’t fucking focus. All I hear is Jude’s voice from the first call. The rage in it was horrific, like he was barely holding himself together. He didn’t sound like Jude. Not the one I know, anyway.
And now...
If you show up, I will kill you myself.
What the fuck did they do to you?
I swallow hard, staring down at Heather’s beautiful sleeping face. Jude’s threat worked. I won’t pretend it didn’t. The idea of Heather or Emma getting caught in the crossfire makes me fucking nauseous. If walking away keeps them safe…
The thought doesn’t finish, because the other half of it is worse. If I walk away, Jude will endure a brutal hell none of us could even fathom. And that might already be killing him.
Rafe’s voice suddenly pulls me back from my thoughts. “Got it.”
A second later Nico lets out a sharp laugh of triumph. “No way,” he says. “No fucking way that actually worked.” Both of them lean back from the laptops at the dining table, grinning like maniacs.
Emma pauses the movie instantly, blanket slipping from her shoulders as she springs off the couch. “What? What happened?”
Rafe gestures her over, tapping the screen. “That monitoring flag we tripped two days ago? It’s gone. Completely rerouted the traffic through a clean chain. If anyone tries to trace us now, they’ll end up chasing ghosts across five different countries.”
Nico nods, eyes bright. “We basically just disappeared.”
Emma presses a hand over her mouth, relief hitting her so fast it almost looks like she might cry. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah,” Rafe says. “We’re not done yet. His private servers are still locked behind layered authentication, and that’s going to take time, but at least now we can work without announcing ourselves every five minutes.”
“Meaning,” Nico adds, “we can actually dig into the financials and internal comms without setting off alarms. If there’s a transfer trail, safe houses, shell accounts…we’ll find it.”
Emma exhales hard, then suddenly spins around and rushes back toward the couch. Before I can even react, her arms slide around my shoulders from behind, her chin resting lightly against the top of my head. “They did it,” she whispers, kissing my hair. “We’re getting somewhere.”
“Good,” I murmur, giving her wrist a brief squeeze. The other day when we got flagged, Rafe had cursed multiple times while Adela’s fingers flew over the keyboard. They saved our location from being tracked, thank fuck. So this is great news, actually
She disappears again just as quickly, hurrying back to the dining table where Rafe and Nico are already pulling up new windows, pointing at lines of data like kids showing off a science project.
Across the couch, Adela barely moves, wine glass in hand, completely absorbed in the movie again like explosions could happen behind her and she’d still finish the scene first. “Howl is hot,” she murmurs.
"A cartoon character? Really?"
"Yup," she answers swiftly. "My god."
I snort.
Heather stirs beside me, blinking awake at the sudden burst of noise. “What’s going on?”
Emma looks over her shoulder, smiling wide. “They cleared the trace! We’re off the radar now.”
Relief flashes across Heather’s face, and my heart kicks just seeing it. Her brown eyes, her messy blonde hair, the way hope shows up on her face before she can even hide it. It’s fucking adorable.
She pushes herself upright. “Seriously?”
“Seriously,” Nico calls out. “Still work to do, but we’re back in business.”
Heather grins and hops off the couch, heading toward them, already peppering Rafe with questions as he rotates the laptop so she can see the screen.
Their excited voices blur together after that while I stay where I am, leaning back into the cushions.
The fireplace below the TV crackles softly, flames shifting in slow orange waves behind the glass.
I watch them for a while, letting the warmth hit my face, trying to stay present in the moment everyone else seems to be living in.
But my mind drifts anyway.
~ A memory ~
Jude and I are stretched out at the small table by the window at our hotel, splitting the last beer left in the mini fridge while LA glows outside.
Next door, I can still hear Finnick laughing through the wall, probably still recovering from dragging Kami out of the bar before she punched that bouncer.
She’d been so drunk she tried to square up with the guy like she actually thought she could win.
Finnick just threw her over his shoulder and walked out like it was another Tuesday. Poor bastard. She’s such a handful.
I shake my head, smirking a little at the memory before glancing over at Jude. “So what was up with that girl tonight? The brunette. She was basically climbing you like a tree.”
Jude snorts, tipping the bottle back. “Didn’t matter.”
“Didn’t look like it didn’t matter.”
He laughs softly, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t. Adriana owns my ass. Been texting her half the night. She’s out with Nolan for some meeting tomorrow, and she’s already in a mood.”
I roll my eyes. “Wouldn’t stop me. Adri’s a raging cunt.”
He huffs a laugh. “Yeah. True.”
Something flickers across his face right after he says it, but it’s gone before I can place it.
I take another sip, watching him over the rim of the bottle. “What?”
He shrugs at first like it’s nothing, leaning back in the chair, eyes drifting toward the ceiling. “Just…been thinking about Emma a lot tonight, man.”
