Chapter 45
forty-five
I chug water, but my heart won’t slow.
“I can’t…” Huffing in air, I bend over before I faint.
“Take a fucking breath, Griffin.” Aiden shakes his head and snaps at Valen. “That car. Zoom in on it.”
Valen does, and the two study the image on the screen. Images blur at the edges. My mind won’t focus. Drugs. Panic. It’s too much.
Lan’s still pacing. Muttering. I’ll deal with him later. Fucker looks just as destroyed as I feel.
“It’s a university car. One of the maintenance vehicles,” Valen says.
“Show the campus fleet—”
“I’m already on it, Cardell.” Valen usually doesn’t sound this annoyed, except with his brothers. Fitting, now that he’s engaged to Aiden’s sister. “Back up. Give me some space.”
The lilt of hope in their voices gives me a glimmer of something positive. Something I latch onto. I hover over Valen’s shoulder, crowding him on one side and Aiden on the other.
Ashlyn tries to shove a cup at Lan.
“I can’t drink vodka right now, devil woman!”
“It’s water.”
“No, you’re trying to poison me, viper! Get back!” He hisses and holds up his fingers like a cross.
Without looking up, Aiden bites his bottom lip. He glares at me for a second, as if he wants to say something, but doesn’t. “You two have this under control?”
I nod.
“My brothers are looking into her disappearance, too,” he assures me. “If I hear anything, I’ll let you know.” He grabs Landon’s shoulders, not gently, and shoves some water in his face. “Drink this, fucker. Then it’s alone time.”
He muscles the big guy out of the room while Ashlyn follows, flipping off Lan’s back.
“There!” I point to the car strolling down Northview Way in front of campus. The timestamp on the city cam shows just a minute ago. “Why’s a NU maintenance vehicle out there? Where’s he taking her?”
“Just wait— Shit.” Valen flips the view to the end of the street, but there’s nothing. “Must have turned before the end of the road…”
Something cold crawls up my spine. Not fear. Recognition. Or maybe it’s just goosebumps from the drug. Either way, I get a sense that I know where this guy is heading. “Check the cameras outside Delta House.”
Valen switches to the garage view.
“Sanguine Manor. He just pulled into the driveway.” Metal meets my hands when I check my waistband for my Glock. “Let’s go.”
Before we reach the door, Bo Turner shoves in and stands silently assessing us.
His wide-eyed fear is barely masked behind a stoic facade. “You coming?” I ask, and he simply nods. “We’re leaving.”
As we approach the valets in front of Theta Manor, I remember one slight issue. We’d shown up in Scout’s slow-as-fuck car. As if sensing my problem, Valen scans the area and then hands me his bike key. “Take this. We’ll follow in something else.”
Bo taps my best friend on the shoulder and points toward a truck. The two run that way as I steady my heart and slip a leg over Valen’s Suzuki hyperbike. I hope I don’t die before I reach Scout.
The engine hums under me, too much power for me to give it full throttle, but enough that I make it onto campus faster than I would in anything else. My pulse keeps pace with the engine. It’s almost a silent ride. Which is perfect for when I approach the driveway of the crumbling house.
Jumping off, I scan the area, wondering if I should bust down the front door or go right for the cellar entrance. A flash of white stops me. Glowing in a window high above.
I lose my breath.
Blink several times to make sure it’s real.
It’s my wife!
Framed in the attic window.
She seems to be creeping backward.
Back.
She’s going to jump…
I act fast. Ripping off my sports coat, I frantically search for anything that could help me get to her before she falls.
There’s a ladder in Delta’s garage, but it would take too long to grab.
Adrenaline takes over. I sprint for the column. Scurrying up, I pray it doesn’t shatter under me. I focus my gaze on Scout as she places her hand on the frame.
“Don’t come closer!” she yells. The terror in her voice spurs me faster.
With a grunt, I hoist my leg over the roof of the patio, two floors below her. There’s a drainpipe clinging to the bricks like it hates to see me coming. I use whatever I can to scale the wall. Nails dig into the ancient cement. Every time I place my shoe on a brick, pieces crumble below me.
I don’t dare look down.