I frown slightly. I know the name. I know the story. The girl he left behind four years ago because Nolan decided to blackmail him. He walked away to keep her out of the mess and the danger.
Jude stares down at the bottle in his hands for a second, rolling it slowly between his palms. “I don’t know,” he says quietly. “Some nights I think I finally got over her, and then something random hits me and she’s just…there again.”
He exhales, shaking his head once, almost embarrassed by the confession.
“If I ever get the chance to be with her again,” he mutters, more to himself than to me, “I’m never letting her go.”
I give a small snort, nudging his foot with mine.
We finish the beer, our eyelids getting heavier with every second. When we finally crash, even though the hotel gave us two beds, Jude drops onto the one closest to the wall, and I end up right beside him anyway. We’re too exhausted to care.
For a while there’s only the sound of the AC and the distant noise of traffic outside.
I shift onto my side, half-asleep already, when I notice the faint glow of Jude’s phone screen still lighting the dark.
He’s lying on his back, wallet open in one hand, staring at something inside it.
I don’t need to see it to know what it is.
It’s a photo of her.
After a moment, he lets out a quiet breath, slides the picture back into place, and shuts the wallet. The light disappears. He settles onto the mattress, staring up at the ceiling like he’s still somewhere else entirely. I close my eyes, pretending I didn’t notice, but I always do.
~*~
I didn’t think much of that night back then. Didn’t realize how much that moment mattered. The exhaustion suddenly hits me all at once, and I push myself up from the couch.
“Hey,” I murmur to Heather, brushing my fingers lightly along her arm. “I think I’m gonna crash. You coming?”
She nods immediately, already sliding her hand into mine. “Yeah. I’m tired too.”
We say our goodnights—Emma barely looking away from the laptop screens, Adela lifting her wine glass in a lazy salute, and then Heather and I head upstairs to the bedroom.
The moment we step inside, she kicks off her socks and climbs straight into bed, pulling the blanket up around herself with a soft sigh.
She watches me as I flick off the light, pull my shirt over my head, and toss it aside. “How are you feeling?” she asks gently. “On the Suboxone?”
I roll my eyes, smirking as I crawl into bed beside her. “You mean, how’s your patient doing, Nurse Hardin?”
She nudges me with her knee. “I’m serious, Meekah.”
My heart warms at her ridiculous nickname for me.
“I know.” I settle onto the pillow, turning toward her.
“I feel good. Really good, actually. Better than I have in a long time.” I pause, then add more quietly, “It’s the first thing that’s made me feel like maybe I’ve actually got a shot at staying clean.
Getting off needles is...rare. But this medication gives me hope for myself. And Jude.”
Her expression softens, that beautiful little smile that I want to worship forever. She reaches over, brushing her fingers along my jaw. “I’m really proud of you.”
“Thanks.”
We lie there for a minute, just looking at each other, the house quiet around us.
She hesitates, chewing lightly on her lip. “I’m still nervous about Rafe’s plan. At the ball.”
“Yeah,” I admit. “Me too.” I let out a slow breath. “But if anyone knows what they’re doing, it’s him.”
She nods, though I can tell the nerves are still there. "I'm really grateful that I met you."
I swallow past the sudden lump in my throat, a warmth spreading through my chest. One that has all sorts of emotions running wild inside me. “I love you, Heather.” The words leave my mouth before I can overanalyze them.
She freezes. And immediately, my stomach drops a little as I realize what I just said. The first time, no takebacks, no joking tone to soften it. I open my mouth, half ready to stumble through some awkward follow-up, but before I can, she reaches up and cups my face in both hands.
“I love you too, Micah,” she says softly. “I think I have for a while.”
Relief hits me so fast I almost laugh. “Yeah? Good. Because…yeah. Same. I know this isn’t exactly the most romantic timing. But I've never felt like this about anyone. You're an incredible woman.”
She shakes her head, smiling. “No. It’s perfect. I promise.”
I can’t help it, my hand slides to the back of her neck, fingers tangling gently in her hair as I pull her closer and kiss her.
She lets out a soft moan against my mouth, and heat rushes through me.
The kiss deepens slowly, and within moments, our clothes are shed.
And when I’m inside her, there’s nothing else that makes me feel safer.
Cared for. I finally know what Jude always told me about when you have sex and love together.
..it’s an otherworldly experience. I’ve never known that, since I’ve never loved anyone before.
But here I am, loving this girl with everything I’ve got.
The harder she kisses me, the more my thoughts melt away, just for now.
I’m scared, but she’s swallowing my fears with every stroke of her tongue.
Her fingers tangle in my hair when I thrust harder, deeper.
But not faster. And when she breaks for me, moaning my name, I lose everything in her.
I kiss her as my release barrels into me. And for the first time in days, my mind finally goes quiet. I love her. And she loves me.