The trim along the next level is at least high enough I could snag her if I need to. Not sure it would hold both of us, but perhaps I could break the fall.
“Who’s there?” a deeper voice calls through the open window.
Scout turns. Her mouth gapes wide, releasing a silent scream. When she realizes it’s me, she starts scrambling out of the window toward me.
Every muscle tense and straining, I reach one arm for her. The other clings to the gutter.
“Don’t jump! Stay with me, my love!”
That fucker… What did he just call her?
What did he just call my wife?
Scout lunges for me. Hands clinging to my neck. Face buried in my chest. Our ribs rise and fall in rapid waves.
“Don’t let go. I don’t know if this is going to hold—”
Cutting off my warning, the wood beneath my shoes snaps with an ominous groan, and we fall.
So far.
Wind slices across my skin.
And I’ve got her tucked into the safety of my arms.
Two truths settle in my bones.
I’m going to die.
And she was worth it.
My back hits the roof of the patio with such force, I lose all the air in my lungs.
Scout crushes my ribs as she lands on top of me. Every bone in my body feels the weight of the impact. My head bounces off the shale and gravel laying on the surface, a final insult to my shattered body.
Scout sniffs and rolls off me. “Oh my god! Stay like that. Don’t move…”
“Baby…” I croak. “Are you okay?” It hurts to talk. My throat closes up with the taste of iron and rust.
“Apollo. Please, don’t move.”
I almost laugh. But it hurts too bad. It’s not like I can move. Everything’s heavy.
Everything hurts.
Everything goes black.
“Scout!” I scream, the sound feeling as if it’s not even coming from my mouth. So I try harder. “Tulip!” It’s murmured. My lips won’t part. I’m falling forever. And she’s in that window… I can’t reach her.
Still tumbling through the blackness.
It swallows me as I scream.
No one hears. No one.
“I’m here. Right here.” She sounds sad. As if she’s been crying. Nose stuffy and voice cracked.
My heart aches for her. Wants to soothe her every pain.
Blinking awake, I relax. A smile creeps across my face when the first thing I see is my beautiful wife looking back at me.
I’m in Heaven.
“I’m right here, stallion.”
I lift a hand to touch her face, but it’s held back by a long tube with fluid in it. Scanning the white room, I roll my neck to the side, agony searing up my spine. A sharp breath cuts my dry lips. This can’t be the afterlife. Heaven wouldn’t hurt this much.
“Where—”
She brushes some hair from my forehead. “You’re in the hospital. You’re safe. You’re okay.”
“Hospital?” My head feels stuffed with cotton. Half-floating. And half-sucked into a woodchipper. “Why?” The events are all fuzzy. So’s my brain.
“You have a broken leg and a concussion. Your back…two fractured lumbar vertebrae. But you don’t need surgery. Not unless you do something stupid.”
It takes forever to process what she just said. All I know is that I sound broken. The only concern I have rises to the surface like an urgent need.
“Can I still fuck you?”
A loud grunt and a couple of gasps have me looking beyond Scout, where both sets of our parents stand. G’s red in the face. Kinsley and my mom turn away, but Dad looks amused.
“It’s the drugs,” I say. Then clear my throat and find my wife’s steady blue eyes again. “But can I?”
“Apollo!” my mom admonishes as she squeezes my free hand.
Scout practically lays across my chest, coming in for a hug. “Yes. Of course. But only when you’re better.”
“Only because you saved my daughter, will I refrain from killing you,” G says with a gruff warning.
Kinsley wags a finger at me. “But no jumping off buildings or soccer for a while. And you need to rest.”
I nod as the room spins. “Noted.”
Dad turns my chin so I have to look at him, and the emotion on his face tells me everything. “You did good, Son. I’m proud of you.”
“Are you in pain?” Mom asks with worry suturing her forehead.
I glance up at the tubes and wires coming out of me. “I think I’m okay right now. I don’t know. It all feels…numb.”
Scout’s face sets like flint. She’s locked into game mode.
“Good. Because as soon as you’re better, mister…”
I swallow at her fierceness. The same that she had the night we met. “What?”
“We have a POT to run.”